Farms, small businesses collaborate to serve bountiful feast for 200 at The Gallagher
Photo by Tom Rivers
MEDINA – Eager eaters go through the service line and fill their plates with vegetables from Pudgie’s Veggies and burgers from RLW Cattle Co.
The Gallagher on Route 63 hosted the event on Thursday evening where 200 meals were served in an event promoted as “burgers and brews.”
It was a fast sell-out in a collaboration among RLW, Pudgie’s, the Gallagher, Hilltop Restaurant in Lockport and The Coffeepot Café in Medina.
The Coffeepot owners, Dan and Hans Rosentreter, provided the buns for the burgers. Hilltop catered the event, preparing the food.
Patrick Woodworth shucks corn inside the Gallagher while his wife Rachel Woodworth greets people. Harris Farms in Gasport provided the corn roaster and some manpower to cook the corn.
The Woodworths started a retail beef store on Swett Road in Lyndonville this past spring for RLW Cattle Co. Patrick is a fifth-generation beef farmer. He also grows apples and grains.
“This is to support local businesses,” Patrick said about the event. “We all have something to offer.”
There were 200 tickets at $35 each. Besides the food served at the Gallagher, everyone received a pound of beef to take home.
“People are being so positive about it,” Rachel said. “It’s like a farm-to-table dinner.”
Pudgie’s Veggies owner Pudgie Bale and partner Debbie Fuller were happy to see so many people enjoying the food.
Pudgie’s provided potatoes, corn on the cob, cucumbers and tomatoes.
Bale also made it known he is planning to retire from growing vegetables after this year. He has grown vegetables for 25 years. He also worked as a heavy equipment operator and bartender. Bale said he wants more time to enjoy life, especially time with his grandchildren. He has been working 6 a.m. to 11 p.m.
“I just can’t do it anymore,” said Bale, who is 68. “I’m crawling into the house at night.”
Pudgie’s supplies eight restaurants with vegetables, and has stands outside his home on Route 63 near Boxwood Cemetery and by Lake’s Wine and Spirits at the corner of Salt Works Road and Park Avenue. Budgie’s also has a stand on Saturdays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at RLW on Swett Road.
Bale said his goal was to provide top-tier produce.
“We built this business on quality,” he said.
Tony Conrad, executive chef and owner of Hilltop Restaurant in Lockport, grills burgers outside The Gallagher. Conrad and his team of employees prepared the meals for Thursday’s dinner.
The event also included music from the Dave Stoll Band in Lyndonville.
The apple crisp were made from apples from Sandy Knoll Farms, owned by Patrick Woodworth in Lyndonville. These apples came out of storage from last year’s crop. Sandy Knoll was hit hard by a hail storm on Aug. 11.
Everett Bruning busses tables during the event. His parents, Jenna and Martin Bruning, opened The Gallagher in 2016. The site hosts about 50 weddings a year, and also is used for other parties and events.
Lane Woodworth gives one of the dinner guests a bag with a frozen pound of beef to take home.
The Woodworth, Conrad and Bruning families and Pudgie’s Veggies leaders pose for a photo outside the Gallagher.
From left in front include Morgan Woodworth and Megan Fargale (from Hilltop Restaurant).
Back row includes Lane, Patrick, Rachel and Nathan Woodworth; Tony and Crystal Conrad; Debbie Fuller and Pudgie Bale; Sylvia, Aubrey, Everett, Martin and Jenna Bruning.
