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ZZEST MARKET & CAFE RECEIVES THE AMERICAN CHEESE
SOCIETY’S CERTIFIED CHEESE PROFESSIONAL™ CREDENTIAL
Rochester, MN (September 4, 2012) – ZZest Market & Cafe
announces that LeeAnn Zubay is among the first class of
American Cheese Society Certified Cheese Professionals™ (ACS
CCPs™). LeeAnn is part of an elite group of 121 individuals
who passed the inaugural Certified Cheese Professional™
Exam, which was held on August 1 in Raleigh, N.C. This
prestigious group consists of cheese professionals from
across the United States and Canada. For a full list of ACS
CCPs™, please visit
http://www.cheesesociety.org/events-education/acs-certified-cheese-professionals/.
The Certified Cheese Professional Exam™ is the first exam of
its kind. It was established by the American Cheese Society
to encourage high standards of comprehensive cheese
knowledge and service for professionals in all areas of the
industry. The exam was developed over an eight-year period
with more than 100 industry experts working together with
credential consultants Knapp International and software
provider ExamSoft. The exam is based on the knowledge and
skills required to successfully perform cheese-related tasks
in jobs across the industry. Testing encompasses a broad
range of topics including raw ingredients, the cheesemaking
process, storing and handling cheese, selecting
distributors, marketing and communicating about cheese,
nutrition, and regulations and sanitation.
“I applaud the efforts of all those who displayed their
cheese industry knowledge by passing this exam,” says Nora
Weiser, ACS Executive Director. “The expertise of ACS CCPs™
not only elevates the industry, but also designates for
consumers that a highly skilled and reliable cheese resource
is available to them.”
LeeAnn will receive the right to use the title ACS Certified
Cheese Professional™ (or ACS CCP™). All ACS CCPs™ will be
required to demonstrate continued active participation
within the cheese industry and continued professional
development to maintain this credential, and will be
required to recertify every three years.
To learn more about the Certified Cheese Professional Exam,
visit
www.cheesesociety.org.
SFGate
ZZest Market and Café
Partners With Minnesota Cheese Festival for Unique Wine and
Cheese Excursion
Posted on May
08, 2012 at 07:00 AM EDT
While most Americans think of Wisconsin when they hear
“hand-crafted, artisan cheeses,” Minnesota is actually the
No. 6 cheese producing state in the US, giving Minnesotans
something to be proud of as National Dairy Month approaches.
Rochester restaurant
ZZest Market and Café provides local residents with the
freshest culinary products, including artisan domestic and
imported cheeses.
“When we can, we like to use local products in our café
because it means we get to know the farmer and his products
on a first name basis. Our chefs are really talented so
giving them local resources and a pantry like ZZest Market
to work from, amazing things hit our menu!” said ZZest
founder, LeeAnn Zubay.
read the entire article here
by
Staff on January 20, 2012
"The one thing everyone agrees on is the food. Billing
itself as “a market by day and a restaurant by night,”
ZZest’s menu changes daily and features seasonal choices
prepared with many of the gourmet ingredients found in the
market."
"There are numerous oils, vinegars, honeys, chutneys,
chocolate, and crackers on hand, plus cheeses and
charcuterie, both local and imported from across the country
and the world."
"Free samples play up the staff’s friendly attitude."
"Diners sitting at the bar have begun to lean together,
arms resting jovially around each other."
 39th
Annual sofiTM
Awards
Washington, D.C. (July 11, 2011) – The
winners of the 39th sofi Awards for the
outstanding specialty foods and beverages of the year were
announced this evening by the National Association for the
Specialty Food Trade (NASFT) at the Summer Fancy Food Show.
The awards were presented at a red-carpet ceremony hosted
by Celebrity Chef Cat Cora. A sofi Award is considered the
highest honor in the $70-billion specialty food industry.
“sofi” stands for specialty outstanding food innovation.
Award presentation by Ann Daw, President of
NASFT
LeeAnn and Iron Chef Cat Cora
5/23/2011
Outstanding Retailers
of 2011
From a two-year-old store and restaurant in Rochester,
Minn., to a specialty chain with more than 100 locations,
this year’s selections show what great sourcing, strong
business sense, premium services and true culinary passion
can deliver.
Specialty Food Magazine and the National
Association for the Specialty Food Trade (NASFT) present the
six Outstanding Retailers of 2011, as nominated and selected
by members of the NASFT. Members are asked to nominate
stores based on qualities such as uniqueness, product
knowledge and customer service. Each of the following
award-winning stores exemplifies these traits of a
successful specialty food establishment, while remaining
true to its community and its customers. Read on to learn
about their operations, history, innovative features and
points of distinction.
read the full article here
Six Specialty Retailers Selected For Top Industry Award
by National Association of Specialty Food
Trade, Inc.
Posted: Wednesday, May 25, 2011 at 3:40PM EDT
New York, N.Y. - The National Association for the
Specialty Food Trade, Inc. (NASFT), is pleased to announce
the Outstanding Specialty Food Retailers of 2011. They are:
Central Market, Austin, Texas; Fromagination, Madison, Wisc.;
Olives Gourmet Grocer, Long Beach, Calif.; The Cheese Iron,
Portland, Maine; The Fresh Market, Greensboro, N.C.; and
ZZest Market & Café, Rochester, Minn.
These outstanding retailers range from a local cheese
shop founded by a career changer, to a specialty supermarket
that has expanded to more than 100 locations without
sacrificing its commitment to quality and customer service.
The winners were selected by a panel of specialty food
experts convened by the NASFT who evaluated nominees from
across the U.S.
“Each honoree exemplifies the hallmarks of specialty food
retailing in a unique way,” says Ann Daw, president of the
NASFT. “They all bring a passion for food, the customer, and
the community to their work every day.”
The awards will be presented July 11, 2011, at the Summer
Fancy Food Show in Washington, D.C., in a red-carpet
ceremony hosted by Celebrity Chef Cat Cora. Winners are
featured in the June issue of the NASFT’s Specialty Food
Magazine and at specialtyfood.com/retailerawards.
Nominations for Outstanding Specialty Food Retailers were
made by members of the NASFT. The NASFT is a not-for-profit
trade association for food artisans and entrepreneurs.
Retailers with the most nominations were asked to submit
information including menus, newsletters, training manuals,
promotional materials and customer comments, to support
their nominations. The judges included previous honorees,
manufacturers, distributors and journalists.
Honorable mentions went to: Carlino’s Market, West
Chester, Pa.; City Olive, Chicago; Farm Fresh to You, San
Francisco; Gerrards Market, Redlands, Calif.; Mollie Stone’s
Markets, San Rafael, Calif.; Papa Joe’s Gourmet Market &
Catering, Rochester, Minn.; Parkview Gourmet, Libertyville,
Ill.; Peppers of Key West, Key West, Fla.; Savor the Flavor,
Sierra Madre, Calif.; Southport Grocery & Café, Chicago;
Star Provisions, Atlanta; The Andersons, Maumee, Ohio; The
Cheese Shop of Virginia, Williamsburg, Va.; Urban Harvest,
Arlington Heights, Ill.; Vicente Foods, Los Angeles; and
Zingerman’s Bakehouse, Ann Arbor, Mich.
read the whole story here
Market and
cafe born out of longtime dream
3/2/2010 7:11:53 AM
By Holly Ebel
The Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN
There are at least two reasons to check out ZZest
Culinary Market and Wine Cafe, one of the newest
additions to the Rochester culinary scene.
First, there is a vast number of unique food specialties
available for purchase. And second, the meals that are
served during the lunch and dinner hours.
read more here
Answer: Jerry and LeeAnn Zubay
Question: What husband and wife team are
transforming the Rochester food scene in a matter of weeks?
Wine cafe adds a little Zzest to life
11/20/2009
Last month, LeeAnn Zubay and staff packed up their Culinary Market
shop next to 300 First and moved it into the former Avocados Bistro spot
at Apache Shoppes on 16th Street Southwest, renaming it Zzest Wine Cafe.
The move doubled their square footage - and it's already filled to the
brim. They anticipated opening their new wine café today, and I got a
little preview earlier this week.
The ambiance - market fresh
read the rest
here
Rochester, when it comes to good food you're no longer in
the rookie league. The October 23rd reopening of
Zzest Culinary Market & Wine Cafe hit one out of
the ballpark. It's a whole new culinary scene.
LeeAnn Zubay, how can we thank you enough?
read the rest here
By Jeff Kiger, Post-Bulletin business
columnist
Ever see an out-of-the-ordinary food item on a store shelf and
wonder how it would taste or even what you would do with it?
The Rochester culinary scene’s well-known Zs —
LeeAnn
and
Jerry Zubay
— have a plan to serve up answers to shoppers looking for a taste of
the uncommon.
It won’t happen until August at least, but the plan is to open a
specialty grocery —
ZZest Culinary
Market
— in the former
Avocado’s World
Bistro
space at 1190 16th St. S.W. in the Apache Shoppes shopping center.
The Zubays were originally behind
City Cafe,
Newt’s,
300 First,
City Market
and the
Redwood Room
in downtown Rochester.
This part of ZZest will be an expansion of the
Culinary Market
LeeAnn Zubay
opened in the little building near the 300 First restaurant last
year. She has specialty cheeses, meats, salts, chutneys, jellies and
spices as well as “adventurous ingredients” on the shelves in the
First Avenue store.
“I am just finding such awesome stuff, and I just want to bring more
things in,” she said of the move from the small downtown store into
the huge-by-comparison 2,700-square-foot space.
About a month after the shelves fill up at the new ZZest, the Zubays
plan to open a cafe with counter service to offer appetizers,
sandwiches, lunch and dinner, as well as beer and wine.
“If you are interested in what this little jar of pomegranate
chutney would taste like, you will be able to try it out because is
we used it on the No. 4 sandwich,” says Jerry Zubay.
While there are still a lot of details to be worked out, also look
for possible cooking classes and special tasting events where one
ingredient is used in every course from appetizer to dessert.
Compliments of the chef:
She's in the Market
9/30/2008 10:10:42 AM
From being involved for years in restaurant kitchens, LeeAnn Zubay is
now hoping to help you in yours.
In a little building next to 300 on First, Zubay created a food
lover's delight. The Culinary Market, open barely three months, is
quickly turning into the go-to spot for the out-of-the-ordinary, the
unusual, the hard-to-find and above all, the delicious.
As Zubay eyes the direction she wants this market to take, she has the
experience and the know-how. As the wife of Jerry Zubay, co-owner of
Creative Cuisine -- think City Cafe, The Redwood Room and 300 on First
-- she has been involved in the restaurant business as a consulting chef
in charge of menu development and research for the company. In that
capacity, she has assisted their chefs and at one point, helped bake
pastries. "There isn't much I haven't done at one time or another. I
love it and I love food," she said.
What Zubay has done is impressive. In this very small space, she has
well over 800 different products. "Initially my main focus was cheese,"
she said. "I felt that was one area where this town really needed
bolstering and I wanted to get ones that were not available anywhere
else."
That she has done. A substantial cheese counter is filled with
different artisinal cheeses both from the United States and abroad.
There are varieties from Spain, Italy, France and Holland as well as
from the Cow Girl Creamery in California and Sweet Grass Dairies in
Georgia. Then there are olive oils, honeys and a big variety of salts
and flavored sugars.
You can also get Iberico and Serrano ham, prosciutto and pancetta.
Another popular item are the Tribecca breads ordered from New York.
Multi-grain, olive and fruit and nut baquettes come frozen and you
finish the baking at home.
If being around all this food makes you hungry, you can also get a
sandwich and sit outside at a little cafe table.
Has she always been so passionate about good food? "Yes. In fact I
started cooking in the fourth grade, things my mother would not have
thought about preparing," she said. "I really got into it. Actually in
the sixth grade I made my first cheese souffle. Later, one of my jobs in
high school was working as a waitress and in the kitchen at Madonna
Towers. I made salads and desserts on Thursdays and on weekends. I loved
that job."
Q & A with LeeAnn Zubay
Q: This reminds me of a smaller version of an upscale Trader
Joes. Is there any one thing you sell more of than anything else?
A: Not really. It is pretty even. We sell a little
of everything every day. We already have a good base of regular
customers, and what is fun also is we have quite a few who walk over
from Charter House.
Q: The holidays aren't that far away. What sorts of things
will you be bringing in?
A: We'll have more cheeses, caviar, pates -- lots of
different and unusual items.
Q: So as involved as you and Jerry are with food, don't you
want to just get away from it when you go on vacation?
A: Absolutely not. We don't golf. We don't hike.
What we do is eat. We are always on the hunt for that new item or
product or new dish. But that is what we love to do whether we are here
or away. I do read a lot and I love cooking magazines like "Bon Appetit"
and cookbooks.
Q: What about expanding or opening a second place?
A: We are pretty tight in here but it works. For
myself, I can never do anything little -- there is so much more I want
to do with this. For now, no. But who knows? I have a lot of ideas.
Culinary Market, 308 First Ave. N.W., is open Tuesdays through
Fridays from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.
280-3875. www.culinary-market.com.
Holly Ebel of Rochester is a freelance writer.
New gourmet grocery will cater to the adventurous cook
05/05/2008 Rochester Post Bulletin
The words Zubay and food go together like wine and cheese in Rochester.
Jerry and LeeAnn Zubay are partners with the Currie family in Creative
Cuisine. Creative Cuisine is the company behind five downtown Rochester
restaurants, including 300 First, City Cafe and Newt's.
Now LeeAnn Zubay is cooking up a gourmet grocery called Culinary Market.
"It will be a specialty food store focusing on adventurous ingredients and
imported cheeses," she says. "I hope to have all the really hard-to-find
things."
Zubay hopes to open in June in the former Broadstreet Baking building next
to 300 First on First Avenue.
Expect foods from Italy, Spain and small artisan operations in the U.S.
Sausages, rare hams, pates and lots of imported cheeses will be on the
shelves.
Culinary Market Open
06/17/2008
Post-Bulletin staff
Culinary Market, a new specialty food store, opened in downtown Rochester on
Wednesday.
Owner LeeAnn Zubay staffs the small store at 308 First Ave. N.W. in a
building near her family's restaurants, the Redwood Room and 300 First.
Zubay carries what she describes as "adventurous ingredients." That means
hard-to-find items like specialty cheeses, of which she carries more than 40
different selections.
She also carries items such as chutneys, chorizo, imported pastas, olives,
salts and honey.
And Zubay still has item on sale at Rochester Produce, 2112 Second St. S.W.
She is open from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday.
For more information, go to Postbulletin.com/weblinks.
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*High fives self*
Posted by: Baileyswedishfish | June 18, 2009 at 01:48 PM
Posted by: busymom | June 18, 2009 at 02:59 PM