When Max owner and
chef Tony Gullace met me and his other chefs, Dan Eaton and Mark Cupolo, he’d
already been at the Public Market an hour. Tony agreed to 7 a.m., but a
creature of habit, he’d been up and about well before 6. He’s loved the market
for years, but it’s all business for a restaurant guy. He parks as close to his
main vendor as possible, picks up orders, and goes. As Rooney’s chef Steve
Desantis put it, “I’m on a mission from God.”
Last Saturday, Tony
slowed down for a few minutes at Java Joe’s, where we tried Joe’s new Galapagos
coffee. Nobody believes the coffee is actually from the islands Darwin made
famous, but Joe doesn’t care. Dan, Mark, Joe, and I were just getting
comfortable when Tony told us to get moving; Max was hosting a wedding, and
there wasn’t much time for talk.
Looking for the chefs
at the Market? Try behind the stalls.
Most restaurants call in orders, and the farmers have them ready to pick up.
Tony is parked in a space behind Louis Chelini’s stall when Desantis and
Richardson’s chef Tom Polizzi pull up and stop right in the road. It’s all
about efficiency.
Gullace has been
buying produce from Chelini for years, and Dan Eaton says, “Louie taught my son
a man’s handshake.” Chelini’s farm, now run by son Craig, is in Williamson.
Today, Max needs corn — perhaps for Cupolo’s corn chowder — apples,
arugula, and tomatoes. Chelini says it’s been a bad year, and that Market
customers are discouraged. But the tomatoes are finally looking good, and
August/September is still glorious at the Public Market.
Next, we’re off to
the Kirby Farm stall. George and Terry Kirby started in 1970, first with a
dairy and pig farm, but slowly moved into fruit. They quickly started selling
their own produce — rather than selling it wholesale for a pittance — from
their Brockport farm market (9739 Ridge Road West), as well as at the Public
Market. Kirby peaches figure prominently in Max’s tri-color salad with roasted
peaches, cashews, and camembert.
Mark Cupolo and I
lingered, trying the small but spectacularly sweet green gauge plums. Mark
pointed out that you never see plums on restaurant menus, and I could see the
wheels turning. Timothy Kirby, who now owns and runs his parents’ farm, says
the weather has effected quantities, but that Kirby’s isn’t charging any more
this year. Oddly in this wet year, they’ve needed to irrigate. “It doesn’t take
much,” Timothy says, “to go from too wet to too dry.”
Tony Gullace’s last
stop was Fairport’s Vercruysse Farms, where the semi-retired Ray Vercruysse
holds forth. Ray’s son, Richard, runs the farm, and Gullace buys lettuce,
carrots, radishes (a Vercruysse specialty), beets, and parsnips here.
Interestingly, all three of the aforementioned are family farms that have been
passed down a generation fairly recently.
This farm has been in
the Vercruysse family for more than 75 years, and Ray has been coming to the
market for 65. “When we started,” he told us, “it was a wholesale market till
8. We’d be back on the farm by 7.” He says there aren’t that many farmers at the
Market any more, and I suspect this type of family farm might be a dying breed.
He explained that his son made deliveries late the night before, then loaded
the market truck. Then, Ray got up at 3 a.m. to come here. “If it were easy,”
he says, “Everybody’d be doing it. Believe it or not, I enjoy it.”
Tony was off at that
point, but Dan, Mark, and I hung around. We stopped at Michelle DeMeyer’s stall
for what Dan Eaton says are the best root vegetables. DeMeyer is a Kodak art
director who still runs a portion of her father’s farm. A picture of Gerard DeMeyer,
who died in February of 2003, hangs on a column at the stall. Eaton considered
him a good friend.
Michelle DeMeyer
farms six or seven of her 20 acres in Greece. The town wants the land to put
cell towers on or something. In this case, no new generation will carry on
after her. The town will eventually get its wish.
I wandered off to
shop, and ran into Dan and Mark half an hour later, talking to Barry Kucker at
Fare Game Food Co. We got talking about “The Ghost,” Tony Gullace, about all
his nervous energy. Mark says he’s traveled with the guy, and he’s up late, up
early, always moving. Maybe he was a farmer in another life.
Efficiency aside, the
connection between these chefs and their Public Market vendors is real and very
cool. Years of relationships result in these guys getting the very best
produce, and nobody handles it like Gullace, Cupolo, and Eaton.
Food tip
Bee-Licious Cafรฉ and
Catering has opened in the gorgeous atrium of the Powers Building, 16 West Main
Street. Linda Czajkowski offers breakfast and lunch weekdays from 7 to 3:30.
Check out specials like Curried apple soup, gingered pear salad, and hot turkey
with mashed potatoes. 454-5920.
— Michael Warren
Thomas
Michael Warren Thomas
can be heard on WYSL 1040 AM. Tune in on Saturdays for gardening, restaurants,
and travel from 9 to noon, and on Sundays for Toronto restaurants and wine from
10 to noon. Listen live on the web at www.SavorLife.com.
This article appears in Sep 1-7, 2004.
