Audio By Carbonatix
If you feel inclined to support Texas ranchers, farmers and food banks, then you should find a date, dust them off a bit and take them out to a nice dinner this week for the GoTexan Restaurant Round-Up.
The GoTexan program, which is facilitated by the Texas Department of Agriculture, brings farmers, ranchers, winemakers and whole bunch of other makers together with restaurants (well, that’s part of what they do anyway). According to the DofA, a restaurant that sports the GoTexan mark has committed to sourcing at least some of its produce from state sources and pledges to try to source more.
The department’s role is sort of that of middleman bringing farmers and ranchers together through a large network/database of restaurants looking for fresh local goods. Which, in my experience in talking to chef is a consistent problem. While they would often like to use local resources, there’s not any single place that coordinates that effort. To which the Ag Department said, “Send them to us.”
For this week, a portion of proceeds from restaurants that participate in the GoTexan program will be donated to the Texas Food Bank Network. Some have special menus for this week, but it’s not like Dallas Restaurant week where there’s a special price and tasting menu necessarily. The essence of the program is to support Texas agriculture and food banks.
Below is a list of restaurants that are participating locally.
Mimi’s Café
Pappadeaux
Pappasito’s
Potager Café
Hard Eight
Cousin’s in Crowley
Battuto Italian Kitchen
Café 43 at the Bush Presidential Center
Canary by Gorji
Centinnial Café
Chamberlains
City Place Club
DISH
GRAIN
Jack’s Chow Hound Food Truck
Liberty Burger
Mercat Bistro
Ruthie’s Rolling Café
Saint Ann
Smoke
Zio Cecio
The Pickle Shack in Garland (who knew?)
FM Smokehouse
La Buena Vida Vineyards
