We’re rooted in enriching your taste buds on this week’s episode of Food Farms and Chefs Radio Show!
We first spoke with an environmentally-friendly owner who made it her business to compost everyone’s leftovers. She does this to prevent the daily negative impact that is associated with food waste. We then chatted with a local restaurant & brewery that is offering a unique take on classic favorites, along with expanding their menu offerings with cuisines giving an homage to their Albanian roots. Lastly, we end our show with a delicious array of ice creams that are made from scratch with ingredients obtained from local farmers and purveyors.
Founder Colleen Falicki was inspired to compost years before starting Back To Earth Compost. She grew up learning little tricks from her grandparents who had maintained a healthy garden. Then in high school, the budding entrepreneur formed the group STEM (Save the Environment Man). Years later, after marrying and having a family of her own, Colleen formed Back To Earth Compost and has since turned the Green-friendly business into a community gem. With options to have your compost picked up (locally), or utilize one of the drop-off locations–you can save the environment one 5-gallon bucket at a time.
Next, Gene Blum chatted with the Director of Operations for M2O Burgers & Executive Chef, Richard Dobies of the newly opened Töska Restaurant and Brewery in Philadelphia’s Germantown area. Chef Richard Dobies grew up learning how to cook, with his first job at the young age of 12 inside his cousin’s restaurant. Later, he re-entered the culinary scene after health issues arose in his family’s restaurants which eventually led Dobies to a General Management position at M2O’s Newark, DE location. After seeing the positive impact of changes made by Dobies, the trio of brothers (Leo, Pep, and Jim Osmanollaj) who own Have a Burger and M2O Burgers, brought Richard on as their Director of Operations and Executive Chef for M2O and the new Töska Restaurant and Brewery. With the opening of Töska, visitors can experience a menu that will represent the Osmanollaj brother’s Albanian roots by adding a delicious twist on comfort food favorites!
For our last course on your intellectual palate, we discussed everyone’s favorite dessert: Ice cream! Owowcow Creamery was founded in 2009 by John Fezzuoglio, and is one of the few businesses licensed by the US Department of Agriculture to make America’s favorite sweet treat from scratch. So it was no wonder when he offered the position of Executive Chef to Alison Rizzo, she was elated to accept. Rizzo, who graduated from the Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY joined us to talk about what goes into making their flavorsome frozen treats, which hastens back to Fezzuoglio’s original mission: Support local agriculture while serving the community by creating ice cream that is real and honest.
