Sundays are usually dark at Blackbird, but one recent humid evening saw the chic Randolph Street spot thronged with diners assembled on behalf of the Land Connection, a downstate-based nonprofit devoted to promoting the growth of organic farming. Benefit attendees feasted on a seven-course meal made chiefly from the products of farmers affiliated with the Land Connection and prepared by a team of Chicago chefs: Dean Zanella of 312 Chicago, Bruce Sherman of North Pond, Jason Hammel and Amalea Tshilds of the Logan Square cafe Lula, and Blackbird’s own Paul Kahan.
Best of Chicago voting is live now. Vote for your favorites »
Behind the counter separating Blackbird’s open kitchen from the dining room, the chefs milled around throughout the meal, watching the diners with the slightly purposeless demeanor of an all-star band assembling for an encore at a rock festival. Shuttling quietly back and forth through this scene was Brian Wolff, a cook in Kahan’s kitchen and the driving force behind the event. Wolff, who came to Chicago four years ago, is a regular at the Saturday-morning farmers’ market in Evanston. That’s where he became familiar with Henry’s Farm, the ten-year-old organic operation run by Henry Brockman, brother of Land Connection president and founder Terra Brockman. “His specialty is variety,” says Terra. Henry’s 15 cultivated acres grow an astonishing 400 varieties of vegetables; Wolff remembers scrupulously cleaning one particularly beautiful baby lettuce with a mature whole head no more than four inches around. Unlike most of the producers who supply local restaurants, the farm doesn’t deliver, but several restaurants now send staff up to Evanston to partake of Henry’s bounty.
Kahan himself is a longtime regular at the city’s markets, but after Wolff introduced him to the organic produce at Henry’s Farm, Blackbird became a major customer. “We think we’re using the best ingredients available–and they come from only 150 miles away,” says Wolff. “At Blackbird, there’s a lot of fellow feeling [with the Land Connection]. It’s about the food, but more than that it’s about doing what you want to do, what you love, and doing it the way you want to do it.”
The Evanston farmers’ market runs 7:30 to 1 Saturday mornings through the end of October in the parking lot at Oak and University. The Henry’s Farm stall is near the southeast corner. For more information on the Land Connection, call 309-965-2407.
