Devotay

There’s a (biz) app for that || press-citizen.com

admin — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 15:30:47 +0000

Fourteen years ago, when Devotay owner Kurt Friese wanted to reach out to his customers, he did it with one of his monthly newsletters.

Now, Friese uses social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter to reach his customers almost instantly with the click of a mouse. Friese said he uses both sites extensively for Devotay and his magazine, Edible Iowa River Valley.

Devotay is just one of many local businesses that is using social media sites to target a specific audience and create additional avenues to reach out and interact with customers.

via There’s a (biz) app for that | press-citizen.com | Iowa City Press Citizen.

Iowa Source: Iowa’s Best Restaurants 2010

admin — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:27:09 +0000

BEST LOCAL FOOD

Devotay

Iowa City, (319) 354-1001

Our locavore readers are devoted to dining at Devotay. They love the fact that the “fresh, innovative, and soul-satisfying” food on their plate is supporting the farmers in their community. As one voter put it, “They not only talk the talk of eating locally grown, they walk the walk.” Even the farmers can’t say enough good things about this restaurant: “As a local producer, Devotay is very easy to work with.”

At Devotay in Iowa City, Sous Chef Dan Knowles (left) and Executive Chef Kevin Butler (right) search out the best local ingredients for their seasonal menu.

Other Comments

• “Slow food with a commitment to the locavore.”

• “My mouth is watering just thinking about it.”

“My favorite restaurant. Great food, local ingredients whenever possible.”

Finalists

Other restaurants that are walking the locavore walk include Café Dodici, where everything is made from “fresh, wholesome, organic ingredients . . . nothing out of the can here.” Eating at New Pioneer Co-op, in Iowa City and Coralville, is always, “healthy, local, ethical, and delicious.” At Revelations in Fairfield, eating local is easy and delicious with their local spring-greens salads and sandwiches made on locally baked bread, made from locally grown grains. In Iowa City local farms are well represented on the menu at Motley Cow Café, and at the Red Avocado, where local veggies and grains are highlighted regularly.

See all Devotay’s fellow winners in the other categories at Iowa’s Best Restaurants 2010.

The Devotay eNewsletter – February 2010

admin — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 00:30:30 +0000

Click here to view this email in a browser -or- Forward this message to a friend

“We will never reform the food system until we all learn to cook”

-Elissa Altman, Poor Man’s Feast

All the News That’s Fit to Eat Since 1996 February, 2010

Yep, OK done with winter. Spring is permitted to start now. C’mon… chopchop….

The Devotay eMail Newsletter – Volume XV, Issue 2

The days are getting longer, so we’ve turned the corner on this winter thing (despite the persistent cold and snow). Let’s just hope we’re not headed for more flooding!

Benefit Sundays: Backyard Abundance

On Sunday evenings we like to give a portion of our proceeds to another worthy cause. This week it’s Backyard Abundance.

Their mission:

Backyard Abundance helps people reconnect with nature by
teaching ecological skills that enable the creation of beautiful,
resilient communities and landscapes that model healthy ecosystems. Through
research, education, demonstration, and collaboration, we empower
people with the ability to cultivate regenerative landscapes that grow
food, improve water and soil quality, and provide habitat.

They tell us that funds raised will go toward the Backyard Abundance
March 12-14 presentations and workshop featuring
nationally renowned author and ecological designer, Dave Jacke.

So call and make your reservations now, enjoy a tasty meal for a good cause. Also, watch for upcoming Benefit Sundays for these great causes

Bicyclists of Iowa City
Chef’s Collaborative Shelter House
The Domestic Violence Intervention Program
The Englert Theatre
Holden Cancer Center
Slow Food USA
Table to Table
Iowa City Hospice
If you have a cause to support and want to schedule a Devotay Benefit Sunday, contact Kim.

Flow

Before your meal, why not take in a matinee?

Transition Ecology, in partnership with Environmental Films Iowa City, will screen the film
“Flow”at the Iowa City Public Library Sunday at 2pm.

The film builds a case against the growing privatization of the world’s dwindling fresh water supply with a focus on politics, pollution, human rights, and the emergence of a domineering world water cartel.

See the trailer

Wine Tasting in Des Moines

In support of the Women,
Food, & Agriculture Network: Des Moines Wine Bar Sbrocco
& Edible Iowa River Valley have teamed up to present a
fundraising event and wine tasting.

Admission is free to this tasting at Sbrocco
March 4th, 5:30-7:30, though donations
will be requested as we raise money for this worthy cause. Please join us to taste some wonderful wines, support a good cause, and toast the launch of the newest edition of Edible Iowa River Valley. RSVP’s are not required, but we’d appreciate it (if you’re on Facebook) if you’d acknowledge at the FB event announcement page.
Master & Mom’s Day Brunches
Our regular Sunday brunches may have gone by the boards but we still love our Easter & Mom’s Day brunches and so does everyone else. This year they fall on April 4 and May 10, respectively.

Of course this means you’ll want to make your reservations early. We’re already a tiny restaurant and we get a little tinier when we set up these scrumptuous buffets. Call 319.354.1001 as soon as you can to assure seats.

Graduation WeekendA similar situation arises a week after Mother’s Day. Out there in the rest of the restaurant world Valentine’s Day may be the busiest night of the year (sure was for us!), but in Iowa City, the University of Iowa Graduation Weekend is numero uno.

So as with the brunches, if you’d like to join us (or any other restaurant within 30 miles of here. for that matter) on May 14 or 15, please make your reservations ASAP. Again our number is 319.354.1001

New Issue of EdibleEdible #15 rolls out beginning Monday, 3/1. It’s an exciting issue full of good food and good stories. As we’ve mentioned here before it takes about 2 weeks or so before
it is fully distributed around the state. If you want to be the first
to get it, and not miss an issue, you have 2 choices. You can subscribe here, or you can contact
Kim about being a distribution angel. Basically
this means you get a free subscription (and our profound thanks) in exchange for distributing Edibles in and around your neck of our great state.Edible Iowa has it’s own monthly eNews too, addressing food, farming, and loads of related issues and events from all over the state. You can view the most recent issue here, and you can subscribe to the free monthly Edible eNews here.

The hardcopy of the new spring issue features the 2009 Local Heroes nominated by Edible’s readers, an article by farming guru David Mas Masumoto, features on farmed game, a review of Lisa Hamilton’s new book Deeply Rooted, a look at the food system at Cedar Falls’ Price Lab School, and a lot more. Pick up a copy and share it with your friends, and don’t forget to support the advertisers - they’re the ones who make the mag possible. Tell’em thanks for supporting real, local, sustainable food.

On the Air

This coming Tuesday, March 2nd, @10am CST, tune in to Iowa Public Radio to hear from some of the heroes mentioned above. On the daily call-in show Talk
of Iowa, Dennis Reese will play host to the Edible Iowa River Valley Local Heroes, discussing their work and the importance of local, sustainable foods.

There is a list of the stations statewide located here.
If you’re out of the market, you can listen online here.
If you can’t catch it live, it’ll be archived as a podcast here.
So there are no excuses – tune in!

Wednesday Forkcast: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

Everybody who grew up in and around my generation remembers the old TV commercials that told us “Wednesday is Prince Spaghetti Day!“ My mom used to take that to heart, and Wednesday night we always got spaghetti and meatballs. I don’t know whether she used Prince brand spaghetti, but such things are of no matter to 9-year-old boys.

Perhaps I’m getting nostalgic in my dotage, but we’ve decided to revive the tradition, and make it a heckuva bargain for you as well. We’ve harvested our
spaghetti (in the Swiss tradition), so here’s the deal:

Every Wednesday night (we’re open 5-9p) we will feature Spaghetti Marinara, with or without meatballs (your choice of course), with Asiago cheese, fresh copped herbs, bread, salad with our signature balsamic vinaigrette and one glass of wine selected by our sommelier Morgan Weiss – all for $15. Even at Olive Garden that would cost you $0.45 more, and I personally guarantee ours is better. Our wine pours are bigger too.

In This Issue:

Benefit Sundays: Backyard Abundance
Flow
Wine Tasting in Des Moines
Easter & Mom’s Day Brunches
Grad Weekend
New Issue of Edible
On the Air
Wednesday Forkcast: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
Facebook &
Twitter
Upcoming Wine Tastings
Benefit Sundays
CorkSavvy
Table Wine
Half Price Wine

Of Note:

One should really try not to have Julie Andrews’ voice in one’s head when one reads:

These are a few of my favorite blogs:

Mark Bittman of the NYT

Support better school lunches for our kids. Click here to see how you can help.

Join Slow Food!

Follow Devotay on Facebook and Twitter		Benefit Sundays		CorkSavvy
Follow Devotay on Facebook & Twitter – get our features every day, special deals, news and more		Got a good cause? We want to help you support it. Check out our new Benefit Sundays Program		Check out this fun new way to track your own wine and learn about more.
	See the upcoming editions of the Devotay Monday Night Wine Tasting Series here		Learn about my new favorite Sicilian white wine @ Table Wine		Wine is still half price, every glass, every bottle, every Tuesday
That’s all from Devotay World HQ Peace, kmf

Phone: 319.354.1001
Click Here To Visit Our Website – Forward this message to a friend

“If you eat you are a part of agriculture” – Wendell Berry

In the Kitchen at Devotay | HooplaNow

admin — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 14:53:33 +0000

Posted on 10 February 2010
by tracy.mcculloughdevotay
Kevin Butler, 29, Iowa City Executive Chef @ Devotay

Where did you learn how to cook?My grandparents owned restaurants in the Quad Cities. When I was 14, my first job was in a meat locker that my family owned, my second job was in a restaurant. After that, I worked in a food warehouse, then I came to this restaurant, and I’ve been here ever since.What did you do in the meat locker?Every day after school, I would clean. Twice a week they would slaughter animals and I would clean out all the buckets. It was gross.

Read the whole story :: In the Kitchen at Devotay | HooplaNow.

Valentine’s Day

admin — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 22:53:07 +0000

It’s that time again, the time when we here at Devotay begin our annual betting pool on how many guys (and yes it’s only guys) will call the afternoon of Valentine’s Day looking for a table for 2 at 7pm. And every year we a e forced to turn away the poor young suitors because we’d been booked solid a couple of weeks in advance.

Valentine’s at Devotay has seen 6 wedding proposals accepted since we started doing our special dinner here each Feb. 14, and it’s easy to see why: Cozy, romantic, specal atmosphere combined with great food served by the best crew in town (and yes we suppose perhaps who is doing the proposing might make a difference too).

As in the past, we’ll serve our full regular menu as usual, but in addition, we’ll be featuring this special menu, available a la carte or pris fixe with special wine parings (TBA). reserve now @ 319.354.1001 so you don’t end up a hash mark in our betting pool. To help with that, we’ll also serve our special Valentine’s menu on Saturday the 13th, so there are twice as many chances to get a table.

Devotay Valentine’s Day Dinner
Sunday, 14 February 2010

Amuse Bouche: Oyster Kilpatrick, fennel mousse – 5

Tapa: Bocadillos of shrimp with piparade – 8

Soup: Roasted beet borscht, tarragon crème fraîche – 6.5

Salad: Sourdough bread, jicama, sun-dried tomatoes, sherry-thyme vinaigrette – 6.5

Entrée: Martini trout, artichokes, spinach, Champagne cous cous – 25

Stuffed Gianini Farms pheasant breast, brie, walnuts, prosciutto, mushroom wild rice, broccolini -29

Dessert: Mascarpone cheesecake, brandied cherries – 8

A la Carte as priced or pris fixe $58, $72 with paired wines to be announced. Tax and gratuity in addition

Devotay Closed for Lunch 1/20

admin — Wed, 20 Jan 2010 16:13:25 +0000

It’s looking perilous out there and our staff can’t safely get to work, so we’re calling off lunch for today, sorry for the inconvenience. We plan to be open for tonight’s big Spaghetti Night - P’Sketti with marinara and with or without meatballs, salad, bread and a glass of wine for just $15. Can’t be beat.

So everybody drive SAFELY to Devotay this evening and enjoy a steaming hot plate o’pasta.

Devotay Raises Over $800 for Red Cross/Haiti Relief Fund

admin — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 17:17:05 +0000

Our heartfelt thanks go to all the devotees of Devotay, who helped us raise over $800 for the Red Cross/Haiti Relief fund last night.

Part of our weekly Benefit Sundays, last night’s dinner was a sell out, with some folks waiting as much as 30 minutes for a table. We can’t say enough about the generosity of our guests, some of whom added cash donations over and above what they already spent that night. Chefs Kevin Henning and Dan Knowles did spectacular work, ably assisted by Jeremy Tole in the back, while long-time Devotay servers Jillianne Kinkade (Press-Citizen Reader poll “Best Server in the Area“) and Morgan Weiss (also our intrepid sommelier) provided the great service Devotay has been known for for years.

In case you couldn’t make it, you can still donate by clicking here, or by texting the word “Haiti” to 90999 and a $10 donation will be added to your mobile phone bill.

Kim and I simply don’t have enough thank-yous for everyone – we really appreciate your support and hope you will continue to attend the Benefit Sundays each and every week.

Peace – kmf

The People of Haiti Need Our Help

admin — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 17:40:14 +0000

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Benefit Sunday

Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund

All of us by now have seen, no doubt, the devastation caused by the earthquake in Haiti. Already the hemisphere’s poorest nation, life is hard in Haiti on a good day. Today this small island nation lies in total ruin, many of its surving inhabitants have no water, food, shelter, or health care.

As they always are, the Red Cross is on the scene, and they need our help. please make a reservation at Devotay for this Sunday, January 17th, and a portion of what you spend will be donated to the Red Cross Haiti Relief Fund. The more people who join us, the higher that percentage will be.

Devotay does Benefit Sundays every week, but few are as important as this. Please call now – 319.354.1001

Devotay – 117 North Linn Street – Iowa City

319.354.1001 – www.Devotay.net

Devotay eNews – January 2010 – Vol. XV, Iss. 1

admin — Fri, 08 Jan 2010 14:55:46 +0000

Click here to view this email in a browser -or- Forward this message to a friend

“Eat all the junk food you want as long as you cook it yourself.”

-Michael Pollan from his new book, Food Rules

All the News That’s Fit to Eat Since 1996

OK, so, it’s 2010. Where’s my jetpack? My flying car?

The Devotay eMail Newsletter – Volume XV, Issue 1

But let’s face it, the only truly significant thing there is to say on a day like this (Besides “Enough with the cold already) is HOW BOUT THEM HAWKEYES! Certainly bodes well for next season too. Big 10 title is almost in the bag – does anyone dare say “national title hopes”?

A New Wine Tasting Schedule Kicks off with a New Intro Class: Taste Like a Pro!

Iowa’s longest-running wine tasting series is entering its 14th year by starting over. Our sommelier, Morgan Weiss, has written a new calendar that starts with a basic tasting class this Monday, January 11. This is a great opportunity for beginners to learn how to taste like a pro and for seasoned vets to test their chops.

Later in the year we’re featuring a few of our favorite local wines as well. Now I know some of you are wincing or curling a lip when I say that, but stay with me here: Yes, there is some sticky-sweet schlock to be had out there, but there is also some very good stuff that deserves our support so that they can make even more very good stuff. And we’re here to show you where to find it and how to appreciate it

So check out the new calendar at our website, and be sure to read all the caveats and fine print about how dates are subject to change sometimes and all that.

New Menu on Its Way

Also Launching Monday January 11th, the newest incarnation of the Devotay menu. Executive Chef Kevin Henning and Chef de Cuisine Dan Knowles have really outdone themselves this time I think, especially with the introduction of Basque-style Pintxos (pronounced PEEN-chose) – amazing flavors in little bites for just 2 bucks. Order as many as you like, they’re delicious and great for sharing. Complete menu will be posted at our site on Monday.

Wednesday Forkcast: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

Perhaps I’m getting nostalgic in my dotage, but we’ve decided to revive the tradition, and make it a heckuva bargain for you as well. We’ve harvested our spaghetti (in the Swiss tradition), so here’s the deal:

In This Issue:

New Wine Tasting Schedule
New Menu on its Way

Wednesday Forkcast: Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs

Facebook & Twitter
Benefit Sundays

Special Deal

Valentine’s Day

Hot Cocktails
Half Price Wine

Of Note:

In 2009, a “recession” year, Johnson county saw the opening of 11 new restaurants and the reopening of several more following flood damage. The new ones are listed & linked here (in no particular order).

Her Soup Kitchen

Chef’s Table
Bandito’s (facebook)
Red’s Ale House
Taste of N’Awlins (pdf)
Mesa
Share
Hearth
Chez Grace
Orchard Green
Bluebird

Join the Nourish Network for healthy, rich and delicious cooking, great recipes,videos and more.

Support better school lunches for our kids. Click here to see how you can help

Join Slow Food!

Follow Devotay on Facebook and Twitter		Benefit Sundays		A Special Deal for Newsletter Readers
Follow Devotay on Facebook & Twitter – get our features every day, special deals, news and more		Got a good cause? We want to help you support it. Check out our new Benefit Sundays Program		We all need a break these days. Click here for a great deal on lunch at Devotay
	Make Your Valentine’s Reservations Now! Call 319.354.1001		Check out the hot wine cocktails at the PC’s Table Wine column		Wine is still half price, every glass, every bottle, every Tuesday
That’s all from Devotay World HQ Peace, kmf

Phone: 319.354.1001
Click Here To Visit Our Website – Forward this message to a friend

“If you eat you are a part of agriculture” – Wendell Berry

Wednesday Forkcast: Cloudy With A Chance of Meatballs

admin — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:06:39 +0000

Perhaps I’m getting nostalgic in my dotage, but we’ve decided to revive the tradition, and make it a heckuva bargain for you as well. We’ve harvested our spaghetti (in the Swiss tradition), so here’s the deal: