MB Civic

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This is cool!

..With a vision that included the farmers’ market and a cooking and gardening curriculum in the local schools … it would be the first time the chef wouldn’t have to persuade his bosses to do business in a way that was agriculturally sustainable, good for the community and hospitable in an old-fashioned way …

Mr. Newman has always been quite political but he has never focused on the politics of food. Still, he trusts [the chef’s] view of things, understanding the need to use local beef, seafood and produce as much as possible. Their tussle over [the restaurant’s] heirloom-tomato soup is a good example. He pushed to keep it on the menu all year, but after a quick tutorial in seasonality he understood why the soup had to end when the local tomatoes did.

The servers, most of them young people from the [Westport, CT] area, hardly know how to approach Mr. Newman, who is sometimes shy and reflective, other times as corny as a grandpa … When a server offers to get him a glass of water, he will bellow a favorite line: “I haven’t had water since 1951!”

Ha Ha!