The first time I learned about our Rooftop gardener was via the Daily News. It was a nice surprise to realize that this unique idea was taking hold right here in our backyard, Greenpoint. So I decided to go on Facebook and look for the name I have seen in the newspaper, Mr. Ben Flanner. At that time, my search threw 3 people with the same name but no picture, so I decided to email two with my interest of collaborating in exchanging coffee ground compost and purchasing fresh produce for my Mounted Arepas and all other Colombian Dinner recipes. Luckily, Ben Flanner contacted us in person at Cafecito a few days later and a visit to the Rooftop Farm was arranged. This was the beginning of a fantastic and delicious partnership.
Arriving at the Rooftop farm was a personal throwback. It brought beautiful Andean memories of Bogotá; an open verdant field of gorgeous-looking produce, spread over a high plateau perched against the most striking background ever closer to the sky. The scallion, cilantro and tomato fields immediately stood-out and it was futile to resist going crop by crop touching plumpy green tomatoes, smelling the aromatic herbs, chewing edible flowers and savoring the bitter salad leaves. An overpowering feeling of connecting with the earth was inescapable; a feel-good experience about the great people who make this possible was present, and the amazing sense of luckiness for having access to this wonderful food market kept lingering.
Cafecito’s first order arrived in four cute crates containing the freshest cilantro, scallion, fields greens mesclun and edible flowers, which were proudly used in the preparation of all our Mounted Arepa recipes. Our kitchen uses the staple of Colombian basic food ingredients: scallion, garlic, tomatoes and cilantro; field greens are served with virtually all our food orders, therefore there was no order that would not contain one or two local organic ingredients from the neighbor farmers, and virtually all our customers have gotten to try this stellar produce. People have been curious about the taste and how differently these unique produce flavors our food. There is a difference in taste: sharper, sometimes bitter and more wholesome than industrially-grown produce. This produce definitively enhances and brings out all the flavors of a particular dish, and nicely fits Cafecito’s motto: Fresh. Honest. Delicious. Authentic. Colombian Food.
We once had a customer who complained because her boyfriend dining companion started crying as they were having dinner. We soon realized that our new scallion was the culprit. In our quest for bringing organic authenticity, a more powerful and strong breed of produce was discovered especially when chopped. This incident gave proof about the amazing authenticity of this produce and a compelling reason to vouch for the great produce quality and the great work of our Rooftop neighbor farmers, Ben Flanner + Annie Novak.
Visit: www.RoofTopFarmers.org
