Pearl In The Grove Restaurant, Dade City, Fla: CLOSED

Dade City, Fla.--Local farm sourced food meets gourmet at Pearl In The Grove Restaurant. Under the ownership of Chef Curtis Beebe and his wife Rebecca, this farm-to-table restaurant really embraces local, trying to source ingredients within 50-miles, whenever they can.

Executive Chef/owner Curtis Beebe and Sous Chef
Patrice Murphy at Pearl In The Grove Restaurant,
Dade City, Fla.
Copyright 2013 by Helen A Lockey

I got introduced to Beebe by Trish Strawn of Growing Synergy LLc. food & beverage distributing.  In December 2012, I visited during a photo shoot, and ate some of their dishes for free.

For years, Beebe travelled the world for his IT job, and ate many different types of food. In 2010, he wanted a change in his life and decided to open Pearl In The Grove. He felt he had an advantage over other chefs because he had eaten at so many restaurants.

I asked him why he became a farm-to-table style chef.


He said, “For a guy without any credentials it’s easier to buy local ingredients, do as little as possible to them, and serve.”

Farmers came to the restaurant when they first opened, so the staff did not have to go searching for local ingredients.  And farmers continue to come bringing fresh, seasonal produce on a daily basis.

In August 2012, Sous Chef Patrice Murphy, formerly of the Refinery Restaurant in Tampa, came to work for Pearl In The Grove.  Murphy has worked over 27 years in the food industry and at many farm-to-table restaurants.

Outside view of Pearl In The Grove restaurant,
Dade City, Fla.
Copyright 2013 by Helen A Lockey

I asked Beebe how customers found his restaurant. It's approximately 45 minutes northeast of Tampa, surrounded by Kumquat groves and farm land.

"The people that find us are coming here for us. There are not a lot of accidental customers." he said before dashing off to greet some new arrivals.

Head server Irene said, "This area has a lot of adventurous diners," adding that the restaurant staff give good service by listening to the diners and going beyond what they expect.

Grass-fed beef steak tips, fresh pasta, and seasonal
greens dish at Pearl In The Grove restaurant,
Dade City, Fla.
Copyright 2013 by Helen A Lockey

The dishes I tried were not too adventurous for me like tender grass-fed steak tips with homemade fresh pasta piled high with local tomatoes. And served with fresh seasonal greens.

Winter Fruit Soup dessert at Pearl In The Grove restaurant,
Dade City, Fla.
Copyright 2013 by Helen A Lockey

I also tasted a delicious cold Winter Fruit Soup for dessert made with local citrus, starfruit, and pomegranate bathed in a broth of lemongrass, ginger, and rum. It was topped with home churned toasted coconut sherbet (made with Dakin Dairy cream from Myakka City, Fla.) and a meringue straw (made with local eggs).

I asked Murphy what were some of the bigger challenges of serving farm-to-table style food.

She said, "Getting people to understand to eat local and see the big picture of why we do what we do." Then she added, with a smile, "Local is a core concept of our restaurant. We're using really good stuff. We try to do each step right and honestly."

2018 Update:

They were a wonderful restaurant but they were a little ahead of the curve when the farm-to-table dining scene was just not understood and supported.

Raw Vegan Vegetarian Brunch At Lake Worth Green Market, Fla.

Lake Worth, Fla.—Chef Rita Romano delighted all with a raw vegan vegetarian brunch. The event was held at the Saturday Morning Lake Worth Green Market.

Raw-vegan vegetarian chef Rita Romano at
Lake Worth Green Market Brunch, Fla.

“Would you like the mango chili sauce or the cilantro ginger on your spring roll?” Judy Haggas asked as she prepared the first plate of the raw-vegan vegetarian brunch.

People pulled jackets tight, put on hats, and huddled close together at the Raw Brunch as Haggas and Teresa Mertz, a fellow booth helper, got plates ready for the salivating audience.

Churning waves of intracoastal waterway crashed against the sea wall just steps away from the booth. Wind screamed across the market blowing plates off tables and signs off booths.

“It was bitterly cold this morning at six, “said Peter Robinson, market manager and founder of the Lake Worth Green market, “so a lot of vendors left.”

But this did not stop a healthy number of people from gathering for their $40 a plate brunch of fresh vegetable spring rolls with a choice of mango or cilantro sauce, nut pate stuffed sweet pepper halves, aromatic Thai salad with choice of two types of dressing, and a dessert of mango mousse, delicious lemon cream, and fresh strawberry.

Raw-Vegan vegetarian brunch of vegetable
spring rolls, nut-meat stuffed peppers, Thai salad,
marinated cucumbers, mango mousse, lemon cream,
and herbal tea at Lake Worth Green Market, Fla.

The theme for the day’s food was local ingredients prepared Thai style with a generous use of coconut, Kaffir lime leaves, and chili peppers. “I love chili peppers,” Romano said with a smile. She sourced her greens from QV Farms of Loxahatchee, Florida.

 

Originally from Brooklyn, New York, Romano is a descendant of Ellis Island Italians immigrants. She grew up eating very healthy foods, “I don’t remember my parents having anything made with sugar in the house.”

She has a long history as a raw-food vegetarian chef, having set up the Hippocrates Institute kitchen in the 1980s where she wrote her book, “Dining In The Raw.” In the 1990s she moved to Key West where she set up a school and a deli for raw-food vegetarian.

Last year, she moved back north, “I’m loving Lake Worth. It’s a cosmopolitan Key West,” she said.

In January this year she opened, The Institute for Culinary Regeneration, in Lake Worth. Here she teaches people how to become a raw-food vegan vegetarians. She also holds monthly raw-vegetarian food cooking workshops, “I am an Italian mama and I don’t want anyone to leave hungry. So the $40 a plate price implies it is all-you-can-eat dinner.”

To find out more you can go to www.rawkitchen.com

Florida Sugar Cane Syrup Making: From Field To Bottle

Dade City, Fla.--Rancher, Steve Melton likes to make sugar cane syrup. Each year, he invites friends and family to his Central Florida ranch to help with the process from grinding the sugar cane to boiling the juice, and then bottling the syrup. This past December he had close to 300 visitors.

Sugar Cane growing on the left at Steve Melton's Ranch,
 Dade City, Fla.

Melton grows his sugar cane on his property near where his 80 gallon sugar cane syrup kettle is housed. He is a collector of antique farm equipment, so he likes to do everything the old fashioned way.

Sugar cane grinding/crushing machine from Melton's
ranch, Dade City, Fla.

The cane has to be grown down to release the juice before anything can happen.

Wood burning fire under 80-gallon kettle at Melton's
ranch, Dade City, Fla.

A fire is stoked under the 80-gallon kettle to help boil the water out of the cane juice.

 

Boiling cane juice at Melton's ranch, Dade City, Fla.

And then the boiling begins.

 

Impurities being skimmed off cane juice at Melton's
ranch, Dade City, Fla.

Part of the way through impurities have to be skimmed off the surface of the liquid.

 

More boiling of sugar cane juice at Melton's ranch,
Dade City, Fla.

And then there is more boiling. There is close to four hours of boiling before the liquid reaches the right density.

Temperature check of boiling sugar cane juice at
Melton's ranch, Dade City, Fla.

The temperature is checked often until the right one is reached and the cane syrup is closer to molten lava than liquid. It is very tasty molten lava.

 

"Pull the Fire," call rings out and the burning wood is
pulled outside at Melton's ranch, Dade City, Fla.

Now comes the dangerous steps. When the ideal temperature is reached they call "Pull the Fire!" Men grab the fireplace lining and pull the still burning wood out and into the yard.

 

Sugar cane syrup being sieved at Melton's ranch,
Dade City, Fla.

Then the hot syrup has to be sieved to clarify the liquid.This sieving can be very hazardous because the liquid is hot enough to burn and remove skin in seconds.

Bottling hot cane syrup at Melton's ranch, Dade City, Fla.

And the bottling is no less hazardous, one mistaken move and you've got searing, burning sugar all over your hands.

 

Labeling stage of sugar cane syrup making at
Melton's ranch, Dade City, Fla.

The labeling process is the last stage in this old fashioned style of making cane syrup.

 

Newly made Florida sugar cane syrup poured over
homemade biscuits at Melton's ranch,
Dade City, Fla.

And the best stage is the eating, when everything has cooled down, in about two to three hours.