Gourmet LA

Harmony Farms

How about a mess of frog legs? Fancy a meal of wild boar medallions? Or elk? Or deer? Or rabbit? Or game birds? These are not things that show up very often in the sprawling aisles of the dreary and ubiquitous grocery malls that too often choke out the real food finds and make interesting and authentic foods inaccessible to most.

It’s nice to know that in a place as remote to such animals as Los Angeles, you actually can find these foods. Harmony Farms is a full-service butcher and purveyor of the flesh of all sorts of exotic critters. Located on Foothill Boulevard in La Crescenta, Harmony is a friendly, helpful place where you can buy pert near anything your carnivorous heart desires. And if they don’t have it on hand, they can order it for you. In addition to the wild and the unusual, you’ll also find high-quality beef, pork, chicken and fish. So if you’re a little timid about the exotics, check out the things you recognize and ask a few questions about what you don’t. Chances are they’ll help you understand that you can bring exotic game onto your own dinner table without undue anxiety.

My husband and I dropped in recently, after several years of hearing about this mystical, magical place nestled in the foothills of the San Gabriel Mountains where such delights could be had. We’ll definitely be back, again and again and again. The welcome was warm, the staff knowledgeable and the experience positive.

Since I’m not a great lover of Trah-DISH-un!, and I didn’t grow up eating turkey, I’m always on the lookout for different fare for Thanksgiving and Christmas. I’d had wonderfully prepared wild boar in Italy, so having the opportunity to cook it myself at home sounded like a winning idea. We made two meals on the boar we got at Harmony. It was flavorful, like pork but porkier, with a richness and a tenderness that surprised and delighted us. And like pork, it paired well with an array of side dishes and wines.

It looks like our New Year’s resolution for 2008 will involve at least one trip each month to Harmony Farms to try something new and different.

© 2007, The Hungry Passport