One of the many great things about multiple tentacled projects like this is how one things leads to another.  Parts of the project are adopted by others, parts of the project spin off into other projects, and great people lead to other great people.  In the case of Chef Matthew Taylor, we were led to him by way of banner artist Matthew Rezac, both out of Grand Rapids, Minnesota, and both with ties to Nebraska. When one Matthew suggests another Matthew, how can one not take notice?  Although Banner Artist Matthew grew up in Nebraska, Chef Matthew has slowly been lured to Nebraska.  The luring is now finalized with Matthews recent move to Nebraska City to assume the position of Head Chef at the Arbor Day Lied Lodge and Conference Center.

When Matthew showed up at our first ‘chef meeting’, having altered his pre-move house hunting visit to Nebraska in order to attend, we knew we had found a perfect fit for this project.  Arms covered in tattoos, charismatically speaking about his love of local food with a slight Chicago accent, and instantly building camaraderie with strangers through his praise of the region’s meats, cheeses, and vegetables.  We were lucky to find Matthew.

Chef Matthew Taylor began his culinary career in the kitchens of renowned chef Raymond Timpone. Working under Chef Timpone at the famous Timpone’s Ristorante in Urbana, IL gave Matthew a taste for the rustic beauty and contemporary charm of Italian cooking. Chef Matthew then moved on to kitchens in the Champaign and Chicago areas. Matthew soon made a tour of kitchens from New York to Seattle. “Working for the chefs I respected and admired has been a great training ground for me”, explains Matthew when discussing his background. Chef Taylor has studied the cuisine and technique of classical French, Italian, and contemporary American cuisines.

Matthew has lived and worked in several regions in the United States. Along the way he has been exposed to a variety of styles and “regional identities” that have shaped his diversified palate. “Wherever I go, my connection with the community is through food.” This is one of the biggest propensities for the sourcing of local foods. Chef Taylor believes in the wholesome, vital freshness that comes with buying food from the farmers here in Nebraska. At Lied Lodge and conference Center at The Arbor Day Farm we try to source as much as possible from local farms to both support a healthy diet and a healthy local economy.

At the most recent chef meeting, Matthew initiated an engrossing discussion about including bison in the harvest dinner event, which then led to a discussion about prairie landscape conservation and restoration.  The following week, we found ourselves speaking with bison ranchers and being asked to pick up a live bison for processing!  The live part was quickly nixed, but bison is now on the menu and we can’t wait to see what Chef Matthew brings to a course that speaks to the deep history of our region, and undoubtedly a burgeoning future market.

The seemingly large shifts Omaha has made as a city in the last 5 years can undoubtedly be attributed to the action and passion of individuals.  For someone who has been away from it all during this time-frame, a return is met with more choices and perspectives, and vibrant burgeoning pockets in previously underutilized parts of town.  And for the most part, the city seems to excitedly embrace and support the courage, dedication, unique vision, and hard work of these individuals.

One such example of dedication and vision can be witnessed, daily, on the Facebook page of the fresh and simple whole food diner, Daily Grub, on 20th and Pierce.  Updated almost daily by the restaurant’s gracious purveyor, Elle Lien, and not yet open for a full calendar year, Daily Grub’s page has over 900 ‘fans’ and regular ‘daily’ postings of tantalizing menu items, news, and snippets into the daily life of feeding people outside of a luxurious kitchen, staff, or investors.  Everything to come out of the simple open kitchen is thoughtfully planned, sourced, and prepared by Elle herself.  A visit to Daily Grub is not just about satiating a growling mid-day stomach, but doing so in an intimate space akin to someone’s home, a vision Elle has cultivated for years through several ventures that began when she opened up her home for a Sunday brunch of vegan raw food and waffles. It began with close friends and family and grew to include up to 80 people a day. From there, Lien took brunch to the Empty Room in the Slowdown complex for a residency she called CLEAN PLATE where she prepared and served raw and local food for a month.

When Elle chose the name Daily Grub for the latest iteration of her ongoing quest to sustain people, perhaps she was setting into motion both the daily interaction with guests, who may choose to visit the restaurant based on the ever changing menu contingent on Elle’s interaction with the ephemeral ingredients harvested by local urban gardens, neighbors, and farms.  She wants the restaurant to be even more farm-sourced, one reason she recently decided to forgo weekend brunches for the summer: “I want to be at the (weekend) farmers markets and talking to growers and knowing what’s out there,” she said.

The influence of Elle’s upbringing as a corn fed, free-range Midwestern farm girl from Ashland, Nebraska showed up much later in her career.  Or maybe it was percolating and maturing during the time she worked as a writer and journalist in Atlanta, Chicago, New York and South Carolina where she discovered Charleston’s vibrant food culture based on a deep connection to its regional culinary roots and an abiding commitment to the idea that the best food comes from collaboration between cook and grower. It was in this atmosphere that Elle began to hone her kitchen skills, develop relationships with local chefs and farmers and entertain many of them.

When Elle returned to Omaha it was only for a brief stay on her way to graduate school in London. Now four years later, she continues to provide Omaha with great food and atmosphere. From her home, to CLEAN PLATE to now Daily Grub, Elle is undoubtedly a central figure in breathing new life into not only an old, dingy, bar on 20th and Piece, but to the city’s culture of people and connections; something we look forward to in her contribution to the giant community dinner in a forgotten space next to a once derelict, now evolving, agricultural food storage structure.

As we approach the final couple of banner blogs, perfectly timed with their installation on the almighty grain elevator beginning on September 13, we begin another exciting unveiling of the amazing team of chefs who have come together to breathe life into the October 3 500-person dinner.   This event is truly shaping up to be a once-in-a-lifetime experience of not only enjoying a five course meal next to an enormous piece of now obsolete agricultural infrastructure, but to be served food carefully deliberated and prepared by some of the most seasonally and locally dedicated chefs in the area and grown by folks equally as passionate about how they cultivate the elements of nourishment.

Which brings us to Chef and Farmer Blog #1, beginning in the neighboring city of Lincoln.  Kevin Shinn, chef and co-owner of bread & cup continues to bring passion, insight, and wisdom to each of our chef meetings. After just a few encounters with Shinn, who is notably introspective and thoughtful about what he cooks and where what he cooks comes from, we spent many an hour on his equally as introspective blog to get a better idea of the man behind the elegantly simple Lincoln hotspot. Having just celebrated it’s third year, bread & cup has quickly built a reputation for putting attention on the food and letting it speak for itself.  Of course, not without a highly refined selection process that focuses on seasonality and locality.  A visit to bread & cup impressively greets one with a chalk board displaying of which local producer all of the restaurants pigs are coming from for the week. Our favorite entry from Shinns blog collection possibly sums up why Shinn has joined this epic 500- person dinner adventure:

More than just tying on the feedbag…