Farm to Table

One of the many wonderful things about California, besides its year-round mild climate, sunny skies, rolling hills and the great Pacific, is the abundance of beautiful, delicious quality food that’s locally sourced and so fresh, it was just begging for a new trend: Farm to Table Dinners.

When it comes to Farm Dinner, Outstanding in the Field is one of the absolute best and  the originators of this amazingly unique dining concept many of us have grown to love here in California.

The concept: It all started in the summer of 1998 by founder and Santa Cruz native, chef and artist Jim Denevan, when he began to invite several of  a restaurant’s regular producers out of the field and into the restaurant for farm dinners. The night’s menu would feature dishes where the ingredients came straight from the local farm.

They are literally a ‘restaurant without walls’ and their mission is to re-connect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it. Ingredients for their meals are almost all local and generally prepared by a celebrated chef!

The event:  Heather Gardner and her husband Michael attended a once-in-a-lifetime event at sandy shores of Morro Bay featured organic gourmet courses by Jim’s guest chef, Clark Staub, of Flatbread Full of Life, Heather & Michael’s favorite restaurant on the Central Coast of California. Sandspit by the Morro Rock at Morro Bay, California.

We highly recommend attending one of Jim’s events that now range across the country and Clark’s addictive experience at his restaurant in Los Alamos. Here are some images of the event, taken by Michael.

Pregnant Heather Gardner, Jim (founder), and Clarke (chef)