David Levi, chef/owner of Vinland, appeared in three news publications on Tuesday. NPR’s food blog, The Salt, quoted Levi on an article about the drain of culinary talent away from NYC and to smaller cities like Portland,
“Because rent is just so much lower, it just gives you a lot more freedom to not drive yourself completely crazy and take a few more risks,” Levi says.
and then the Wire blog published by The Atlantic picked up the story emphasizing the the role interest in local foods is having encouraging chefs to move,
and finally The Forecaster published an article about Levi’s vision for Vinland and it’s connection to local food/farm community.
“This is not just a restaurant, not just a job,” Levi said Monday. “This is about building the local economy, doing more for our land, and creating a truly Maine cuisine. Vinland is totally mission-driven.”
The locavore trend is nothing new, especially in foodie destinations such as Portland. But Levi is taking “local” to the extreme.
Levi is currently running a campaign on Kickstarter to raise part of the capital needed to launch Vinland.