southwest

"It used to take a lot of effort to connect with reliable sources for local products," Silva adds. "It's easier now that local foods are just a phone call or an email away. We love it!" At this holiday time of year, the place hums. There's a line of lunch-hungry shoppers waiting for tables. (The savvy ones receive Mirabelles' Daily Specials email so they already know what they'll be ordering.)  There's another line of people eager to pick up a Christmas Stollen or a boxful of snowflake cookies. Those in the know have already put in their orders for Lane's fruitcake (“the good kind," swear its devotees) or a picture-perfect bûche de Noël. Reflecting on two decades of life in the food...