the quest for zest

A food & travel community from The Crossroads of America.

Eat Local. Travel Global.

The Return to the Valley of Paradise

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A brilliant farm-to-fork kitchen and bar in Valparaiso, Indiana.

It had been a hot day at the beach. The sun made the sand painful to walk across and the wind whipped it into clouds that stung eyes and skin. The water in Lake Michigan was so cold we could barely tolerate being waist-deep in it for more then a few minutes. That’s the thing about going to the beach in Indiana in May though; the odds of it being a great experience are just as good as the odds of it being regrettable. Likewise, we know that returning to a restaurant we had a fantastic dining experience at was no guarantee that it would be amazing a second time. We had little hesitation about returning to Valley Kitchen and Bar in Valparaiso, Indiana.

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The Publican

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Part farm house. Part beer hall. Entirely delicious.

I didn’t know what to expect from a dinner at The Publican in Chicago. Those in the know all agreed it was a must for people serious about food and it certainly looked enticing from the photographs I had seen. Had I known we were blithely walking into a James Beard award-winning, beer-focused, farm-to-fork restaurant, I probably would have studied the menu harder before arriving; and skipped breakfast and lunch.

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Trader’s Point Creamery

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Rustic elegance meets sublime cuisine.

Just off interstate 465 on the west side of Indianapolis, down a tree-lined back road and across a narrow bridge, awaits a dining experience you can scarcely believe exists within the borders of our fair state’s capital. On a hill, overlooking grassy fields, sits a 19th century barn that is home to Trader’s Point Creamery’s restaurant, The Loft. It’s idillic country setting started to work it’s magic on us as soon as we stepped out of the car. It was a quiet evening and the air was crisp and faintly scented with the smell of fresh cut grass and wet earth. A farmhand was turning over the soil in one of the large gardens and a curious barn cat stalked us from a safe distance. We could feel our pulses begin to slow down and our shoulders start to unclinch after a day spent in the heavy traffic of Indianapolis’s north side. Although we had just arrived, it was so peaceful, dinner was becoming an afterthought.

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Valley

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A farm-to-fork-kitchen and bar.

The worst part about vacations is that they end. As our latest trip to The Windy City was winding down, it was obvious that we needed to head for home, but we didn’t want the fun to end. Even though we were exhausted from four days of exploring the city, we drug our heals through Wicker Park, struggling to come up with the flimsiest of pretexts to stay a little longer. What we really wanted was one last terrific meal before returning to our regularly scheduled lives.

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Farm to Fork with Aaron Butts

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Joseph Decuis’s Executive Chef talks about cooking locally and sustainably.

For Executive Chef Aaron Butts, cooking sustainably with locally available ingredients is more than just a momentary fascination. For him, it's a way of life. It not only determines what he cooks, but the preparation of his cuisine and when it will on be the menu. He also has a strong desire to educate others on the need to start eating locally.

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