Community Spotlight
The Flying Pig Soars
in Mt. Kisco
A conversation with Lesley Sutter, Executive Chef at The Flying Pig on Lexington
Second from the right Lesley Sutter, and the crew at Flying Pig
“I
was bitten by the restaurant bug at a very young age,” says Lesley Sutter, executive chef at The Flying Pig on Lexington. How young? She learned to cook standing on a chair in her family’s San Francisco kitchen, imitating her mother, who “cooked so much that frozen dinners were a special occasion.” Her father, meanwhile, was the gastronomical explorer, searching the ethnically rich Bay Area for culinary treasures: dumplings, ribs, handmade tortillas, fresh artichokes, crabs and oysters. And then there were her uncle’s taquerias, where Sutter and her sister held summer jobs. It was in and around San Francisco that Sutter turned her passion into a profession. She worked in great restau- rants like Square One, where every- thing was made in-house and the menu changed daily, based on the availability of local fare. “I was in my early twen- ties, and every day I went to work I was exposed to a new culture of food,” she says. “The attention to detail, to the flavors—it was amazing.” While Sutter claims “no formal training other than the school of hard knocks,” she gradu- ated with skills and sensibilities she brought with her to Mt. Kisco, where she has helped make The Flying Pig the farm-to-table pioneer of the Hudson Valley.
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Order Thanksgiving dinner from the Flying Pig online at
FlyingPigOnLex.com, to be picked up the day before Thanksgiving.
Recently we dropped by The Pig,
where Lesley Sutter stopped to chat about the landmark restaurant.
How long have you worked at The Flying Pig?
I came here in 2000, when it was more of a café, with an emphasis on grab- and-go, more geared to commuters. But things eventually evolved into a full-service restaurant; dinners became popular, and that’s when a [2006] move to a bigger location was necessary. The Pig has been an amalgam of many people over the years who have left indelible footprints.
How does your farm-to-table and local food mission play out at The
Flying Pig? Our goal at The Pig is to utilize prod- ucts from Cabbage Hill Farm and other local farms that practice sustainable agriculture, to support other like-mind-
Westchester/Putnam NY Edition
ed farmers. We want to educate people about why eating locally is so important and why eating seasonally ties into the whole idea. Tomatoes are not avail- able in December. Yes, you can get them at the A&P, but they have traveled from afar, and the flavor is really not the same as when they are available in summer.
Your farm dinners at Cabbage Hill Farm were a big success over the summer. Do you have any planned
for this winter? The farm dinners have been great all around for our customers who have never seen the farm or who have no idea that we actually have a farm we work so closely with. A farm dinner is the most complete way to walk what you talk. It’s been wonderful—the response from people actually experi- encing the farm itself, and then feeding them right where there food is grown. It demonstrates so succinctly the phrase “The best food is grown close to home.” We’ll be resuming our farm dinners in the spring.
I think people are surprised to learn that Cabbage Hill Farm does more than grow your vegetables. They raise livestock and also fish, using aquaponics. How much of
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