Conscious Choice: Sustainable Kitchen

March 2007 | Conscious Dining

Sustainable Kitchen

By Tanya Fritz

When Mary Ellen Diaz moved to Paris from Virginia as a young culinary student attending Le Cordon Bleu, she wasn’t expecting to return to Chicago with a socially altering new business. She had not planned on launching an innovative organization that addresses the time constraints of young professionals while simultaneously feeding the hungry. However, that dual mission is exactly what this esteemed chef accomplishes through her non-profit restaurant and shareholder program, First Slice.

With the hungry and homeless in mind, Diaz created First Slice, which is a self-funding charity to serve needy Chicagoans. A family membership in First Slice funds meals for more than 20 needy people. With the monthly membership, three people receive three meals of three courses each weekly for only $15 per person—yes, that means just about $5 for a three-course meal. That is simply unbeatable.

The meals are packaged, often by volunteer chefs (new volunteers welcome), then taken home and reheated before serving. The proceeds from that go to serve the same meal to hungry Chicagoans, many of them children. This means that they receive the same high-quality, healthful and tasty meals that First Slice customers receive.

The menus include organic and local ingredients with dishes such as Italian chopped salad with a mix of Romaine lettuce and local greens, fresh tomatoes, black olives, garlic croutons and Parmesan cheese tossed in a red wine vinaigrette, Spinach and butternut squash lasagna with mushroom and roasted red pepper dip, and a decadent Chocolate peanut-butter pie. Or a menu of Spinach, lentil, and feta strudel, Shredded Chicken Burritos with salsa verde and smashed black beans, Roasted Salmon with spicy Thai red curry, spicy teriyaki cauliflower and mushrooms.

Diaz learned how to work with top ingredients during her schooling abroad at Le Cordon Bleu, l’Ecole des Arts Culinaires in Lyon, and at Madeleine Kamman’s renowned School for American Chefs at Beringer Vineyards in Napa Valley. She refined those skills while cooking at some of the best restaurants across the country such as The Inn at Little Washington and North Pond, Printer’s Row and the Ritz-Carlton here in Chicago. She has also served as the corporate chef at Lettuce Entertain You.

Diaz has been serving fantastic meals at First Slice in a relaxing art gallery environment for four years. Customers appreciate the local organic fare as well as the feeling that what is a daily routine to some—eating a hot meal at a restaurant—can also serve the needs of others who do not have the same life privileges.

First Slice Pie Café, 4401 N. Ravenswood, Chicago (in the Lill Street Art Center), 773-506-1719, firstslice.org.

Tanya Fritz is a professionally trained chef, oenophile, slow-food fanatic and yoga enthusiast.

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