The cherry call came from out of the blue to Centro, a restaurant that seldom, if ever, serves the fruit outside of a cocktail glass.”It was totally unexpected,” chef George Formaro said of the proposition from a Washington State agency that resulted in the restaurant serving cherries on pizza, in a smoked chili cherry sauce and in a cherry mousse, all specials last week that were extended through this week.The lone Iowa restaurant chosen to participate in a nationwide promotion, Centro was sent 50 pounds of Rainier cherries in exchange for agreeing to develop and serve a special dish using the cherries.

Those dishes – pizza with goat cheese, leeks, Rainier cherries and tarragon, pancetta-wrapped pork tenderloin with sauteed greens and smoked chili cherry sauce, cherry mousse tartlet with vanilla sauce and Italian cherry soda – will be offered through Sunday.Cherry dishes represent a departure for Centro, said Formaro who founded the restaurant and is now chef partner of the company that owns and operates the eatery.”It’s surprising that I don’t do more with cherries because I am such a cherry fanatic that they could have a 12-step program for me,” he said, adding that for restaurants it can be difficult to work with cherries.

“They can be a pain to deal with,” he said. “But they’re a labor of love that can be worth it.”That’s why Formaro said he was happy to get Centro’s executive chef Derek Eidson involved when the promotional agency Northwest Cherries offered Centro a chance to participate in its Tree-to-Tables program.”I think the team came up with some interesting recipes,” Formaro said, adding that he especially likes Rainier cherries because they have a crisp bite and are exceptionally sweet.

The promotion, which involved one restaurant in each U.S. state, was a first-time program, said Torie McIntyre, a spokeswoman for Northwest Cherries.

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