When: Breakfast, Monday through Friday, 6:30 a.m. to 10 a.m., and Saturday, 7 a.m. to 11 a.m.; lunch, Monday through Friday, 11:30 a.m. to 2 p.m., and Saturday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.; dinner, Monday through Sunday, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m.; and Sunday brunch, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
Information: www.liedlodge.org and 800-546-5433.
Matthew Taylor lets the fruits, vegetables and meats of southeast Nebraska inspire his menus at the Lied Lodge and Conference Center in Nebraska City. And apples are on his mind as the Apple Jack Festival holds sway over Nebraska City this weekend.
Taylor, 33, is a native of Mahomet, Ill. He joined the Lied as executive chef earlier this year and has been revising the menu at the Timber Dining Room. Lied Lodge is owned by the Arbor Day Foundation, which also owns the Arbor Day Farm where the lodge is situated. The 260-acre farm has acres of fruit and nut trees and garden vegetables.
Q. You're lucky to have gardens and orchards just outside your kitchen door.
A. When I look outdoors, that writes my menu. What is grown and cultivated in my area naturally becomes the identity of the food. Between the agriculture and the people there is a natural connection. When you look at Old World cooking, there is no such thing as Italian cooking; it is different from town to town, based on what they grow. Parisian cooking is not the same as the cooking as Provence.
When I get together with chefs, the conversation is about how do we create a regional identity with southeastern Nebraska food. There are people realizing that sourcing food close to home is an economically rejuvenating thing. We're putting those dollars back in the community by supporting local sustainable farms.
Q. So what are some of the main courses on the menu?
A. Nebraska beef: a grilled rib eye or filet of tenderloin with butter-poached cipollini (little onions), arugula, fingerling potato, roasted green peppercorn glace de viande.
Locally raised chicken, roasted and served with white truffle mashed potatoes, garlic cipollini and sherry pan jus.
Bone-in pork chops from local farms, served with pear-white balsamic barbecue glaze, summer leek and corn bread pudding and a Kimmel orchard apple butter.
Q. Those sound terrific.
A. We're trying to let people in the Omaha and Lincoln area know how serious we are and that there are some conscientious people at the stove. We want to elevate dining experiences and create a destination dining place.
Once I got here and toured the orchard and the farm, I absolutely fell in love with what the Arbor Day Foundation is trying to accomplish. To celebrate and plant and cultivate trees is such a direct connection with sourcing local food. We have an experimental hazelnut orchard outside my kitchen door. I'm doing dinners around hazelnuts. It all makes sense.
When I call up my farmer, Erik Olson, and order 500 bushels of apples, that's fun. We're making all our own apple butter, apple sauces, apple pie and apple jam.
Q. I guess you do need to get a reputation for destination dining to draw in enough customers.
A. We're going to be doing monthly ports-of-call dinners. I pick a region that produces wine and food and I do a five-course dinner inspired by the ingredients, the culture and the food techniques of that region. And I pair the courses with wine grown in that region. I will talk about each course and the sommelier will give details on the wines.
Q. How did your career get started?
A. I started in Raymond Timpone's kitchen at Timpone's Restaurant in Urbana, Ill. I did apprenticeships including one with Douglas Keane at Cyrus in Sonoma County, Calif. It's a Michelin two-star restaurant, and the finale for “Top Chef” (cable television show) was filmed there last season.
I was an owner and partner for three years at the Rivers Italian restaurant in Grand Rapids, Minn. It was a contemporary Italian restaurant, and I sold out my portion to take this job.
Q. What can we look forward to in the future?
A. I put a seasonal drink menu together. An “Apple Crisp” with Kimmel Orchard apples, Grey Goose vodka, Tuaca (liqueur), lemon, simple syrup and cinnamon stick. “Grapes of Wrath” with white grape Verjus, Campari (Italian bitters), egg white and soda. And a Bloody Mary with our vine-ripe tomatoes.
Q. How about you personally?
A. My goal and my mission are to make inspiring dining experiences that serve a great mission for the Arbor Day Foundation. Personally? Personally I want a Michelin star and a James Beard award.
Contact the writer:
444-1052, jane.palmer@owh.com
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