Best Organic Restaurants in America

The big news this month is that the October issue of Organic Style
Magazine has named Zely & Ritz as one of the 20 Best Organic
Restaurants in America. It is really hard to overstate how amazing
of an award this is for us or how proud it makes us feel. For years
the “lone voice in the wilderness” of organic gardening and farming
was Organic Gardening Magazine. This magazine was the main
advocate promoting organics in the home garden when the whole
world of commercial farming was moving to the pesticide/herbicide/
hormone variety of factory farming that is rampant today. A couple
of years ago the magazine had grown so popular that it was split into
two magazines, OG to concentrate on the nuts and bolts of growing
and Organic Style to focus on living an organic lifestyle. For Zely &
Ritz to be named as one of the best organic restaurants by the largest
and most influential organic magazine in the country is an honor we
could have only dreamed about. Thanks to all our customers,
producers, and vendors who have made such an award possible.

October 19 – All Coon Rock Farm Organic Wine Dinner

October 19th will be a special wine dinner that will feature the produce
and meats that we are raising at Coon Rock Farm in Hillsborough.
Chef Sarig is still working on the menu, but I can tell you some of the
ingredients. On the meat front we’ll have pasture raised, antibiotic
and hormone free heritage chickens, lamb, and goat. We’ll also be
sampling the fall squashes like butternut and pumpkin along with
fresh-dug sweet potatoes and we have over 20 varieties of the freshest
possible lettuces and greens in the garden right now. We had originally
planed this dinner to be served with the new higher alcohol beers, but
we have had so many requests for it to be wine dinner that we’re going
to pair all this local fresh produce and meat with some of our best organic
and biodynamic wines from around the world. We’re expecting this to
be our biggest wine dinner yet, so get your reservations in early by
calling 828-0018. The cost will be $75 per person plus tax and
gratuities. You’ll also have the chance to purchase any of the wines
served during the evening to take home at very special pricing
reserved only for wine dinner attendees.

More Great Press

We also continue to receive great local press. The Carolina Farm
Stewardship Association’s newsletter feature story this month is
about Zely & Ritz and Coon Rock Farm. The cover has a photo of
Richard’s youngest son, Matt, holding one of Coon Rock Farm’s
heritage breed chickens. The one he is holding is a rooster, but the
hens of this same heritage breed (Barred Rock) are now producing
almost 3 dozen farm fresh eggs everyday. We don’t serve many
omelets at Zely & Ritz so you may not see the eggs, but if you’ve
tried any of Sarig’s wonderful custards, crème brulee, ice creams,
or other desserts then you are tasting the difference that that farm
fresh eggs make. And if you’d like to get more involved with a group
that is doing a great job of promoting locally grown food and healthy
family farms please consider joining the CFSA. Find out more about
them here: http://www.carolinafarmstewards.org/about.html And to
brag on Nancy just a little bit more, I’ll mention again just how incredible
it is for a brand new restaurant like Zely and Ritz to be awarded
the prestigious Wine Spectator “Award of Excellence” that we won last
month.

New on the Menu

If you are a seafood lover then you have to try Chef Sarig’s latest fish find.
It’s a barramundi that is a native of Australia but is now being organically
farm raised in this country. It is simply one of the best tasting fish that
we’ve ever had and Chef Sarig is pairing it now with an incredible
muscadine grape sauce. Also for the seafood lover there is an
unbelievable almond crusted scallop dish. For the meat lovers we
still have our best selling emu and filet and have added a great
venison loin and lamb chops from New Zealand. You can take a
look at all the new menu choices on our web site at
http://www.zelyandritz.com/menu.html and the new wine list at http://www.zelyandritz.com/wine_list_1.html.

November 9th – Last Wine Dinner of the Year

We plan to go all out on November 9th for what will be out last wine
dinner of the year before all the festivities and craziness of the
holidays. Call us now to reserve a space and we’ll let you know more
about the dinner as we taste the wines and prepare the menu.

Special Events and Special Hours for the Holidays

Now is the time to make your reservations for holiday parties or
special meals at Zely & Ritz. To make things easier, we’ve decided
to also be open on Monday nights in December. We’ve discussed
the idea of being open 6 nights, including Monday, since we opened.
Most downtown restaurants are closed on Monday, but we’ve had a
lot of requests to be open so this is our way of giving it a try. If Monday
turns out to be as good a night as for us as we think it can be, then
maybe we’ll make a permanent change, but right now we’ll be open
every Monday in December so you can have extra time to get your
special events and holiday parties planned with us. And remember,
we’re now open at 5:30 for drinks before dinner if you want to get an
early start on the evening.

What else we can do?

We’re looking forward to a great Fall and Holiday season as we come
up on our 1 year anniversary in December. With your help and support,
Zely & Ritz is now one of the hottest and the most successful restaurants
in Glenwood South. We love serving you and want your dining
experience with us to be spectacular. We’d love to hear your feedback,
good and bad, on how we can serve you better. The earlier opening
hours and new Monday openings are just two of the suggestions we
received from you that we’ve implemented. If you’ve got other ideas
or requests, just let us know. You can email any of us by using our
first name (Sarig, Nancy, Richard) @zelyandritz.com or call 828-0018.
BTW, word of mouth along with our web presence is still our main
source of new guests, so please tell you friends and co-workers
about us and if you have not done so already, please join the several
other customers who have posted great reviews about us on Citysearch.

We look forward to serving you soon,

Sarig, Nancy, and Richard