Easter Hams, Easter Buffets

Call it a bias from too many years spent in the restaurant industry, but when Easter comes to mind two things follow closely behind: that Easter Ham, and those glorious, endless tables of all the food one could ever hope for. We spilled the beans on how bin wine cafe is bringing in the holiday two days ago, and now it's BIN's turn.

To be honest, it was something I saw just minutes ago when walking to the office that sparked that bit of writerly inspiration to sit down and attack this post. John, his knife at in hand, gettin' to work on what'll be Roast Beef, hand carved to order this Sunday for Easter.

Ten years ago, when we opened BIN, if you weren't friends with a chef or owner of a restaurant, there was really no way you'd ever have access to the behind-the-scenes stuff that something like a blog allows everyone access to today. Pretty darn cool, don't you think? Kinda makes the process of knowing your food, and truly appreciating where it comes from before eating it, a great thing for so many people to access.

So we'll have the Roast Beef, but there's loads more in the works. From Eggs Benedict to our signature Omelete Bar to tastes of the Spring like an Asparagus Salad John has planned to Blueberry and Ricotta Pancakes and Smoked Salmon, Prosciutto, and assorted Salumis, I challenge anyone to conquer this entire spread - seriously, if you do, you need to comment on the blog and let me know... maybe I'll have something for you!

The media has generated some great buzz about Sunday's upcoming brunch, and we truly believe it's the best in the city. And just for kicks, another shot of that Roast Beef...

But there's something I've neglected so far... that Easter Ham. This year, there's a bit more to the ham than it's storied tradition.

Lurking in that smoke are the hams, which before finding a brief home in BIN's smoker, were cured for ten days straight... TEN. But the truly special story to these hams is that they come from Michigan's own Swan Creek Farm. It was nearly a year ago that a fire swept through the farm's grounds, pushing the small operation to a near total loss. Can you imagine how devistating this would be to a family farm? But with their reputation, and invaluable friendships with chefs and restaurants all over the midwest, the restaurant community rallied together and held benefits and fundraisers to help give the farm its legs back.

And now, one year later, we're able to share pictures from our kitchen of the farm's pork that we'll be serving special for Easter Sunday.

A story that has truly traveled full circle, we're just thrilled to share with you and your family. And fitting, given the story of Easter, isn't it?


And, befitting of BIN's own tradition, expect the following libations:

Bloody Mary Flights
the BIN 36 Mary, the Italian Mary, the Asian Mary & the Consuela Mary

Mimosa Flights
classic orange, pineapple, pomegranate & peach

And for the kids!

Juice Flights
apple, orange, cranberry and pineapple juice

Milk Flights
strawberry, chocolate, vanilla and regular milk

That's it for now. We've got some busy days ahead of us as we prep for Sunday...