Guilford College's New Neighbor: Sweet Basil's
Esta Broderick
Issue date: 9/5/08 Section: Features
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Reneé Schroeder and her family opened Sweet Basil's last December, but the magic of cooking for a community opened in Schroeder's heart on her family's farm as a girl.
Schroeder lived in upstate New York, eating home-raised meats and vegetables. She described the community where she lived as a "food-swapping community."
"A neighbor who had a lot of tomatoes would bring us a bag and we would send them home with some goat's milk," she said.
The sense you get when you enter the quaint country style house that has been converted into Sweet Basil's is just like dropping by a neighbor's. The warm rustic colors, rich wood trim, and hardwood floors are timeless and welcoming.
Behind the homey atmosphere and the nature-lover's décor you'll find the observant and nurturing values of a mother.
It was when her daughter began junior high that organic food became important to Schroeder.
"The girls in my daughter's class were so big!" she said.
It made her wonder if the reason could be growth hormones in the food the girls were eating.
Growth hormones in food may or may not be the reason why young people are getting bigger, but Schroeder wasn't going to risk feeding it to her kids to find out.
That's why at Sweet Basil's, you will only find meats from local farmers like Peterson Farm of Sophia, N.C. Peterson Farm never administers antibiotics, steroids, or growth hormones in their animals.
I met Joe Peterson of Peterson Farm at the North Carolina Farmers Market, where Sweet Basil's Executive Chef Tad Engstrom and Chef d'cuisine Jeremy Elliott took me on a field trip to see where Sweet Basil's food comes from. Going to the Farmers Market with Sweet Basils' chefs is like having backstage passes to the best concert of the summer-they are culinary rock stars. Engstrom shops at the NC Farmer's Market three times a week. He buys his beef and chicken from Peterson's.
"The one reason I did (raise) meat was because I can't eat what's in the stores," said Peterson. "It ain't good, and the more I found out about it, the more I found out I didn't want to eat it." "That sausage is awesome; that is the best sausage I have ever had!" Chef d'cuisine Jeremy Elliott told Peterson.
You can find the same "awesome" sausage from Peterson's farm at Sweet Basils. They serve a delicious pan-seared halibut with saffron sausage risotto.
Our appetizing journey took us first to the Shrimp Connection for wild-caught North Carolina coast seafood, then we stopped for the best German Johnson tomatoes at Smith Clayton's Greenhouse, then across the hallway to the most beautiful display of eggplants I've ever seen at Walker Farms. Finally we stopped for my favorite, the cheese and yogurt samples at Goat Lady Dairy.
All of these stops at the market average a distance traveled to the table at Sweet Basils of 82 miles. Compare that to the national average of 1,500 miles per plate reported by the Piedmont Triad Local Food Guide, and you've got a drop in carbon credits headed your way.
So, all of this local and organic shopping done by Sweet Basil's is great. But can a Guilford student afford to eat there?
Every lunch plate costs under $15.00 and you'll find that all of their sandwiches are under $10.00. The dinner menu has a selection of small plates that cost between $11.00 and $14.00 and the big plates start at $15 and go up.
I had the North Carolina sea scallops, and they are so incredibly luscious that they melt in your mouth. They were served with an organic baby spinach parmesan risotto so rich with creamy flavor thatr it would make any free range organic milk cow proud. The scallop dinner special was only $14.00.
Sweet Basils' profit is not the most important part of the business. It's the healthy, sustainable, excellent food for a community, and it shows in the way they treat their guests and employees.
Senior James Jenkins, an employee of Sweet Basil's, sums up his experience and opinion of the food tastefully.
"You just can't go wrong with organic cuisine," Jenkins said.
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