Food Tasting To Be Held At Miss Mamie's

MOLINE, IL/ June 11, 2014 - Miss Mamie's Restaurant & Bar will be hosting a food tasting event Monday, June 23rd at 6:00pm. New delicacies will be joining the line-up of already delicious choices from the Miss Mamie's menu.

These new foods would include; the Carolina Burger, Spinach Dip, and Fried Green Tomatoes. Also, new appetizers, cocktails, and desserts will be present to unearth delicious combinations of food and drink.

At $30.00 a person, you and your family, friends, and/or colleagues can participate in this succulent food tasting event. Reservations are accepted, but we are limited to no more than 50 people for this event. All benefits and proceeds will go to a scholarship for the Scott Community College Chef Apprentice Program.

Miss Mamie's Co-owner and Chef, Mike Osborn, "These new menu items will certainly add a different element of Southern flavor to our menu. Along with a selection of appetizers, drinks, and desserts to help accentuate the taste of these selections, any combination is bound to tickle the taste buds."

Call 309-762-8336 to reserve a place for Miss Mamie's Food Tasting. Remember, reservations are limited.

This food tasting event will allow those who have already experienced the Miss Mamie's menu to try the new additions. It will also allow those who may not have tried it to taste it for the first time. Of course the goal is to better serve our customers and give you an exciting selection of entrees and appetizers for each visit you make to Miss Mamie's.

About Miss Mamie's: Miss Mamie's Restaurant and Bar is located it Moline, Illinois. We define fresh as locally sourced steaks; cut in our kitchen, the best seafood we can buy, and offer crisp salads with house-made dressings. Original entrees crafted by a culinary chef and offered at a good value in an established, locally owned Quad Cities restaurant. Our restaurant and menu embody a casual coastal flair you won't find anywhere else in the area. There's something for every food mood and flavor lover, so let us take care of your current craving, whether it's salad or steak, sandwiches or seafood.

About Mike Osborn: Miss Mamie's' Chef/Owner, Mike Osborn, is a Quad Cities native who has been in the restaurant field his entire professional career. Mike trained at the most prestigious culinary school in the U.S., the Culinary Institute of America, and he has cooked in private clubs throughout the Country and owned a bagel chain. In 1995, Mike became the head chef at Miss Mamie's. He helped open another location in Davenport, which is now Mo Brady's Steakhouse, and in 2007, he purchased Miss Mamie's Restaurant & Bar and Mo Brady's Steakhouse. Mike has always been serious about food. He takes care to select just the right ingredients, cook them properly and create excitement on the plate.

DES MOINES, IA (06/09/2014)(readMedia)-- Join the Blue Ribbon Foundation in "Rock'n Round the Grounds," at the 18th annual Corndog Kickoff Benefit Auction and Fair Food Grazing Party on Saturday, July 12 at the Iowa State Fairgrounds. Doors to the William C. Knapp Varied Industries Building will open at 6:30 p.m. for a night filled with exciting auction packages, entertainment and all of your favorite Fair foods. Gear up for the 2014 Iowa State Fair while raising funds to renovate and restore the historic Fairgrounds!

More than 200 enticing auction packages fill the live and silent auctions. Spend the night at the unique Hotel Pattee and dine at the Chef's Table for a 5 course meal with ten of your friends. Experience bacon at its finest with VIP treatment at the 8th annual Blue Ribbon Bacon Festival. Or, watch Florida Georgia Line's sold out performance during the Iowa State Fair from the second row of the stage seating area.

The Corndog Kickoff has been a pre-fair tradition since it began in 1997. First held in Pioneer Hall, 460 people were in attendance. Since then, the event has grown to raise more than $3.1 million for the restoration and preservation of the Iowa State Fairgrounds. The 2013 event brought in a crowd of 1,600 and raised a record high of $416,000!

"The Corndog Kickoff is a special event for Iowans which serves as our largest annual fundraiser for the Iowa State Fair Blue Ribbon Foundation," said Peter Cownie, Foundation Executive Director. "The funds generated from the Corndog Kickoff make a significant impact on improving the Fairgrounds and exemplifies the support Iowans have for their State Fair. We are grateful for all of the support. Thank you."

Take advantage of the advance ticket price by ordering now. All inclusive Corndog Kickoff tickets are $75 each until June 30. After that date, tickets will be $100. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Blue Ribbon Foundation at (800) 450-3732, online at www.blueribbonfoundation.org or at the door the night of the event.

The Iowa State Fair Blue Ribbon Foundation is a 501(c)3 non-profit organization. Since its inception in 1993, the Foundation has generated more than $100 million for renovations and improvements to the Iowa State Fairgrounds. For more information on the Corndog Kickoff, please contact the Foundation at (800) 450-3732 or bluerf@blueribbonfoundation.org.

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How Committed is Your State to Local Foods?
Physician-Chef Shares 4 Reasons You Should Care

Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire, respectively, claimed the top three spots in the 2014 Locavore Index, a ranking of each state's (and the District of Columbia's) commitment to promoting and providing locally grown foods.

At the bottom of the heap are Arizona, Nevada and Texas, with the Lone Star State dead last despite the fact that it's the nation's No. 1 cattle producer and No. 3 for crops receipts, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

"There are many good reasons to eat locally produced foods, the first among them that they're very good for us," says cardiologist and professional chef Michael S. Fenster, MD, (www.whatscookingwithdoc.com), author of "Eating Well, Living Better" and "The Fallacy of the Calorie," (Koehler Books; fall 2014).

"There's a direct relationship between our food, our environment, our genetics and our health. Eating locally grown foods gives us our most nutritious meals, most flavorful meals. Few choices have as many personal ramifications as that which we decide to stuff into our gob."

He offers four more reasons - "the tip of the iceberg lettuce, so to speak" -- to go localvore:

•  Money: Eating organically, eating fresh and finding the seasonal local foodstuffs can be expensive - if you do all your shopping at the supermarket, Dr. Mike says.

"Finding healthful produce at venues like a local farmer's market can result in prices that are at least comparable, if not substantially less than, those at the megamarket, which has the additional costs of shipping from the nether regions," he says.

Likewise, visiting a local fishmonger can result in tasty bargains compared to flash-frozen fish flesh. Shopping for what is bountifully in season, and thus locally overstocked, can mean big savings.

"Finally, by purchasing items produced locally, your money strengthens the local economy and helps sustain the people producing the types of food stuffs that you wish to sustain yourself upon," he says. "That is the smiley face circle of life."

•  Freshness: In some ways, it's amazing we're alive considering all the food we eat that's dead, Dr. Mike says, noting almost 60 percent of the modern Western diet is prepackaged, preserved and processed.

"Any time we manipulate our comestibles in such a fashion, we add compounds that are not naturally found in them or remove parts that are," he says. "Those pre-cut vegetables in the supermarket may be convenient, but they started losing nutritional value and flavor as soon as they were sliced and diced."

Because local growers don't have to add preservatives or pick produce weeks early to ensure they'll produce will keep during shipping, local foods can be consumed at the peak of freshness and ripeness - when they taste their very best.

•  Rhythms: Our great hairy ancestors have always been omnivores.

"There is ample evidence that the reason we as a species became the smartest kids on the block is that we took advantage of a varied diet.  This hardwired drive for diversity in dining is also one reason why restrictive diets that seek to severely limit what we consume almost always, ultimately fail," Dr. Mike says.

By leveraging the seasonal and cyclic variations that naturally occur, your palate will never become dull and monochromatic, he promises.  A pleasant dining experience directly lights up our primal happy-happy joy-joy place, an experience that contributes directly to overall well-being.

•  Sustainability: All the reasons for purchasing high-quality ingredients locally ultimately circle back and rest upon the concept of sustainability. In knowing where your food comes from, in being able to ascertain both what it contains and what it does not contain, you take a proactive step in determining your own health and wellness, Dr. Mike says.

By focusing on procuring the best for you and those who depend upon you, you act to sustain yourself and your family. By affecting such a posture, you deliver local impact.

"With enough people acting locally, the impact becomes regional and if enough people demand control over their foodstuffs then, like a crazy cat video gone viral, it can have a global effect."

About Michael S. Fenster, MD

Michael Fenster, M.D., F.A.C.C., FSCA&I, PEMBA, is a board-certified interventional cardiologist. Also known as "Dr. Mike," author of "Eating Well, Living Better: The Grassroots Gourmet Guide to Good Health and Great Food," (www.whatscookingwithdoc.com), he combines his culinary talents and Asian philosophy with medical expertise, creating winning recipes for healthy eating. A certified wine professional and chef, Dr. Mike worked professionally in kitchens prior to entering medical school and maintained his passion for food and wine throughout his medical career.

Bettendorf, Iowa  - Longstanding Quad City restaurant was selected to be featured on the show, "Iowa Ingredient," for it's use and support of local foods.

Iowa Ingredient showcases Iowa foods, farmers, and chefs as they explore ingredients with an Iowa flavor. Each episode features a single Iowa ingredient, like eggplant, spinach, cherries, or wine. Viewers will learn where the food is grown in Iowa, learn more about someone who grows it, and see how to use the ingredient in unique and delicious recipes. An Iowa chef will be profiled before helping us make a delectable dish or two in the Iowa Ingredient kitchen with host Charity Nebbe.

The show will feature Ross' general manager, Melissa Freidhof-Rodgers making two of her favorite dishes using local eggs.  "It was so fun to highlight an ingredient that we serve so much of to our customers on a daily basis, we serve over 5,000 per week and are so proud to be using local, cage free eggs fresh from Iowa farms.  I am passionate about local foods was honored to be selected for the show by the producers.  I like to call the use of local food products a triple win:  better for local economy, they taste better and are better for your health."

There will be a live broadcast event of the Ross' segment at the Quad Cities Food Hub on Saturday at 11:00 a.m. and a sampling of one of the featured dishes that Freidhof-Rodgers made for the show as well as copies of the recipes from the show.  This will be part of a "Helping Hands Day" (9 a.m. to 3 p.m.) at the Quad Cities Food Hub, which will involve building a community demonstration garden at the Food Hub.