Copyright 2003 Union Leader Corp

October 31, 2003 Friday STATE EDITION

SECTION: FOOD; Pg. C6

LENGTH: 838 words

HEADLINE: 'Food Finds' in New Hampshire

BYLINE: By GARY DENNIS Union Leader Staff

BODY:
FOUR NEW HAMPSHIRE food producers featured in a Food Network program next week are getting ready to man the phones.

Plymouth's Bonnie Brae Farms, Polly's Pancake Parlor in Sugar Hill, The Pie Guy in Salem and Manchester's Van Otis Chocolates got some attention from the show "Food Finds," which features small-town shops, mom-and-pop stores and local specialty foods vendors.

"They indicate we should have our pens and pencils ready to answer the phone," said Dave Quinn, owner of Van Otis Chocolates. "I've talked with a few other candy makers who have been on 'Food Finds' and activity definitely increased."

Barry Gribbon, "Food Finds" executive producer, said it's not uncommon for a show to focus on the specialty shops and family-run businesses of one state.

"Our researchers have been up in that region before doing New England stories," Gribbon said. They found a multitude of "family-runs" when they checked into New Hampshire, he said.

"The researchers for our show keep an eye on food critics, the Internet and local newspapers . . . they're dialed into the small food business throughout the country," he said. "There's really a whole little world out there."

But word-of-mouth also played a role, according to some of the business owners featured in the upcoming episode. Quinn says a friend who works with DEKA Research and Development in Manchester is an acquaintance of a producer of the show.

"And she told this producer 'If you're going to do your show in New Hampshire, you've got to do Van Otis,'" Quinn said.

Film crews focused on the process of making candies and gave special attention to unique or specialty products like Van Otis' Swiss chocolates and chocolate-dipped champagne bottles.

Henry Ahern of Bonnie Brae Farms, a red deer farm in Plymouth, said the show got word of his operation after another friend of a producer picked up a farm brochure at the Manchester Farmers Market.

"They spent a day filming here at the farm and went to one of the restaurants that buys our venison, the Manor on Golden Pond in Holderness," Ahern said.

The 70-acre farm has been in business for 10 years, Ahern said. It was passed down as a hay and logging operation.

"I was trying to find something to do with this farm. I found out about deer farming. . . . I fell in love with the deer," he said.

Is it lucrative?

"Well, it's agriculture. It has its ups and downs," he said.

Polly's Pancake Parlor in the small White Mountain town of Sugar Hill also got a visit from the Food Network show. It was the family history and love of all things maple that won the pancake house a spot.

"And we heard a boss of one of the producers used to come here as a kid," said Kathie Cote, who co-owns the business with family.

Along with five flavors of pancake -- plain, buckwheat, whole wheat, corn meal and the healthy alternative oatmeal buttermilk -- Polly's puts out a maple tray for their patrons as they eat.

"It includes pure maple syrup, pure maple spread which is like a butter and maple sugar for your coffee," she said.

That scrumptious breakfast combination, plus gorgeous views of the White Mountains Presidential Range, keeps customers coming back, she said.

"The crew really focused on a lot of things while they were here," she said. They interviewed customers and staff, the bakers, everybody."

Polly's also takes maple syrup -- which they ship in -- and makes candy and other maple products.

"We leave the sugaring and syrup production up to the farmers," she said.

The Pie Guy in Salem was the guy "Food Finds" workers looked for as they focused on homegrown New Hampshire.

"They called me out the blue," says Pie Guy owner Michael Withrow. "But I heard a producer's friend had tasted my pies."

After the first contact, Withrow said, he sent the network 10 pies and they got back to him quick.

"I thought 'I don't know what this means, but it's great,'" Withrow said.

The Pie Guy's main selling point is straight-from-scratch, no-preservative pies. And the four main flavors -- chocolate cream, blueberry, old-fashioned apple and apple cream -- have made the catchy name, well, catch.

"With the chocolate cream, we start with the cocoa milk on the stove like from the old days," he said.

And with the apple cream pie, workers cut the crown off the apple pie, fill it up with all-natural homemade whipped cream and put the crown back on.

"All we care about is how it tastes and then think about how much it costs later," Withrow said.

Gribbon said "Food Finds" is into its fourth season and hopes to hit all of the states eventually.

"There are always such great stories to be told out there," he said. "The researchers spread out as far as they can."

From the researching stage of a show through filming and to on-the-air takes about a year. "Food Finds" film crews actually visited the state and did their work in September 2002.

The show is based on the book "Food Finds" by Allison Engel and Margaret Engel. The television show is hosted by Sandra Pinckney.

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