Blue Moon Gets Exclusive Local Food Award

Before you open the door at Exeter's downtown restaurant, look to the left. You'll find a huge map of New England showing exactly where the restaurant's food and beverages come from.

You'll find:

• Beef comes from Exeter's Little Brook Farm
• Vegetables and wheat flour come from Rollinsford's Brookford Farm
• Fruit comes from Hampton Falls' Applecrest Farm
• Eggs come from Exeter's Three Stars Farm

It's a smart marketing effort to highlight the restaurant's local food philosophy – which helped the restaurant recently earn a prestigious designation.

New Hampshire Farm to Restaurant Connection approved Blue Moon as a certified local restaurant – something the organization has awarded to only three other restaurants in New Hampshire.

Blue Moon owner Kathy Gallant was delighted.

"It's important to know where your food is coming from," she said.

New Hampshire Farm to Restaurant Connection is a nonprofit partnering with the state Department of Agriculture, Markets & Food to promote local food.

"(Blue Moon) is living and breathing the local food movement, sourcing locally out of conviction, rather than just going through the motion," the restaurant connection group wrote on its website.

Gallant credited head chef Ted McCormack for curating local ingredients.

"He has to work three-four times as hard," she said. "He has to connect with dozens of different farms."

Gallant and local nutrionist Tracey Miller recently started that features local farmers. It sold out for the first two installments. Several more are planned through the rest of the year.

Blue Moon, founded in 1995, is open Mon.-Sat. as a deli-style breakfast/lunch place. It closes at 3 p.m. and opens back up again at 5 p.m., when it dims the lights and transforms into a sit-down dining space with servers.

Its seasonal menu includes items like:

• Kellie Brook Porterhouse with a maple-chipotle glaze and gluten-free gnocci
• Kale- and rice-stuffed eggplant with red pepper coulis
• Roasted Monkfish
• Newfields Rabbit Stew

The restaurant's website can be found here.