A few readers have asked about the new Homegrown Sandwiches in Fremont using cured meats from The Swinery on their sandwiches. Wasn’t the whole controversy with Culinary Communion and The Swinery that owner Gabriel Claycamp didn’t have a Swinery permit yet from Public Health - Seattle and King County?

I called Homegrown today to inquire, and was told the Swinery products were off the menu. 

“We had been told that the paperwork was in order for (The Swinery), and then we found out otherwise, so we decided to stop carrying their stuff,” said Brad Gillis, who owns Homegrown with Ben Friedman.

I checked in with the health department, and was told that its staff had told Homegrown the meat was not from an approved source.

Claycamp is nearing completion on his HACCP permit, according to the health department. Even after he receives it, though, it will only allow him to sell the approved products at his own restaurant and at farmers markets, they said. To sell to another restaurant would require a separate process through the U.S.D.A.

 ”If they get their stuff in order, I’d like to carry it again,” said Homegrown’s Gillis — but for now, Homegrown is scrambling for some other suppliers.

“We’re doing some stuff in house,” he said, including the chicken, and using some Painted Hills charcuterie and bacon from Carlton Farms.

Homegrown is aiming for small, locally produced products, he said, with a goal of food that’s “somewhat gourmet, but not in-your-face foodie. Sustainable is the word we like to use.” The opening menu includes the likes of a blackened cod sandwich with Creole mustard, caramelized onions, and slaw, a Beecher’s grilled cheese, and a crab cake with bacon and avocado.

 ”Some things are organic, some things are local, and not everything is both. We try to make a choice based on what we’re most comfortable with for each item,” Gillis said. Meat from Niman Ranch, for instance, is certified organic, but it’s become a large company — they would rather use a smaller, local producer that might use better farming practices even if it doesn’t carry a USDA organic stamp. 

“Right now, we’re getting the concept off the ground,” he said, and he hopes they’ll make more farmer-restaurant connections in the process.

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