While the drought certainly put a damper on summer favorites like tomatoes (and my front lawn), with sunny days and an adequate amount of rain during September and October, the fall harvest is in full bloom. If you’re craving some locally grown veggies but you don’t have a garden, don’t worry. Schlafly Bottleworks has its own garden and a menu tailored to showcase the produce. That’s right; the people at Bottleworks are kicking backyard farming up a notch with Gardenworks, a seventh of an acre urban farm right next to the microbrewery. Next time you head to Bottleworks, before you sit down for your meal, take a self-guided tour and check out the beds where thousands of pounds of produce are grown and used in menu items for both Bottleworks and the Schlafly Tap Room.
After touring this verdant garden before my Meatless Monday meal, I knew I had to have a high concentration of those freshly grown greens on my plate. Couple the fruits of Schlafly’s labor (I’m talkin’ veggies, though the brews qualify, too.) with wholesome grains, and you’ve got yourself a salad that you can be proud to call dinner. In the Quinoa and Greenwheat Freekah Salad (pictured), protein-packed white quinoa and greenwheat freekah (a roasted green grain) get lightly dressed and studded with black beans, juicy tomatoes and crisp cucumbers. Herbs fresh from the garden brighten up the flavor of this grain salad that is piled atop leafy greens.
Can’t make it to Bottleworks for the harvest before the nighttime frosts begin? No worries; enjoying the Vegetarian Thai Curry made with root vegetables grown under the heaters on the patio, will do just fine, too.
This article appears in October 2012.