To Begin
Do a round first, get an idea of pricing. It's always good to take note of what farmer talks to you about their stuff and the knowledge they have about it - that's always big. There's a lot of young people in New York where it's their job to come and work in the stands, they don't live out at the farm, so if you can figure out when the farmer's at the stand, because often they're planting this time of year, if you know what day the farmer's there, that's kind of cool. So I would just ask that.
I just go around and check things. A lot of time ingredients will spur on different dish ideas. A lot of places, choice of protein might drive the menu. But for us it's whatever vegetables are in the market. I think 'farm to table' is so over used, so New-American, so I try not to use that. Basically my upbringing is Italian, and everything we did was based on the season and what was in my grandmother's garden - so I feel like the garden drives things for me. It wasn't a novelty to cook that way, to have the veggies drive what I'm thinking about.
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