Edwardsville (Madison County), Illinois, home to Fond, an elegant farm to table restaurant, is just a short drive across the Mississippi from St. Louis, but it retains the small town charm of its historic origins.  One of the three oldest municipalities in Illinois, it remains the county seat and hosts Southern Illinois University Edwardsville (SIUE), with its 12,000 students [http://www.siue.edu/].  With a vibrant downtown that anchors an academic center and St. Louis bedroom community, it retains a small-town feel within the greater St. Louis metropolitan region.  Given its historic background and continued role as a university town helping to shape the future of civic life, it is fitting that Edwardsville is also a leader in farm-to-table dining since the establishment of Fond in October 2008.  Chef and owner Amy Zupanci, an Edwardsville native, returned to her hometown after working in the legendary Savoy and Mas Farmhouse restaurants of New York City.  “Mas” in the Old French, still used in Provence, means stone farmhouse, and the elegant and cinematic website for this New York City restaurant provides a vicarious thrill [http://www.masfarmhouse.com/].

The choice of Fond for the name of her restaurant reflects chef Zupanci’s experience preparing worldly-wise food in the big city.  “Fond” is used in French to refer to the tiny pieces of meat, which have been caramelized and are stuck to the bottom of a skillet after a piece of meat has been cooked.  This “fond” is the base of many classic pan sauces, by deglazing the pan with a liquid such as broth, wine or fruit juice and then incorporating the browned pieces of meat at the bottom of the pan.  A dab of butter is often added to the fond of the meat, and then garnished with such aromatic ingredients as garlic, shallots or herbs, also sautéed for a short while [www.blurtit.com/q319377].

Chef Zupanci’s desire to offer the best seasonal and responsibly sourced foods prepared artfully and with great skill has met with early critical acclaim.  Following on the restaurant’s initial success, Zupanci and her colleague, Karen Bailey, opened Township Grocer next door to the restaurant that provides both quick meals and supplies to stock the pantry.  Small-batch domestic cheeses from across the country and meats from a local New Douglas, Illinois farm are available for purchase.

Chef Zupanci’s philosophy of food is simple: find the best ingredients and prepare them with care and skill.  Fond’s pantry is stocked keeping the seasons in mind and also with a desire to find the best locally procured ingredients.  Several local purveyors are featured and are a testament to the strong agricultural roots of southern Illinois.  This emphasis on seasonality and locality are showcased in the constantly changing menus at Fond, which are written out on long sheets of paper and posted daily on the wall in the dining room.  A well-researched wine list offers a nice complement to the food.  However, with several excellent Missouri breweries nearby, we would encourage the addition of some of the local favorites to the offerings at the bar.

Fond is fittingly an anchor of Edwardsville’s Main Street that also features the county courthouse and administrative building.  The storefront space offers parking in the rear for busy days, while the front entrance features a small bar for patrons while they wait.  The restaurant caters almost exclusively to the dinner crowd with Sundays as the only day open for lunchtime traffic.  An open floor plan, high ceilings, and light, springtime colors make for an inviting space that exudes relaxed comfort while white tablecloths and expert place settings highlight the sophistication underlying the restaurant.  The personable and attentive front of house staff was very welcoming.  Although we made a reservation there were only a few other patrons in what seemed like an unusually empty space.  Given that the area was experiencing an unusual summer-like day and SIUE was on spring break this was undoubtedly an anomaly that had our waiter similarly puzzled.  Our waiter ushered us to a corner table and was quite knowledgeable about both the food and the origins of the products.

The menu for Sunday brunch was simple with five classic choices ranging from a fresh brunch salad with fried eggs ($12) to halibut ($18).  Despite this limited offering, each option was so intriguing that it took some thought to make our decisions.  My companion settled on the biscuits with Fond sausage gravy and poached eggs ($15).  The house-made sausage was made with pork sourced from Rensing Pork and Beef, a small producer of fine quality meats in nearby New Douglas.  I opted for the omelette with spinach, caramelized onions, and cheddar cheese served with a potato pancake ($14).  The eggs were farm-fresh arrivals from Peter and Jody VanKleef’s Brabant Farm just up the road in Pocahontas, which also is the source of the restaurant’s lamb [http://www.fondfinedining.com/our_farm_partners.html].

The staff attentively and unobtrusively refilled our drinks while we waited and made us feel at home.  Our meals were artfully presented.  My omelette was picture perfect, and I felt a twinge of guilt about cutting into such a wonderful looking dish.  There are a few basics of cooking that every aspiring chef must master: poaching an egg, roasting a chicken, and making an omelette.  Chef Zupanci has not only mastered the omelette, but could rewrite the rules on how to make one.  After our first bites my companion and I immediately agreed that it was the best omelette either of us had ever tasted.  The caramelized onion base was a perfect sweet and tangy starting point while the interior contained wonderfully sharp cheddar.  The spinach was just barely wilted to retain the fresh flavor and was mixed throughout the egg.  Brabant Farm has hit upon the secret of producing excellent eggs.  The one unfortunate thing about the omelette was that it has permanently spoiled me.  I doubt that I will ever find a lighter, fluffier, or more flavorful concoction.  The crisp potato pancake made in the hash brown style with julienne-cut potatoes provided a nice textural counterpoint.

My companion’s sausage gravy and biscuits were delectable.  The homemade sausage with the local pork provided excellent flavor without the greasiness usually associated with breakfast sausage.  The biscuits were flaky melt in your mouth cushions that released a smooth butter flavor as you chewed.  Two perfectly poached eggs topped the biscuits and reinforced the heartiness of the dish.  While overall an excellent dish, the gravy was a touch too salty for my companion, though I found it to be nicely balanced.  A rich chocolate pot de crème and a black and white bread pudding tempted us for dessert, but unfortunately we were both too full from our entrees to give them a try.

Fond is a destination dining experience.  The excellent quality of the food and relaxed yet refined dining experience provide tremendous value for your money (with coffee, tax, and tip our Sunday brunch came to $40).  Fond is a dining pleasure I hope to repeat often (Ethan Bennett 3/21/11).  [Fond, 106 North Main Street, 618.656.9001, Dinner: Tues, Wed, Sun 5:00PM-8:00PM, Thurs 5:00PM-9:00PM, Fri-Sat 5:00PM-11:00PM, Brunch: Sun 11:00AM-2:00PM www.fondfinedining.com ]
[Editor’s Note- Sadly, Fond Restaurant closed in Late Spring of 2011]

Linda Worden/Photographer

Linda Worden/ Photographer

Once a week on Saturdays from Memorial Day weekend until Columbus Day weekend, and every other Saturday in the off-season, the Bees Knees Café on Heather Ridge Farm in Preston Hollow (Albany County, NY) serves lunch to the public. This farmhouse dining in an old 1840’s working farmhouse, which has changed little in the past 170 years with its wide plank floors and simple wood framed windows, is an authentic experience that raises the spirits and makes the diner feel close to the richness of nature and the succor of the land, even in the snow and cold of a severe winter.  In Albany, NY, we are approaching 80 inches of snow for this 2010-11 winter, and without any thaw in January and few days with temperatures above freezing in February, the snow banks have grown to remarkable heights (still, Syracuse, NY with its 160.3 inches of snow this winter makes any complaints about Albany’s snow totals seem like whining [www.9wsyr.com/content/weather/seasonal_snow_total.aspx]).

Our plans to drive for an hour south from Albany to Preston Hollow, in the southwestern corner of Albany County which abuts the northern reaches of the Catskills Mountains, to lunch at the Bees Knees Café, has long been on the agenda this winter, but the snow and ice has been a deterrence.  This past Friday, before a planned trip south on Saturday into the countryside, another foot of snow fell on the city, but when Saturday dawned, the sun was shining and the streets had been plowed, and we maneuvered the car out of the snow and ice and made the trip south into rural Albany County.

When the Bees Knees Café is open for lunch on Saturdays from Memorial Day to Columbus Day, it has a full café menu which makes the mouth water in anticipation of warmer weather and includes: (i) a pulled pork sandwich, lightly smoked with a tangy honey barbecue sauce, (ii) Greek beef stew of grass fed beef slow simmered with wine, small onions and spices, (iii) chicken salad made of pasture-raised chicken with apples, walnuts, and celery with honey vinaigrette dressing, or (iv) a cheese and charcuterie platter with local cheeses and the café’s own beef summer sausage and pepperoni.  But in late winter, when we made our visit, the café’s menu is accurately described as a “soup kitchen” menu, but don’t let that be a discouragement.  The “soup kitchen” menu for the Saturday of our visit featured a choice of two soups, either the café’s rich chili or a puree of garlic and onion, with slices of its Mountain bread, and excellent coffee (free-traded and single-sourced from Guatemala) or hot tea, and for dessert a slice of wondrously moist caramelized apple pecan cake with maple syrup crème fraiche.  The “serve yourself” procedure permitted second helpings, and for $15.00, it’s a lunch to savor at a very reasonable price.

The Bees Knees Café’s “oink and moo” chili features the farm’s own grass fed beef and heritage breed pork chorizo (sausage).  It has the perfect amount of spicy heat.  At a recent chili cook-off in Hudson (Columbia County, NY), the café’s oink and moo chili took first prize.  My dining companions each enjoyed the puree of garlic and onion soup, served over toasted Mountain Bread, which is first sprinkled with grated farmstead cheese before the soup is ladled on.  The café uses Harpersfield cheese from Brovetto’s dairy farm up the road in Jefferson (Schoharie County, NY) [www.harpersfieldcheese.com/].  The Mountain Bread is made at the café from a half whole wheat/ half unbleached white flour.  Carol Clement, the farmer/chef responsible for the café’s operation, grinds and makes her own whole wheat flour from wheat berries grown in upstate New York by the Wild Hive Farm in Clinton Corners (Dutchess County, NY) [www.wildhivefarm.com/].

Heather Ridge Farm, the working farm which is the setting for the café, produces its own grass fed beef and lamb, pasture raised heritage breed pork, grass and browse-fed goat, pasture raised chicken, eggs and turkey, artisan sausage, and pure raw honey.  An extraordinary hub of energy, the farm’s sheep and llamas (which guard the sheep from coyotes and other strangers) also provide their “fiber” for socks.  All of these farm products, as well as beautiful sheepskins of varying colors, pure beeswax candles, and soaps made with honey, are for sale at the Café.  The next time there’s snow to be shoveled, my newly purchased pair of sheep and llama crew socks will warm the toes, and I’ll be able to distract my mind from the work of shoveling by letting my mind trail back to this wonderful lunch overlooking the Catskills.  My only regret is that I didn’t bring home a container of the café’s oink and moo chili, which was also available for take-home purchase (FWB 3/1/11). [The Bees Knees Café @ Heather Ridge Farm, 989 Broome Center Road, Preston Hollow (Albany County, NY), 518.239.6234, Lunch: Sat 10:00PM-3:00PM (full cafe menu-Memorial Day weekend to Columbus Day weekend; limited cafe menu-off season) Brunch buffet: Sun 11:00AM-3:00PM (Memorial Day weekend to Columbus Day weekend)  www.heather-ridge-farm.com ]