CANDY-STRIPE FIGS:
“
You don’t
see a lot of striped figs. And
these are bright red on the inside!
They taste great and look good
on the plate.”
EMERALD BUTTER LETTUCE:
“
Small and dense, with a
concentrated flavor.”
SANMARZANO TOMATOES:
“
These are the real thing and
almost impossible to find
fresh outside Italy. Kerry
started growing these
specifically for us.”
MIXED PEPPERS:
“
Kerry gets us
a distinctively flavored assort-
ment of peppers, in colors that
range from deep purple to orange
to brick.”
▼
SCARLET RUNNER BEANS:
“
Rather than serving dry beans,
we get these in season and
freeze them for the rest of the
year. They’re black
with purple
streaks,
and about
as big as a
nickel.”
KELLY CAMPBELL (JASON NEVE)
McClain at Sage in Las Vegas she procured
20
cases of Li leGemle uces fromthe one
farmer who was still growing them a er
the season had seemingly ended. When
Ma hew Accarrino at SPQR in San Fran-
cisco put in a request for scallop gonads
(
yes, those are a thing), Clasby tapped an
old friend in New England to produce the
goods. Mario Batali is so enamored with a
pear of hers that he serves it unadorned as
a dessert. L.A. chef DavidMyers still recalls
a specificpeach that he tastedwhenClasby
first pitched him her services. “It was a
peach as the most perfect specimen,” he
sighs. “Itwas theverydefinitionof apeach.”
I’D SAY I’M MERELY EATING
fruit in the
car, but that would be an understatement.
I’m
devouring
it. Sweet Rainier cherries;
Harry’s Berries strawberries as juicy as
the ripest of peaches; fat blueberries from
Ventura; Blenheim apricots, which have a
high sugar content because the farmers
deprive the roots of water—all gathered
from our previous couple of stops. I’m
eating with such
»
CONTINUED ON PAGE 154
STARRED PICKS
Celebrity chef Mario Batali is one of Kerry
Clasby’s best customers. At Batali’s three
Las Vegas restaurants—B&B Ristorante,
Otto and Carnevino, all inside the Venetian
and Palazzo casino resorts—culinary
director Jason Neve (left) is a big fan of her
produce. Here are his top five.
108
NOVEMBER 2012
•
HEMISPHERESMAGAZINE.COM
had toomany tomatoes, and began selling
themat themarkets.” She started to obses-
sively seek out the finest produce in the
state, anddeveloped relationshipswith the
small farmers shemet. “There’s something
about men and women who are willing to
go against the grain, notmakehugemoney,
and do the right thing,” Clasby says. “I love
those guys.”
In time, some chefs got wind of her
relationships with the farmers and began
asking Clasby to find fruits and vegetables
for their restaurants. Fortunate to have
good taste and great timing, she forged
important alliances quickly. She brought
Michael Mina buckets of rare, rose-
scented geraniums for baking—just when
he decided he needed them. For Shawn
