S.W AND RICH HERMANSEN
Staff Writers
wine@lbknews.com
Using web sites in place of physical locations and shared commercial kitchens, chefs, bakers, caterers, and “pop-up” restaurants are building client databases and distributing
menus and offers via e-mails, text messages, and phone calls. Clients order food on-line or by phone. Food vendors deliver orders to clients through a variety of means: employees, Door Dash and other food delivery services, Uber/Lyft, and taxis. Further, famously in the San Francisco Bay area, a last-minute secret “pop-up” restaurant address in a text message.
While we enjoy dining out with a cocktail before dinner and wine with a meal as much as anyone, these excursions often lead to overeating and meals high in salt, sugar, and fat. The cost of dining out also puts a strain on the budget. Selective orders of healthy foods for home delivery give us alternatives to dining out in the comfort of home.
After a careful web search for local food vendors, we decided to try a small on-line business, Jo’s to Go’s Meal Prep (jos-to-gos.com). The web site specifies that orders must be placed by noon on Saturday. Orders on Saturday for deliveries go out the following Tuesday morning. Jo’s to Go’s delivers orders across a wide area (basically the entire metropolitan area of Sarasota and Manatee) for a flat fee of five dollars. As an experiment, we checked their menu for the week and ordered a few main and side dishes. When we found that the place where the order would be stored prior to delivery was within walking distance, we asked to pick up the order there and save the delivery charge.
The location where the order would be stored for pick-up turned out to be the storefront location on Central Avenue of Tamiami Trail Catering. The owner of Tamiami Trail Catering, Chef Jeremy Davis, an enterprising young front man for a business that includes meal delivery, event catering, private jet catering, cooking classes, and, most relevant for our understanding of this sector of the gig economy, a shared kitchen.
Chef Jeremy promotes businesses that timeshare his kitchen. He hands out their menus and food description flyers. He suggests visiting the Sarasota Downtown Farmers’ Market and tasting some of the special foods prepared in his kitchen. Davis’s shared kitchen is helping bring start-up businesses to the Rosemary District of Sarasota.
Jo’s to Go’s has turned out to be a fortunate find. Chef Joanna Fotch and her husband and business manager Derek have launched a healthy meal business that draws on Chef Joanna’s education (BS in Nutrition Science, Loyola Marymount and graduate of Cordon Bleu in Paris) and frontline experience in fine dining kitchens. Her cooking showcases the blending of fresh, local ingredients and flavorful herbs, spices, and rich sauces. The dishes travel well. Microwaves and toaster ovens revive the texture and flavors. A lightly acidic sauce and a dusting of spices brings a simple roasted cauliflower side dish to life. A medium-rare beef filet has enough of a rare interior to withstand reheating in an oven. Tart cherries and almond slivers enrich the flavors of a wild rice side dish. A salad of thin soba noodles, jicama, red cabbage dressed with tahini and a hint of mint makes a light and tasty lunch. A roasted beet falafel comes with a tasty yellow pepper sauce. The entrees, salads, breakfast items, side dishes, and desserts on the menu have increased in number during the last few weeks.
Individual tastes, preferences, diet restrictions, and budgets factor into decisions about what to order and reorder. The web offers a wide enough range of selections to meet the needs of almost everyone. Try a few selections and let your palate guide your decisions about vendors and deliveries.
S. W. Hermansen has used his expertise in econometrics, data science and epidemiology to help develop research databases for the Pentagon, the National Institutes of Health, the Department of Agriculture, and Health Resources and Services. He has visited premier vineyards and taste wines from major appellations in California, Oregon, New York State, and internationally from Tuscany and the Piedmont in Italy, the Ribera del Duero in Spain, the Barossa Valley and McLaren Vale in Australia, and the Otego Valley in New Zealand. Currently he splits time between residences in Chevy Chase, Maryland and St. Armand’s Circle in Florida.
Rich Hermansen selected has first wine list for a restaurant shortly after graduating from college with a degree in Mathematics. He has extensive service and management experience in the food and wine industry. Family and friends rate him as their favorite chef, bartender, and wine steward. He lives in Severna Park, Maryland.
