By Kate Savage
Something borrowed , something new , seems an apt metaphor for Roots Restaurant on Romany Road in Lexington , Kentucky .
The building – although it ’s house many businesses throughout the years – begin back in the fifties as a local grocery store shop : F. Dee Roots .
F. Dee Roots was a pocket-size , friendly , home own shop class that provided the basic principle in food for thought stuffs for the surround neighborhood . It was an old - fashioned grocery entrepot that permit its customers feed kick accounts .
The New “ Roots”When today ’s proprietor try coming up with a name , borrowing the name “ Roots ” seemed a natural tantrum . Plus , it seemed obvious that their new eating house , which opened in belated 2007 , had deep roots in the area .
Garlic and Hot Peppers – Blue Moon Farm
© Kate Savage
Your Truly Local Restaurant … ?Do you have a favorite restaurant that ’s serve up up meals made with local products ?
Tell us about it ! send off an e-mail tohobbyfarms@bowtieinc.comorstart a Discussionin our Forum .
Its long - lived history notwithstanding , tooth root the eating place delivers a Modern conception to Lexington : Most of the food set up in its kitchen come from the bounty of the surround Kentucky farmlands .
Root ’s Chef Robert Myers says , “ The hotshot of any restaurant is not the James Cook in the kitchen , but the husbandman in the field . ” So the name “ source ” has a double sonorousness .
create the MenuWhen approached to come up up with several dissimilar carte suggestions , Chef Myers was give a few guidelines :
1)Simple Dining . The owners knew they want the restaurant to be mere . They were n’t looking for quick solid food or fine dining . They wanted something more along the lines of a bistro – food that did n’t call for touching and place in unlike positions : uncomplicated culinary art .
2 ) Focus on Ingredients . They want the quality of the scale to be in the ingredients and the simplicity of preparation , not in some hokey presentation .
In conjunction with these guidelines , Chef Myers find his concept was n’t hard to betray .
It was n’t unmanageable to convince the owners of the merit of supporting local growers who can provide the good mathematical product , unspoiled than anything available outside the field . Plus , they thought it would be a keen merchandising shaft .
From Quality Comes … PerfectionOne lesson Myers read long ago was that the quality of the ending product is determined by the quality of the initial product .
For him that has little to do with the damage he has to pay or whether the growers are endorse organic . These are subaltern result to the product .
His focus is on crust , the tone of discernment , how the animal is raised , and the condition of its aliveness and end . All these broker have a bearing on the final spirit .
While the average client may be oblivious of the health benefits and the crusade that has gone into their meal , they do apprize that the food is robust in flavor , cooked to idol and full of insidious nuances that they can savor and concentrate easily .
Quick Peek at the MenuAnd the secret of the success of Roots will likely not only be in the flavor of its food but also its affordable price range . According to it ’s February 2008 menu , not including specials :
The excitement and challenges of the menu strategy is that it involves a merchandise that is being produce topically , groom from mark in house and then serve to people who survive in the neighborhood . ( Find Local Food ) Every aspect of the process is localized . relationship are developed and the community is served .
The concept , late being replicated in numerous other plaza around the commonwealth , is genuinely a grass roots system at work .
