Saturday, January 24, 2009

Facebook page

We are now on Facebook - look us up under The Mercantile to become a fan and find out about events and daily specials! here's a URL http://www.facebook.com/inbox/?ref=mb#/pages/Atlanta-GA/The-Mercantile/49450332107?ref=ts

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Make Your Super Bowl Sunday Super DELICIOUS!

Our Culinary Team has rolled out their special Super Bowl Sunday menu! We are now accepting pre-orders. Call now to reserve your munchies! 404-378-0096

HEROS
Our famous French baguettes will be stuffed with Chef Samantha’s favorite selection of meats and condiments.
$8.99 per half baguette
$17.99 per whole baguette

RIBS
We are cranking up our full size smoker to slow cook Chef Samantha’s ribs. Our secret rub will be on the scene!
$7.99 per half rack
$13.99 per whole rack

CHILI
Made from scratch and packaged by the quart We’ll have beef chili , chicken white bean and 3 bean vegetarian chili ready to go. Advanced order is recommended.
$10.99

Accompaniments
All the trimmings for your chili will be in house and available for purchase: Tortilla chips, organic sour cream, Tillamook Cheddar cheese and Ben & Jerry’s ice cream for the fourth quarter!

PLATTERS
We are putting together platters with hand selected ingredients that will be fresh cut and ready to eat.

Antipasti Platters
Hand cut Italian specialties.
Small Platters $18. Large Platters $36.


Cheese Plates
We’ll put together a selection of artisan cheeses. Each cheese is complete with an accompaniment.

LEGENDARY SNACKS
As always our delicious snacks will be available. Advance order is recommended.

Rosemary Roasted Cashews
Spiced Pecans
Pimento Cheese
Artichoke Dip
Black Bean Hummus
Robbie’s Hummus

Rotisserie Chickens Always Available
Call Now to Reserve Yours!

See you in the shop!
-Janea
http://www.themercantileatl.com/
404-378-0096

Tuesday, January 20, 2009

Pencil Us In

At The Mercantile we love having events. It gives us an excuse to eat all day! So, mark your calendars! Saturday, January 24, we'll be tasting olive oils with Josephine Gilreath. We're even throwing in a TRUFFLE OIL. 12:00 p.m. until 2:00 p.m.

Speaking of truffles, let's talk the language of love-Truffle Love! On February 7 we're having a chocolate truffle demonstration and tasting with our friend and chocolatier, Jill Davis! 12:00 pm until 2:00 pm. Be prepared to fall in love!

Coming in March, we'll be hosting a very special event and launching some very special products. Stay Tuned for details!

See You in the Shop!
-Janea, Chef Samantha and Team Merc!
http://www.themercantileatl.com/

Hope through Food Was a Success!




We had so much fun this past Sunday with our young visitors. Celebrating Hope was an easy thing to do with such an exciting year ahead. It was also a pleasure to simultaneously celebrate the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. and the inauguration of our first African American President! And, of course, the hoe cakes were delicious.


Check out the pictures with this link:


Sunday, January 18, 2009

Meat, Produce, Fresh Goods…

Recently for the holiday Janea bought herself a book that several people in my life have told me has changed theirs. For example, my girlfriend Sally and her husband have left the city life for Rockmart County. They’ve bought an old farm and are raising chickens and ducks along with their Salukis. Soon, she tells me, they’ll have a goat or two.

Leaving the city life for the farming life is a big step; so I had to find out what this was all about. Certainly I would never leave my city life for a life as a missionary in Africa, a coroner in Virginia, an attorney in Memphis or to become a beekeeper in Alabama, so I have hi-jacked this book to find out what all the life altering is about. Much to the dismay of my business partner I now laugh, delight and garner an appreciation for living locally in Animal, Vegetable, Miracle by Barbara Kingsolver.

As the story unfolds, my thoughts are countless; the Kingsolver family made it their mission to eat locally and seasonably, starting their year in April. Since opening our little shop in September, I find I am held accountable for much more from a guest than perhaps the guest asks of themselves. The Mercantile’s vision- my vision as a chef- was to open a place and serve foods that were available not only locally (within 100 miles) but regionally and seasonally. This is where the challenge starts.

My sandwich menu carries tomatoes and avocados. These are fruits defined by season. Tomatoes have had a particularly rough growing season this past year; we’ve been getting them from Florida, and one batch from Texas. Avocados have to come from California; they are the one item on the sandwich board that travels the longest distance. Fortunately, an avocado doesn’t begin to ripen until after it is picked. By the time it arrives here it is ready to be eaten. The accompaniment choices are a side salad or seasonal fruit medley – so if we really went local today, the choice for fresh fruit would be “zip”. If we go regionally then we can look at oranges and strawberries – very, very early strawberries, both from Florida.

Deciding to run a business in a new way, as opposed to how I cooked and ate at home previously, or how other chef’s I’ve worked for that had taken advantage of the "world as our oyster" philosophy has been illuminating. I taught for years that low cost of produce is due to seasonal availability but I did not think about the shipping and transport or the countries and people affected by our choices and desire for foods not readily available within our own hemisphere and yet still the low, low prices. So now I talk, and my partner talks with local farmers. This is where one would readily think that because travel is cut to a bare minimum and demand is high that costs would be low and easily passed on to our guests. Not so. A new challenge is before us.

With this challenge, I’ve come to question my every motivation. Trying to choose why I use a product or bring in produce or proteins from outside the region. Because, I answer myself, our guests demand this – they expect and are accustomed to this. Then I think, because this is the best of the best. The quality of the animals way of life is more true to being the animal, the farm is sustainable, yada yada yada…Does this mean I sold out? Am I still an educator? Is this what I expected when I opened this business to educate my consumers? I thought I had left teaching to cook again; another challenge.

How do I make a diffence then? As a small fish in a big ocean of agribusiness and large corporate grocers what can I do? I make decisions that I feel will empower myself and others. I will support other small businesses just trying to make a difference. I will support family owned businesses. I will support ships and trains and semi’s for transport but not jet planes. I will re-evaluate my own use of petrol. I will compost every fruit and vegetable I chop. I will reduce my carbon footprint and encourage others to do the same, because I believe in this. I believe in this world. I believe that the earth can sustain us if we treat her properly. I believe that supporting others in their endeavors will bring support to my business in kind with a little ingenuity. And just as I think I have my mantra down…the questions begin.

Question: “Why don’t you have cherries and asparagus in house? Whole Foods has them.”
Answer: Cherries and asparagus are from Chile and Argentina right now. Whole Foods brings them in because that is what their guests demand, they label it well and offer it to you year round. We also could offer this to you but our focus is to remain seasonal, local and regional with the produce we offer to our guests. We are a much smaller entity than Whole Foods.

Question/Statement: Kroger has Rib-eyes for $10.99. Yours have more fat and are more expensive. Is your meat even local?
Answer: Kroger is a larger store with a lot of buying power; I have not and do not work for Kroger so I am not sure where their beef, pork or chickens come from. Our beef is restaurant grade, sustainably raised, and grass-fed until their last week of life and therefore more costly. Our chickens are local, sustainably raised, do not contain and are not fed GMO’s and allowed to be, well exactly what they are, chickens. We do carry Georgia Grass-fed ground beef in our freezer from White Oak Pastures.

Question/statement: It says on the internet that you have $10.00 chocolate bars. Isn’t that pricey in this neighborhood?
Answer: My goodness, yes, that is expensive for any neighborhood. We do not carry a chocolate bar for $10.00. We do carry the highest quality cooking chocolate available, it is not a candy bar, and can be found in our baking area. It is in the $9 range.

Question: Do you carry seafood?
Answer: On Fridays we have fish in house. We also carry Wild Alaskan Sockeye Salmon filets in our freezer. For other seafood specialties I recommend Sawicki’s in Decatur. Lynn was with Star Provisions for many years. She specializes in seafood.

Question: When are you going to get your liquor license? What is the hold up?
Answer: Please ask my business partner Janea to explain this to you. This is the subject of a very different blog.

These questions are sometimes mind blowing – now I think of them as a good challenge: a way to discover more about myself, our client base at the shop and try to see things from the consumers point of view. So what would I think if I came into my shop and didn’t own it? What questions would I ask? Maybe all of the above.

This idea (The Mercantile) turned into reality is an opportunity to create a new way of shopping and eating. Where you take home food that is cooked to order for you and get seasonal produce and staples to create the next couple of day’s meals. Think of us like you would an open air market in France or Italy. We hope the biggest difference would be that most of us have a southern accent rather than a European dialect. Know that the food you take home with you didn’t travel a long distance and still tastes like it should, that the dairy is minimally processed and local. When we welcome you into the store, we mean it. When we ask you how you’ve been, it’s because we are getting to know you. We’ve got a long way to go and we are getting there. Like the Kingsolver’s family we are about to really start our produce year and local movement – our April is just around the bend.

Cheers y’all.
-Samantha

Friday, January 9, 2009

Hope Through Food

I am often called the “baby stealer” by Emily, one of our sales associates. I truly enjoy and love to connect with children. So, it’s second nature for me to offer to take a baby off the hands of one of our guests. When Janea and I sat down to plan events for 2009, naturally I wanted to do more events centered on our youngest and littlest guests!

Coming off the success of our apple cider and cookie decorating events, we really wanted to make the next one special and engaging (photo link). We stumbled around a bit trying to figure out how to celebrate the Inauguration of President-elect Obama, Martin Luther King Junior Day and tie that in to food with children. Of course the beautiful and always timely idea of HOPE came into the conversation.

No matter what your ethnicity or tradition, a meal shared with loved ones is a blessing. Throughout history, families have communed and developed bonds through shared meals together. In times of slavery, times of war and times of poverty, preparing and eating a meal together provided the hope and the glue when many other things were falling apart. Whether the meal is bountiful or meager, a meal shared has always provided a feeling of togetherness, soulful nourishment and, hope that times will be better. Hope through food has emerged as a theme for our next Children’s event on Sunday, January 18th.
Please join us as we discover the First African-American cookbook, “What Mrs. Fisher Knows about Old Southern Cooking”, circa 1881. Mrs. Fisher, a former slave, had been steeped in the best traditions of Southern American cookery and was well respected in her day. She was awarded various medals and diplomas in fairs in California, where she had relocated after the Civil War. While by her own admission, she was not able to read or write, it is a testament to her prominence and respect within her community that an ad hoc committee of 9 highly regarded residents helped her document this lovely cookbook. It should also be noted that the cookbook was published through a Women’s Cooperative Printing Office, this 40 years before women won the right to vote! Talk about Hope through Food!

The passage into our Hope through Food event will cost you and your child a donation to the Atlanta Community Food Bank. Our barrel will be marked and ready at the front door! Once onto our Mercantile Freedom Trail, we will be cooking (and tasting!) Hoe Cakes & Ginger Cookies, coloring pages of past and present peace maker Presidents and of course, drinking Sweet Tea! Save the date: Sunday, January 18th, 1:00 PM.
We invite children of all ages to join us as we celebrate a very hopeful time in our country’s history with the Inauguration of our 44th President Barack Obama and as we explore the ageless idea of hope through food.

As always, I invite you to look up a family recipe, prepare it with a little patience and kindness, and call your family and friends to the table with love. That’s a recipe for a good time any day!
We look forward to seeing you in the shop.

Love and light, Gloria Limanni

Monday, January 5, 2009

As the Gastronome Turns OR What's a Mother to do?

This is my fictional account of the origins of the mother sauces. I like to think of all the mother sauces as quintuplet sisters just starting out of a pristine French Convent school and going out into the world to spread their wings. As they travel through Europe and into the Americas they have adventures, they have relationships, they marry and have daughters or sons. Their children continue in the spirit of their mother's to have their own adventures...

Velouté:
Velouté left France and her sisters and headed right for America. She landed in Charleston (or so the rumor goes) and after a lot of introductions fell in love and married a wealthy plantation owner, a rice farmer, rancher and businessman. Velouté happily took her married name and duties seriously. Here in the south we more commonly know her as GRAVY. Veloute loved to cook! She found herself with many workers on the farm and ranch. She got up early just like at the convent, to make a hearty breakfast for all of the laborers and her husband before the day's work began. Sometimes packing little pies in satchels for her husband and the day laborers to enjoy for lunch. She was and still is loved by many for this.

Velouté also loved entertaining and dinner parties; evenings at the house were spent entertaining friends and family. She would take in roasting large cuts of meats and mashed potatoes she’d dress them with her signature self.

In the early 60’s Velouté had left her husband for a while and went to New York and Vegas due to an unfortunate obsession with the Rat Pack. Calling herself, "Vel," she found herself on many menus in the late 50’s and 60’s dressing up chicken breast cut into chunks and sold to many as Chicken Fricassee. She returned to her husband soon after and went right back to her married name.


Béchamel:

Béchamel loved life and hated the convent school. She left France and headed straight to Italy. Outside of the Alps and leaving Sienna, she had a brief tryst in the Italian Piedmont district with a young man named “Reggi” on a dairy farm. This dalliance left her with fond memories and a swollen belly. She and Reggiano had a son whom she named Alfredo. Alfredo remained in Italy with his father, but some of his romances with various shapes of pasta have travelled extensively.

Despite a child out of wedlock, and lots of talk and photos in the Paris Match, Béchamel continued her travels. While in England she met an English Lord, also on a dairy farm. Deeply in love and to the dismay of the French populis, she married Lord Cheddar and had a daughter named Mornay.

Mornay grew up, married Lord Worcestershire and they in turn moved to Louisiana. Shortly there after, Mornay left Lord Worcestershire for a man named Kraft whom she met at a party in Boston, she was with child at the time and gave birth to a son named Cheese.

Cheese grew up visiting his biological father in Louisiana, but was primarily raised in New York City and Chicago with his mother and step father. On a visit to Key West with his mother he met a young man of Italian American decent named Mac. Discovering a deep love of musical theatre the two became inseparable. Mac & Cheese became one of the most successful pairings since Chocolate & Peanut butter. They plan to marry in California later this year. Loved by ultra conservatives to small children, they easily adapt to any region or area they find themselves in.


Hollandaise:

Hollandaise left the convent school and headed to Provence. She had fallen in love with the region on a school trip and felt immediately at ease and at home there. Though planning to live in Citron, she met her first love in Aix. He was the son of a farmer and his name was Tarragon. They married quickly and had a daughter Béarnaise.

Béarnaise hated Provence, farms, fish and old people; she wanted to be in Monaco but after getting into too much trouble there, Hollandaise sent her to live with her Aunt Béchamel in New York. Living with Béchamel and Cheese, Béarnaise appeared to settle down. She and Cheese got along famously. They took a road trip to New Orleans to visit his father in Louisiana and partake in Mardi Gras. Once in New Orleans she promptly ditched Cheese and headed out on the town. After a long night of partying in the French Quarter, Béarnaise slept with a Chef named Tom Atopaste. This resulted in a daughter, she named Choron.

Hollandaise left France for Louisiana when her grand daughter, Choron was born. Hollandaise took Choron with her everywhere and easily befriended most everyone she met in New Orleans. Much to Béarnaise’s chagrin her mother had a buttery voice and the figure to match that never failed to lure in admirers. As a direct result, Eggs Benedict became incredibly popular with the brunch crowd.

Espagnole:

Espagnole was the eldest sister. Where as her other sisters were voluptious and smooth, Espagnole took many of her Fathers traits with her. She was strong, well balanced, a great personality and was clearly the most intelligent of the brood. When school ended she felt at home and sought to stay in the convent, much to the dismay of her sisters. At their urging to travel, not just read about places, she reluctantly agreed. Closing her eyes she waved her finger in the air and landed on the map for her first stop. Buenas Aires, Argentina!

Travelling through Argentina she met a Gaucho with traits like her father, the idea of the convent was history and she said I do. They bought their own ranch near a vineyard and settled down. Shortly thereafter, their son Demi-Glace was born.

Demi was the best of each of them, ruggedly handsome like his father, full bodied, intelligent and a great personality, a bit roguish in a charming way. In fact while Espagnole and her gaucho husband were happy to stay on the cattle ranch in Argentina, Demi joined his cousins in exploring the world.

In fact it’s safe to say that Demi got around. No matter where or when he was definitely the life of the party, it wasn’t hard to see how he made his way through all of Europe in what seemed like the blink of an eye. He came to America visiting New York, New Orleans and Chicago. He even tried his hand at acting in Hollywood. Demi almost settled down with young woman in Provence named Mustarde Dijon while visiting his Aunt Hollandaise. Though the relationship did not last, it ended amiably and gave his parents a grandson, Robert.


Tomato:

Tomato is the sweetest, sexiest and most robust of her sisters. Tomato left convent school and followed Béchamel to Italy. Because Béchamel did not want her “little sister” tagging along, she ditched her in Tuscany. Tomato found herself lost and alone. In the Piedmont she heard Béchamel was seeing a young man on a dairy farm. Reggi was no help and all hands. So, Tomato found herself exploring Italy on her own. She formed a band with friends she made, Basil and Oregano, and they toured around calling themselves Marinara. They were extremely well known for their “Extra Virgin” tour. They are in fact the number one group of one hit wonders of all time with Garlic Minced Me Up! Since disbanding, various forms of pasta from Fusilli to Tagliatelle have used Garlic… as covers.

Tomato travelled to Sicily and hung out with a guy named Caper for awhile. It was a dark time for her and while pregnant she hung out with some “savory” Italians and lived in a dingy apartment in a bad neighborhood near the docks. She had a daughter named Puttanesca which she left on Caper’s doorstep in the middle of the night. She met a guy on the docks in Sicily headed east on a spice boat and landed in India. She left India for China and snuck her way over rugged terrain back into Western Europe. At a bar one night in Prague she was abducted by a crazed fan and woke up in a creamery somewhere in Russia.

Having lost touch with many of her sisters, and needing to get her life back together she sold her rights to Marinara’s music and got on a plane for New York. When she got to America she heard that Hollandaise and Béchamel were visiting New Orleans, so off she went. While in the French Quarter with her sisters she was recognized by a young Cajun Chef recently returned from Europe as the lead singer of Marinara. Since he knew Hollandaise he asked her to introduce them. Though successful in wooing her, Tomato was not the settling down type. They did have a daughter named Creole whom stayed with her father in New Orleans.

Tomato found her way to Memphis following a blues and jazz guitarist, called himself Rib Bone. Rib bone took her to Chicago where she left him for a romp with an oil man and rancher named Briskett. Briskett took her to Kansas City and then he took her back home to Texas. And in Texas she almost got married…Tomato fled for Mexico as fear of commitment settled in. She began instead a personal odyssey searching for a long lost family lineage.
Outside of Mexico City she met an Aztec descendant named Xocolatl. She was immediately smitten, and their relationship was full of passion and spice. They’re daughter Mole was born. Later Tomato became involved with another man named Chipotle whom she hired to lead her expedition to trace her lineage; they had a child as well, a son called Adobo. On this expedition she at last found the relatives she had been looking for: an old sage woman named Salsa and her daughter Salsa Fresca. Tomato returned to Italy where she now sings with former band mates. Mole and Adobo travel extensively through Mexico, the American Southwest, and Chicago.