Morsels from the editor's desk

The happiest advantage of buying direct is avoiding maddening queues at carparks and checkouts. Then there's the deeper satisfaction of knowing the grower, or at least knowing there is a grower, on a farm or in a kitchen.

I've never liked those weekly fruit and vegetable boxes, where you kind of get a mixed box of stuff you might or might not want, without being able to pick over and choose your produce. And the inability to choose this apple rather than that one is one of the disadvantages of getting it delivered to your door. But if you're buying from a good local grower, you know that pretty much any apple is going to be better than most of the mass-supply versions. With meat, it's difficult to think of any downside, except the need for a big freezer when they want to deliver by the quarter animal.

This is a growing trend. Check out our story (on pages 8-9) and see goodfood.com.au to offer your tips about who we should be buying from. Maybe we can get a movement going here.

One of the final door-to-door deliveries to stop was milk, and I imagine it will be one of the last to begin again, given the obvious problem of non-refrigerated letterboxes. We've been thinking about milk this week, after Jack Waterford, who regards most food trends as ludicrous conceits of people with too much time and money but, nevertheless, sees eye to eye with me on milk, pointed me to this story: m.npr.org/news/Health/174739752. It questions the official advice to drink low-fat milk, and quotes studies finding children drinking low-fat were heavier than those drinking full-fat. As Waterford says, fat plays a crucial role in milk (other than carrying the nutrients): it tells you when you've had enough.

New Braddon eatery

Sean Royle and Gus Armstrong are close to opening their new venture in Braddon, to be called Eightysix. The name, we’re told, comes from an expression in the industry for menu items only available in limited supply – if an item has been ‘‘86ed’’ there’s not much left – and reflects a determination to run a fast-changing blackboard menu.
Royle says the focus will be on highly seasonal food and top produce, with a menu including pickles, fresh filled pastas, and terrines, with dishes all for sharing.
‘‘We’re trying to do stuff in quirky new ways,’’ he says. ‘‘We’re aiming for simple execution of very, very good food. We don’t want to be contrived. We just want to take all the bullshit out of dining.’’
Which sounds like an excellent aim, and all the more so when Royle mentions Cafe Sopra in Sydney as a place they love. Sopra has a very funky vibe, with excellent, simple food highly focused on good produce.
The Eightysix wine list looks overseas and the coffee list looks over the road to Lonsdale Street Roasters.
Royle is a former partner in Belluci’s, selling out two years ago and heading overseas. Armstrong, pictured, owns Ellacure, the feel-good Italian at Bruce. The chef at Eightysix is Michael Carey, also from Ellacure.
On the corner of Lonsdale Street and Elouera, opens in April, and will be open seven days, lunch and dinner, plus weekend breakfast, 6161 8686.

A fine French affair

New Caledonian singer Vanuella Watt, pictured, will perform a tribute to the French singer Edith Piaf (1915-1963) at Le Tres Bon in Bungendore on Sunday, April 7.
Josephine Gregoire of Le Tres Bon says Watt describes her background thus: ‘‘My father is a sculptor, my mother is a pianist, my father is black, my mother is white, they are so different, they are north and south. Growing up in this artistic and multicultural universe has given me a special vision of the world.’’
The three-course French lunch from Christophe Gregoire – French onion soup, chicken chasseur, apple clafoutis – will be followed by dancing. April 7, 1pm. Two courses $50, three courses $65. Phone 6238 0662.

Orchard fund-raiser

The annual Loriendale Apple Day is on Saturday, April 6, where organic orchardist Owen Pidgeon (a Food and Wine columnist) opens his orchard to raise money for church-supported charities, including the Oasis Africa-run Kibera Community School in Nairobi and the Green Pastures Hospital in Nepal, which treats people with leprosy and tuberculosis. The orchard will sell apples, pears and quinces, as well as vegetables from his farm, plus organic vegies from other growers who run stalls on the day. There’s also an organic barbecue from Bonah meats, pancakes and crepes, freshly crushed apple juice from the wooden apple press, and jams and relishes, and Loriendale’s apple pies. Plus music from local choirs and orchestras. Spring Range Road, near Hall, 1.30pm-5pm, gold coin donation.

Wheely good coffee

Two Before Ten coffee shop hosts its second Out On the Townie day on Sunday, April 7. An intersection of bike and coffee culture, it involves displays of best vintage, BMX, hipster and handmade bikes and best-bike competitions in five categories – people’s choice, BMX, hand-built, recycled and vintage (pre-1980s). Also “rawhide roller racing”, which (we could be wrong) might be where you ride your bike on rollers, so not only do you go nowhere, there’s the trick of balancing. A bike photobooth for you and your bike, coffee-sack races, a coffee-roasting demonstration, and an outdoor bar.
While at Two Before Ten, the Next Generation Hunter Valley winemakers will be there on Thursday, May 16, to show their wines. The Caravan of Courage tour offers 24 Hunter Valley wines for tasting. $35.

Direct from kalamata

Canberran Dennis Gizas, pictured, has released the latest vintage of his kalamata olive oil, made on his family olive grove in Greece. Gizas, who teaches at the University of Canberra, spends part of the year in Greece.
This year, his father, 83, harvested the olives, with the final press for the robust oil at the end of December and the delicate oil at the end of January. The oil comes from the family’s 1000 trees (100 of which are his) in the Peloponnese, near the city of Kalamata, and from neighbouring groves.
Gizas tweaks his oils by changing the harvest time to get the taste he’s after. He says it’s been a challenging year, with dry weather earlier on and late winter rains and snow, so his harvest was down – with about three tonnes from the family trees, instead of five. He’s also had the challenges of an olive oil glut around the world and the uncertain Greek economy.
Sold through delicatessens and used at restaurants including Artisan, Konoba, Bicicletta and Cream.

Tricks of presentation

Canberra cooking school Foodish is running a workshop on Saturday, April 13, on how to present food, called Eat With Your Eyes. Vanessa Scanes, formerly of Sitting Ducks Catering, leads the workshop, which looks at colour, size, texture, height and placement, Foodish owner Alaine Chanter says. They will also discuss ‘‘trends or philosophies’’ of presentation, such as ‘‘paysan’’, ‘‘deconstructed’’ and ‘‘linear’’, terms which seem to speak for themselves. Hands up all those opponents of linear.
‘‘The idea,’’ Chanter says, ‘‘is that food on the plate tells a story, and we can change the story with different styles of presentation.’’ April 13, 2.30-4.30 pm, alaine@befoodish.com.au, $55.