Restaurant supported agriculture

Bay View resident David Swanson’s Braise Culinary School received $25,502 from a state grant to launch the first business of its kind in the country.

The Braise RSA, short for Restaurant Supported Agriculture, will unite farmers’ local ingredients with local restaurants.

“Being a chef with over 20 years’ experience in dealing with local food, I know the challenges it can present,” said Swanson. “The Braise RSA minimizes the challenges for restaurants while allowing farmers to be fairly compensated for their hard work.” 

In its model year, the RSA is connecting eight farmers to three restaurants.

Braise was one of seven recipients of new $225,000 “Buy Local, Buy Wisconsin” state grant money doled out in July.

The RSA is building a small storage facility at Pinehold Gardens in Oak Creek, which will house the fresh vegetables for immediate delivery to the restaurants, Swanson said.

“Even though there are hundreds of farms surrounding the metro Milwaukee area, chefs and restaurateurs don’t have the time or resources to access the local, seasonal produce,” said Swanson. “It’s much easier for chefs to call a national food distributor for produce imported from California or elsewhere. The Braise model will make local, peak-of-season produce easily accessible.”

Building on the Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) system already in place for participating farmers, Swanson has partnered with David Kozlowski, who serves as the liaison between the farmers and restaurants. Kozlowski, a grower and owner of Pinehold Gardens, worked with Swanson to design the RSA model.

Participating area restaurants include Meritage and La Merenda of Milwaukee and Café Manna of Brookfield.

“Now it’s much easier to offer our customers dishes based on local, seasonal ingredients,” said Peter Sandroni, chef/owner La Merenda.

Braise Culinary School’s mission is to source food locally and to heighten consumers’ awareness of their foods’ origin. Founded in 2006, it includes Braise on the Go traveling culinary school where cooking classes are held in farm fields or orchards.

Swanson is a James Beard recognized chef whose restaurant experience includes Sanford in Milwaukee, Le Français and Carlo’s in the Chicago area, and Commander’s Palace in New Orleans.

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