Conscious Choice: The Organic Chase

December 2002 | Conscious Dining

The Organic Chase

by Ethel Hammer and Stephen Kleiman

Marketing groups are quick to tell us that today’s diners want better, fresher foods with more taste. Research also shows that diners are increasingly worried about the recent spate of food scares. Nonetheless, despite their demands and concerns, Americans continue to dine out with gusto...more than 46 percent of our food dollars are spent eating away from home.

So if restaurant owners embrace the research and heed what diners are clamoring for, shouldn’t it mean more fresh food, free of pesticides, herbicides, hormones, and antibiotics? Why then, aren’t more Chicago restaurants bursting with these "clean food" choices?

Seeking answers, we interviewed various Chicago restaurateurs and chefs, expecting to find cost the major issue. Surprisingly, it isn’t. Fact is, even though sales of organic foods are steadily rising — over 20 percent annually, restaurants repeatedly lament that they simply can’t get their hands on enough of the stuff.

"It’s harder for restaurateurs than consumers to buy organic foods," says Mickey Hornick, co-owner of the Chicago Diner (3411 N. Halsted), a vegetarian eatery.

"If we want to get tempeh burgers we have to ship them in from Oregon," says Renee Carswell, co-owner of Flo (1434 W. Chicago Avenue). She treks to a high-end supermarket for the organic blue corn tortilla chips she serves in her restaurant, unable to buy them wholesale in bulk size.

Committed to using organics, Satko Ibrahimovic, owner of Satko’s Kitchen (1820 W. Wilson), is running himself ragged trying to live up to his principles. "It’s very hard. I feel like a pioneer. I have to drive like crazy back and forth, back and forth, to get food. I’m getting food from about 15 places. You cannot find enough from one place," Satko said. "My food is not 100 percent organic. Sometimes its 60 percent, sometimes 80, sometimes 40."

Satko, too, must buy some organic foods retail from natural foods supermarkets, unable to find local distributors to sell him the small amounts he needs. "It’s hard to make a connection with local farmers. If you need two pounds of something, they won’t deliver it," he says. Still, he prefers locally grown foods. "Food shipped in from far away is picked green and doesn’t have the flavor it should," he notes.

Pradhan Balter, owner of Victory’s Banner (2100 W. Roscoe) is able to find wholesale distributors for his products but says he faces other complexities. Wishing to purchase his organic soy protein in restaurant-sized loaves, he is forced, instead, to buy it in small packages, each shaped like a tiny chicken.

The Search is On

Still, for all the silliness, frustrations and inconsistencies, the restaurateurs we surveyed all remain fervent in their commitment to organics. "I think the audience is there for organics and a lot of restaurants could use [organics]," Carswell says. She, in fact, tried a local CSA — community supported agriculture venue — in order to introduce organic vegetables into her restaurant. Ironically, her CSA could only drop off her foods at a distant, non-refrigerated point on the busiest day of her week. When she finally got her vegetables, they were wilted, droopy, and unusable. "Finally, I just gave up," she said. Still, the optimistic Carswell is eager to find a way.

Andy Tamras, owner of Andies Restaurant (5253 N. Clark and 1467 W. Montrose), also feels leadership in the food world involves boosting organics. Wagering clients would pay extra for an organic chicken breast, he connected with a local organic chicken producer who dropped the ball and never got back to him.

Hayrettin Gundogdu, chef/owner of Anatolian Kabob (4609 N. Lincoln), decided to feature hormone- and antibiotic-free beef, lamb, and chicken at this restaurant, at two dollars extra a plate but... "Nobody was interested. In two months, I probably sold ten orders," he said. Gundogdu currently remains interested in organic vegetables, but doesn’t really know where to find them.

Berta Navarro and son Ricardo Mirianda, co-owners of Cafe 28 (1800 W. Irving Park Road), believe the diner demand is there, "If we come up with very good dishes, I think our customers would pay the price for organics." But, for them, finding product is a challenge as well. So far, they have been contacted by only one company, which was selling organic game and herbs. "If the farmers would pull up to the back door with their produce, it would be interesting," they said, adding, "We have two organic wines on our list. We are getting there."

Sutdiparn Ranumas, owner of Siam Country (4637 N. Damen), would be interested in working with local farmers, but like Anatolian Kabob’s Gundogdu, was unaware of the city’s green markets. Hunting for organics at a high-end supermarket left him perplexed as organic and non-organic foods were displayed side by side. He had expected everything to be organic. "I’d like suggestions from customers on organics and what we need to fix," Ranumas said.

Despite misfires and mixed messages, interest and determination remain strong. In fact, Hornick and partner/chef Jo Kaucher, author of the recently released The Chicago Diner Cookbook, find locating organic produce "a pleasure" now that they work with a southside distributor who offers organics year-round. Still, they note that using non-local products adds to pollution. "People come in here and don’t want apples from Chile because of the dictator and don’t want avocados from Mexico because of a pesticide scare," Hornick says.

Determined to accommodate their diners, Hornick and Kaucher remain optimistic about the prospect of offering a weekly organic special. "For someone who has been doing it for over 20 years, this is the best it has ever been."

Even more heartening for them is the response their vegetarian restaurant has gotten while looking for a cook. "We got 47 applications for a cook’s position from some of the sharpest young people who really want to work in a kitchen with a moral code and ethics — where you are not just chopping up an animal and putting sauce on it."

Recommend this page to a friend

Top Ten pages recommended to friends: