Style checks out the harvest at Zed Cafe

Zed Café is poised for a new level of success now that Executive Chef Bill Foster is running the kitchen. The Culinary Institute of America-trained chef worked with Jimmy Sneed and Dale Reitzer for nine years and did a stint at the Executive Mansion and A Sharper Palate before moving to the North Side kitchens of Zed a few weeks ago.

“I’ve tried to work at the best places I could,” Foster says in his South Carolina twang, “and I trained well at Acacia. Dale is a mentor in the business and philosophy of restaurants.”

Foster is offering personalized tasting menus for guests, all local produce and specialty ingredients, and the occasional wine dinner, including one with Ellwood Thompson’s Aug. 14.

“Our motto here is clean food,” he says. “It’s not crunchy granola, it’s working with the best products — no hormones, no antibiotics, no pesticides — and I’m dealing directly with farmers. That’s very exciting. I’m being spoiled — this is what I’ve always envisioned.”

The café serves lunch and dinner Wednesday through Saturday, and Sunday brunch. 5109 Lakeside Ave. 261-5656.