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ASAP teams up with Boone’s Vidalia Restaurant & Wine Bar to Serve Locally Grown Berries this Month

July 19, 2012. One can’t-miss sign of summer? Bold berries—from nearly-black blackberries to blue-hued blueberries to rosy-red raspberries—which are popping up now at area farmers tailgate markets and on the menus of Appalachian Grown™ partner restaurants. All get the focus this month in ASAP’s Get Local initiative, which spotlights seasonal local foods.

To celebrate, Vidalia Restaurant & Wine Bar—an Appalachian Grown partner and Get Local participating restaurant—will offer a special tasting menu featuring local berries. Owners Sam and Alyce Ratchford share that the special three-course menu will feature local blackberries, blueberries, raspberries, and strawberries. Berries will make an appearance in every course.

The tasting menu will feature blueberries and blackberries from Old Orchard Creek Farms in Lansing, NC. Old Orchard Creek is an Appalachian Grown certified pick-your-own blueberry farm; they also offer heirloom apples. The menu’s raspberries and strawberries will be sourced from Ivy Point Farm, a NC Century Farm (a farm owned by one family continuously for 100+ years). Ivy Point also specializes in heirloom vegetables and Christmas trees and is Appalachian Grown certified.  

Vidalia is located at 831 W. King Street in Boone, across from the Watauga County Courthouse. They will offer the special Get Local berry menu beginning Tuesday, July 24, and running through Sunday, August 5.

To learn more about ASAP’s initiative, visit the Get Local page of asapconnections.org. There, you’ll also find the 2012 calendar of featured foods and a Get Local school calendar. Visit ASAP’s Local Food Guide online at appalachiangrown.org to search for more regional farms growing berries, as well as businesses purchasing their products this month and beyond.

[High-resolution photos available. To connect with farmers, producers, and chefs in your community, contact Communications Manager Maggie Cramer atmaggie@asapconnections.org.]


ABOUT ASAP (APPALACHIAN SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE PROJECT)

ASAP’s mission is to help local farms thrive, link farmers to markets and supporters, and build healthy communities through connections to local food. To learn more about ASAP’s work in Western North Carolina and the Southern Appalachians, visit asapconnections.org, or call (828) 236-1282.