Eat Up: Local Hero Restaurant Days

The Daily Hampshire Gazette, August 21st, 2015.

The annual Local Hero Restaurant Days takes place Tuesday and Wednesday with 67 eating establishments celebrating the season’s harvest.

CISA (Community Involved in Sustaining Agriculture) works with the participating restaurants to help them get the best ingredients from nearby farms for their dishes.

There are 13 new restaurants involved this year.

“We are incredibly fortunate to live in an area where what’s harvested in the morning is very often prepared and eaten only hours later,” said Aja Lippincott, Local Hero program associate. “You can’t get fresher food than that. Local Hero Restaurant Days helps highlight the delicious results of those strong connections.”

The event marks the beginning of CISA’s restaurant raffle: enjoy three meals at participating restaurants between Tuesday and Sept. 30, and you can enter to win a wine dinner for six at Center Square Grill in East Longmeadow. Check CISA’s website, www.buylocalfood.org, and its Facebook event page for updated information on menus, chef/owner profiles and special offers at select restaurants.

A small sample of local specials for Local Hero Restaurant Days: Blue Heron Restaurant, Sunderland offering Warner Farm fried corn on the cob with cumin lime beurre blanc and feta cheese, Red Fire Farm heirloom tomato pie with Kitchen Garden basil and Old Friends Farm arugula. The Farm Table at Kringle Candle, Bernardston offering lemon verbena panna cotta (gluten-free) Queens Greens lemon verbena scented panna cotta, made with Mapleline Farm cream and served with Nourse Farms berries and fresh mint picked from the garden at The Farm Table.

Contact Aja Lippincott at 665-7100, ext. 24 for more information.