Stuff Boston

^{The Local 7. Photos by Joel Veak}

Since catching on to the "locavore" craze, Bostonians have gone nuts for the fresh, seasonal produce, responsibly raised meat, and cage-free dairy products that spill bountifully from local and/or family-owned farms and dairies. Restaurants such as T.W. Food (377 Walden Street, Cambridge, 617.864.4745), Rialto (The Charles Hotel, 1 Bennett Street, Cambridge, 617.661.5050), and L'Espalier (774 Boylston Street, Boston, 617.262.3023) have made it their mission to procure ingredients from sources within a drivable-from-Boston radius, and that seed-to-soil-to-supper philosophy is reflected in the flavor. Nothing tastes better than fresh-off-the-farm food.

So why, then, would you want to wash down such pristine flavors with mass-produced imported booze, garnished with fruits that spent most of their lifespans in a refrigerated truck, wheezing under the weight of plastic crates? What's in that specialty cocktail, anyway, and where did it come from?

The local and small-farm-sourced trend is, finally, spreading to the glass. Now more than ever, bartenders and chefs are teaming up to extend that locavore sensibility to behind the bar. Leading the pack are Dante de Magistris, owner and executive chef of Dante (The Royal Sonesta Hotel, 40 Edwin H. Land Boulevard, Cambridge, 617.497.4200) and Il Casale (50 Leonard Street, Belmont, 617.209.4942), and Dennis Cargill, bar manager of Dante.

The Local 7 ($10), de Magistris and Cargill's riff on the classic dirty martini, is appropriately titled, as it incorporates seven locally sourced and/or small-farm-produced ingredients into a complex cocktail with a unique flavor and gorgeous composition. Organic potato-based Cold River Vodka is flavored with Dante's house-made pickle brine and kissed with an airy cloud of cucumber foam. The garnish is house-pickled turnip and carrot and a house-made fingerling potato chip topped with crème fraîche and crispy pancetta "caviar." Yes, there's a lot going on here, but the flavors meld in perfect harmony - snappy, sweet, and salty all at the same time.

"We wanted to do a wintertime drink for the vodka drinkers," Cargill says, "and we've really gotten behind Cold River. Their vodka is gluten-free - we have a lot of customers with gluten-free needs, and we want to be able to accommodate allergies - and we love to support local products."

"Plus," he laughs, "when Dante's not here, I love to look in his walk-in and see what there is to work with, see what's fresh and local."

"The walk-in is like his candy store," says de Magistris. "We're an Italian restaurant, and that's what Italian food is: fresh and local. In the winter, there are still great New England products. The organic fingerling potatoes, for instance, are from Skylandia Farm in Maine. Our organic eggs are from New Hampshire. The crème fraîche is from Vermont.... Chefs drool over that kind of stuff."

You will, too. Cargill describes the Local 7 as "a play on a baked potato," and it is simply stunning, great on its own or paired with dinner.

VODKA

The pure heart and potent soul of the Local 7 is Cold River Vodka (437 US Route One, Freeport, ME, 207.865.4828), which hails from the heart of Maine's potato country. (Did you even know such a thing existed?) In the wake of the Atkins-crazed 1990s, brothers Lee and Don Thibodeau saw fit to revolutionize the state of Maine agriculture and give the floundering potato industry a kick. Now, with partners Bob Harkins and Chris Dowe, the brothers Thibodeau tend their premium spirit from sprout to spout, making Cold River the country's only comprehensive distillery.

EGGS

Pete and Gerry's Organic Eggs (140 Buffum Road, Monroe, NH, 800.438.3447) give this foam its airiness and froth. Four generations of farmers have been lovingly and proudly tending hens at this small family farm, which doubles as a playground for the free-roaming cluckers. The social consciousness at Pete and Gerry's doesn't stop at animal rights: egg cartons are made from 100% recycled and recyclable materials, all organic byproducts are composted, and Pete and Gerry's trucks run on environmentally friendly biodiesel.

CRÈME FRAÎCHE

The merry moo cows of the Green Mountain State help the Vermont Butter & Cheese Company (40 Pitman Road, Websterville, VT, 802.479.9371) churn out silky, artisanal dairy products. For more than 20 years, owners Allison Hooper and Bob Reese have made European-style cheeses, creams, and butters in small batches, using milk and cream procured from area family farms. The crème fraîche was VT Butter & Cheese Co.'s first cow's milk product - the company previously worked exclusively with goat's milk - and it continues to be the, ahem, cream of the crop.

POTATO CHIP

All of the produce from Skylandia Organic Farm (61 Main Street, Grand Isle, ME, 207.895.5234) are crown jewels of Maine farmers' markets, but it's the fingerling potatoes that make de Magistris go crazy. The teeny spuds are delicately sliced paper-thin, then deep-fried to make a single perfect chip, which floats proudly on a bed of cucumber foam while it plays foundation to a dollop of crème fraîche and crispy pancetta.

PANCETTA

The piggies at Falter Farm are so well cared for that the farmers don't have time to maintain a website - or even publicly list their phone number. De Magistris and Cargill purchase an entire pig from the Western Massachusetts farm via Savenor's (160 Charles Street, Boston, 617.723.6328) and carefully butcher it from nose to curly tail, ensuring that each square inch of the little oinker is put to good use. The pancetta, cured in-house, is cubed into teeny squares of "caviar," then fried for maximum crackle. It's a small but important detail of the cocktail, providing balance to the garnish with savory crunch and salty smoke.

CUCUMBER, CARROT, and TURNIP

Clearly, drifts of icy winter spew put a damper on local produce this time of year, so de Magistris orders much of his produce from Nature's Best, a privately owned organic-foods distributor that's based in California. The veggies are pickled in-house, of course, in a brine made from white balsamic vinegar, honey, bay leaf, peppercorns, salt, and water - a classic recipe, de Magistris says, for Italian pickles giardiniera.