Texas Locavore

The next time you dine at Vespaio or its adjacent brother Enoteca, sneak around back before being seated to see what’s fresh.  In a terraced set of beds sandwiched between parking lots in this very urban spot, the staff  grows a wild array of produce:  artichokes, basil, tomatoes, olives, and parsley, to name but a few of the leaves I spotted there last night.  Executive chef and owner Alan Lazarus has a real affinity for local, and I suppose this is pretty much as local as it gets!  He buys local too, though, from farmers who come to his door as well as from meat vendors and cheese makers around the state.  (He even stocks CKC Farms’ baby caprino - one of the best, but most elusive, cheeses made in Texas - in the market at the front of Enoteca.) Sadly, though, I don’t know if any of my dinner at Enoteca last night was sourced locally.  I asked the waiter which menu items included ingredients from the garden or other local sources, and he replied that they did everything they could to use these ingredients.  While I applaud the broad effort, I would have appreciated some specifics.  The lesson?  Keep asking.  Clearly the Vespaio family knows customers care about local.  It stands to reason, then, that they will get better at talking about it if customers keep asking.