December 25, 2024
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Wild Ginger Bistro & Wine Bar serves farm-to-table in Princeton

By Katlyn Sanden – Shaw Local News Network correspondent
Dan Marquis (left) poses with his mother, Pat Marquis (center), and brother, Tim Marquis (right), behind the wine bar at Wild Ginger Bistro. Next to them, there is a space where customers will be able to purchase fresh produce and other local products. Dan said they used barnwood from their barn and gathered family and community memorabilia to create a special, inviting ambiance.

Dan Marquis (from left) poses with his mother, Pat Marquis, and brother Tim Marquis behind the wine bar at Wild Ginger Bistro. Next to them is a space where customers will be able to purchase fresh produce and other local products. Dan said they used barnwood from their barn, and gathered family and community memorabilia to create a special, inviting ambience. (Photo/Katlyn Sanden)

Sourcing most of their ingredients from their own farm while using local suppliers for others, the Wild Ginger Bistro & Wine Bar aims to tickle every taste bud.

The farm-to-table restaurant is located at 950 N. Main St. in Princeton’s Art District.

“I went to culinary school in Chicago, and worked in restaurants up there for over 20 years,” said Dan Marquis, founder of Wild Ginger Bistro & Wine Bar. “It was hard to find produce that I wanted to work with. Things just weren’t available.”

In that moment, he knew there was something to this whole farm-to-table thing. His brother, Tim Marquis, was able to grow some of the produce he needed for his specialty menus in the city. The demand was great, and he knew that eventually he’d like to move back to the Illinois Valley and open his own farm-to-table restaurant.

Before the produce makes its way to the plate at Wild Ginger Bistro in Princeton, it's first grown on the family's own organic farm.

Before the produce makes its way to the plate at Wild Ginger Bistro in Princeton, it's first grown on the family's own organic farm. (Photo provided by Wild Ginger Bistro)

“I worked in all different cuisines,” Dan said. “Japanese, Peruvian, Brazilian, Asian, Italian and French. You read all these cookbooks and see all these ingredients, but they’re not available. We can get seeds all over the place. If it works out to grow it, we’ll grow it. We grow microgreens year-round.”

Microgreens are young seedlings of edible vegetables and herbs that are packed with nutrients and can add intense flavor to any dish.

This is a sample of what's to come when dining at Wild Ginger Bistro in Princeton.

This is a sample of what's to come when dining at Wild Ginger Bistro in Princeton. (Photo provided by Wild Ginger Bistro)

While Dan is busy coming up with culinary masterpieces, Tim and his mom, Pat Marquis, are busy running their organic family farm – Mill Road Farms. This is where the bulk of the ingredients come from – making this restaurant a true farm-to-table experience.

“We’ve tried a lot of things,” Pat Marquis said. “We always had a large garden growing up, so I had some knowledge, but gardening has changed over the years. Tim has done research, and we’ve learned how to do it better. The microgreens have been a really big part of expanding.”

Dan added that nothing will go to waste. While the microgreens are available throughout the year, fresh produce will be seasonal. What doesn’t get served right away will be turned into sauces, soups or anything else the team dreams up. They plan to can a lot of the extra to sell along with some of the fresh produce right there in the Wild Ginger Bistro & Wine Bar, almost creating a mini farmers market feel, they said.

“People are finally understanding what microgreens are and how good they are for you,” Pat added. “More and more people are interested in eating healthy, plus eating well. That’s where our focus is. We want to be able to provide good, healthy produce for people that’s affordable.”

While sourcing only the highest-quality ingredients, the team hopes to offer the highest-quality dining experience as well.

“We’re taking it nice and slow,” Dan said. “When I went to Greece, I learned a lot of different types of cooking I wasn’t aware of. We’re trying to incorporate that. I want to make sure my team gets trained the right way. We’ve been working on this a long time – all of us together.”

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