A Shorter Link Between the Farm And Dinner Plate

While the company uses organic products, many of its pizza ingredients are not native to Loudoun County. The dough, cheese and tomato sauce are all from other regions. Not all of the restaurant's soft drinks, beers or wines are strictly local, either. Still, the company is making locally grown food an emphasis, Janice Vasko said.

In the off-season, the restaurant will try hearty roots and winter vegetables for soups and other dishes. They will try to buy local greenhouse greens. But the Vaskos acknowledge they will have to buy outside Loudoun as the colder months begin.

The couple hired chef John LoBuglio in March, turning over to him the duties of building and maintaining local relationships with farmers. LoBuglio has been roaming Loudoun County's farm country in his tan Dodge Caravan.

As a scorching sun hung high over the Purcellville farmers market one afternoon, LoBuglio conducted a hunt for scallions, spinach, cheese and corn for his weekly special: flatbread pizza with U.S. wild shrimp. Also on his list were baby romaine leaves for a Caesar salad and berries for a dessert plate.

LoBuglio is still perfecting the art of shopping at farmers markets. For one thing, the farmers deal in cash. Receipts come on cardboard with no quantities and a single price, raising accounting issues. LoBuglio responded by developing his own receipts with a spreadsheet, printed on half-sheets of paper.

Planning a menu based on locally available produce also requires flexibility, as LoBuglio cannot simply order whatever he wants.

"I believe in using what I have," LoBuglio said. "I believe people will love what I have thought up."

The chef spent an hour weaving between shoppers hunting his quarry. He eyed tomatoes resting on one table. Good for sauce but not salad. He picked up a zucchini and examined it. Too big, and likely to have too many seeds. He picked up another zucchini. Too small.

"I need it to be more uniform in size," he said. "A restaurant has to present a consistent product."

In the end, LoBuglio found what he needed beneath a tent belonging to Chester Hess, an enormous man in a plaid shirt, weathered bluejeans and a camouflage hat that read "Git-R-Done."

LoBuglio picked out 36 ears of sweet corn, six boxes of tomatoes, three boxes of blueberries and six boxes of black raspberries, and began tallying the total on his new spreadsheet receipt. Hess interjected before he could finish, averaging out a price with a discount factored in.

"What will you have next week?" LoBuglio asked, walking away a pleased man with his produce.

"Pretty much the same thing," Hess replied.