Congratulations, San Francisco, we are now on "the cutting edge of the urban agriculture movement"! Over a "salad toast" this morning, Temporary Mayor Ed Lee signed an ordinance this morning amending the zoning code to allow you, the urban gardener, to sell your produce for a profit to individuals or restaurants. Delightful, right? We should be rolling in hyper-fresh avocados any day now. And while, the new legislation was intended to allow community gardens like Little City Gardens or Hayes Valley Farm to make a modest living off the land they tilled from harsh concrete in to usable soil, that doesn't mean we individuals can't make a quick buck off of some fresh produce, does it? With that in mind, here's our shortlist of produce items necessary for popular dishes at local restaurants:
- Rapini greens - a key ingredient that tops Nopa's popular bar bite item: the bacon and rapini flatbread with green garlic cream.
- Escarole, dandelion, and watercress - currently being served on the prix-fixe menu at Chez Panisse. Not that we'd recommend sabotaging Alice Waters' backyard supply chain, but should she run out she'll need another local source or the whole Waters empire will collapse upon itself.
- Butternut squash - for the slightly more adventurous gardener, look to get in to squashes. You could be selling these guys to One Market for their soups and squash puree side items. Hold on to the blossoms too, One Market throws them in their open-face omelette.
- Cilantro - We're not exactly horticulturists around here, but as far as we can tell, cilantro is basically a weed so you know it's easy to grow. Bonus: plenty of taquerias to sell to.
- Potatoes - because every good menu needs some organic truffle fries. Extra points if you forage for the truffles
What else is nice this time of year? Do people still get excited about swiss chard?
