Field of Greens 2011

Field of Greens is one of my favorite festivals of the year in Georgia and it is this Sunday, October 2nd. Celebrating the farmer and the chef, it always has a stellar lineup.  Look at this year's participating restaurants:

Ron Eyester - Rosebud, The Family Dog

Robert Phalen - One Eared Stag, Holy Taco

Jay Swift - 4th & Swift

Stephen Herman - Haven

Matt Swickerath - Valenza

Dave Larkworthy - 5 Seasons Brewing Company

Eddie Hernandez - Taqueria del Sol

Justin Burdett - Miller Union

Matt Palmerlee - Farm 255

Terry Koval - Farm Burger

Linton Hopkins - Restaurant Eugene, Holeman & Finch Public House

Dave Roberts - Community Q BBQ

Eric Ottensmeyer - Leon's Full Service

Cathy Conway - Avalon Catering

EJ Hodgkinson - Woodfire Grill

Linda Harrell - Cibo E Beve

Justin Keith - Food 101

Ford Fry - JCT Kitchen

Drew Belline - No. 246

Lance Gummere - The Shed at Glenwood

Ryan Smith - Empire State South

Chris Hall - Local Three

Todd Mussman - Muss & Turner's

Duane Nutter - One Flew South

Marc Taft - Chicken and the Egg

Drew Van Leuvan - One Midtown Kitchen

Joe Schafer - Parish

Janine Falvo - Briza

Lisa Slater - Dal Cuore Market & Restaurant

Ryan Tittle - Brick Store Pub

Megan McCarthy - Healthy Eating 101

The weather looks to be incredible (just like last year) for a day at  Whippoorwill Hollow Farm, a 74-acre working organic farm located in Walnut Grove, just north of Covington and an easy 45 minute drive east of Atlanta. 

from etsy

                                        

Check out the Farmers Market area:

Little Tart Bakeshop (baked goods)

Antico Mercante (cheeses)

Pine Street Market (artisan meats)

Cafe Campesino (coffee)

Phickles Pickles (pickles)--save me some wedgies.

King of Pops (popsicles)

Nature's Garden Delivered (vegetable home delivery service)

High Road Craft Ice Cream (ice cream)---word on the street isthat they are bringing this:  Tastes like Bourbon with Dark Chocolate Chunks and a touch of sweet handmade Praline. oh. my.

Goodness Gracious Granola (granola)

Indigo Bath & Body (soaps)

Little Red Hen Bakeshop (baked goods)

Fairywood Thicket (jams)

Kriya Kitchen (cookies)

Jittery Joe's Coffee (coffee)

Decimal Place Farm (goat cheese)

David Jeffries Kitchen (biscotti)

Madeline Burdine Jewelry (jewelry)

Cirkelfish Studio (clay)

Back to the Roots (mushroom growing kits)

Songbird Soaps (soaps)

Garlic Clove Foods (quinoa dishes)

sugar-coated radical (chocolates)

Farmer D Organics (gardening supplies)

Great Cupcake Company (cupcakes)

Emily G's (jams)

Sustenance Design (sustainable & edible landscape design)

Beautiful Briny Sea (organic herb salts)

Dal Cuore Market (local food marketplace)

OmniGreen Life/Gia Film Productions ("Frequency of Genius" movie)

FARMERS MARKET: FARMERS

Whipporwill Hollow Organic Farm

Moore Farms & Friends

Morningside Farmers Market

Double B Farm

Darby Farms

Mills Farm's Red Mule Grits

McMullan Family Farm

MEALS FROM THE MARKET: FARMERS

Besmaid Garden Essentials, Decatur

Third Angel Farm, Stone Mountain

Burge Organic Farm, Mansfield

Heirloom Gardens, Cumming

Love is Love Farm, Decatur

Crack in the Sidewalk Farmlet, Atlanta

Native Sun Farm, Bogart

Front Field Farm, Covington

Truly Living Well, Atlanta

Riverview Farms, Ranger

Whippoorwill Hollow Farm, Walnut Grove

Dillwood Farms, Loganville

Umurima (Burundi Women's Farm), Decatur

Get tickets now. Here

This year they have added The F' n' Chef Competition -- an Iron Chef-like competition that will take place in the middle of the day next to the Chef Tent. Three chefs will be selected for the competition. The chefs will be given a secret ingredient and then they will need to prepare a dish using that ingredient and those items from the small food pantry to be stocked by Whole Foods. The dish will be scored by five judges and the F' n' Chef 2011 winner declared.

Competing Chefs: Terry Koval (Farm Burger), Nick Melvin (Rosebud) and Eric Ottensmeyer (Leon's Full Service).

Judges: Will Harris (White Oak Pastures Owner/Rancher), Tom Maicon (Food & Beer Atlanta Publisher) Andrew Sasser (Whole Foods Regional Prepared Foods Coordinator), Julie Shaffer (Slow Food USA Southern Regional Governor) and a judge to be identified soon.

Emcee: Mara Davis of Dave-FM. (how cool is that?)

See you Sunday!



JCT Kitchen lunch

(Photos by Thomas James Photography & Video Productions)
On a very wet and dreary day a trio of foodies sought refuge in a self described southern bistro. Out of the rain and into the impeccably designed space of JCT Kitchen we were refreshed and renewed and ready to have our palates awakened by chef Ford Fry and Chef de Cuisine Brian Horn. As always, nothing was amiss. Food, service and atmosphere did not disappoint.

Sharing all of our dishes allowed us to experience more flavors. Family style is the way to go especially in a bistro serving traditional southern food (with flare). First up, JCT salad-romaine, green beans, spiced pecans and apples. This is usually served with a buttermilk dressing, but I opted for a lighter vinaigrette which enhances the flavors more. I was already aware that JCT makes every effort to acquire fresh from the farm ingredients that are local and my first fresh bite proved as much. Enter a glass of St. Supery Sauvingnon Blanc and the salad reached new heights. Napa Valley St. Supery is crisp, velvety (how can it be both? dunno but it is)and a go to wine for salads and spicy food. It is very fruit forward, zero oak. I always taste something different with this wine; Sometimes pear, sometimes apple and always mineral notes (which I love). There is a scent/taste (you know, when you taste a smell or smell a taste) that is floral, grassy. Tastes of outside like honeysuckle off the vine.

We also tried the Shrimp and Avocado salad with fresh Georgia white shrimp. This was a perfectly composed salad of bibb lettuce and fresh herbs, shrimp, avocados and a lemony vinaigrette. The shrimp were incredibly fresh, perfectly grilled and popping with flavor. About this time Ford came to our table to see how our food tasted. He really is a nice guy. He cooks great food, creates great restaurants, supports local farms AND he is a good guy. We only wished Brian Horn had been around today so we could say hi.


Pimento cheese toast came next and we all agreed that this was a hearty serving. The table was silent as we feasted on the thick toast piled high with perfect pimento cheese and fresh arugula. Were those shaved sunchokes on top? I saved a few pieces of my bread for what was next.


I have heard a lot about the angry mussels at JCT but I have never ordered them until now. I knew that Ford sourced his bacon from Alan Benton and that alone meant it would be delicious. The bacon is house cured and perfect alone but in a sea of serrano chiles and the juice of the mussels it melts in your mouth. The mussels were great, fresh, not overdone but what I really remember is the smoky bacony-serrano sauce that we sopped up with the crusty, rustic bread. When our server took away the bowl there was not a drop left.

We headed out the door with a lemonhead in hand to face the dreary day with full bellies and happy taste buds.

Farm to Table at JCT Kitchen

I jumped at the chance to attend JCT Kitchen's Farm to Table & Back dinner for so many reasons. JCT has a commitment to fresh, seasonal, local ingredients that are whipped up European style with southern flare. The dining room is so very pretty, upscale and down home at the same time. 100% of the proceeds of this dinner were to benefit Georgia Organics, an organization that is trying to integrate healthy, sustainable and local food into the mouths of Georgians. If that is not reason enough, Hugh Acheson, four-time James Beard Best Chef Southeast finalist and chef/partner of 5&10, The National and Gosford Wine in Athens was the guest chef for the evening.

My dinner companion and I were greeted and seated in a cozy candlelit table next to a table with a writer and companion working on a review for a local paper.It was entertaining to talk with them because they had so many food aversions but were still terribly excited by the food. Chef Ford Fry came by to welcome us and thank us for giving to a cause that is near and dear to his heart.
We were given the gorgeous menu reminiscent of the elegantly rustic promo. The table next to us said "ooh pretty!" and talked about the font for a while. Our beautiful taste arrived an we stared. A luscious, plump Brunswick ruby red shrimp nestled in buttermilk dressing with chopped celery, micro greens and UGA caviar left a lingering impression on my palate. I loved my first bit of this sustainable caviar, but the celery was the ingredient that rounded out the dish for me. Such a simple, overlooked ingredient made this dish come alive for me.

Next was She crab soup with sherry and hard boiled egg served with a glass of Frogtown MRV 2006. This rhone blend was softly layered with notes of pear and honeysuckle and perfectly complimented the soup. THE SOUP! I will order she crab soup if ever it is on a menu and I can honestly say this was the best I have ever had. It was so full of sweet crab that I could have eaten most with a fork. This was my favorite moment of the evening.

The second course arrived with a La Craie Vouvray. Coming off of my she crab high I was presented with beets--happy, happy girl. This roasted carrot and beet salad with feta was so simple with pulled together freshness. The cumin vinaigrette gave it added zing and punch. The Loire vouvray was fresh, young and had a minerally crispness; a perfect compliment. The apricot aroma was what I was commenting on just as the evening's chef, Hugh Acheson arrived at our table. His enthusiasm for the evening, the food and the mission was intoxicating. We held his charming company at our table as long as we could. We chatted about our meal and his upcoming venture Empire State South. I am brushing up on my bocce ball for the opening in August. Word on the street is that Parish chef, Nick Melvin will be chef de cuisine. What an amazing duo they will be.

A 2007 Girasol Cabernet arrived to head off our third course. This was a big cab that lusciously delivered toasty oak, cassis, hints of chocolate and lingering cherry notes. It was a pleasant surprise alongside the smothered pork chops over grits with morels and ramps. I like to pair cabernets with pork. Who says pork goes better with a pinot? The pork chops were good. Don't get me wrong, the chops were gorgeous and perfectly seared, but the stars of this dish were the morels and ramps. They admirably highlighted the beneficiary of this dinner, Georgia Organics. Nothing beats fresh seasonal ingredients for sublime taste as well as a connection to the earth.

We finished our meal with a lovely Mrs. Dulls shortcake with a spring fruit compote and whipped cream. Being a transplanted southerner, I had to look up Mrs. Dulls. Henrietta Dull had a popular cooking column in the Atlanta Journal Constitution where she created authentic dishes in a traditional style. She was so popular that her recipes were compiled into a cookbook with menus to boot. She died in 1964 at the age of 100. The AJC said her book was "the standard by which regional cooks have been measured since 1928." Wish I had known all of this while I was enjoying the shortcakes, for I think they would have tasted even better. Our cheers to a great evening came by way of a Castelier cava from Spain. A perfect ending to a perfect dinner.

The next Farm to Table and Back dinner at JCT Kitchen is July 15th with guest chef Chris Hastings of the Hot and Hot Fish Club in Birmingham. I will see you there!

*photos from Melissa Libby

concrete to cauliflower

When I read today's article in the AJC about the new Edible garden at The Atlanta Botanical Garden, my head began humming Joni Mitchell. "They paved paradise and put up a parking lot..." Essentially, the Botanical Garden is a tree museum but this museum took a parking lot and returned it to nature, paradise if you will. Visitors will now be able to see food in it's natural state. We have become so disconnected from our food. If you have ever seen Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution, you have witnessed school-aged children unable to name fruits and vegetables. I'm not talking about rutabagas or durian, but tomatoes. Tomatoes! Kids could not identify tomatoes.

The new garden opens Saturday, May 1. There will be a visitors’ parade across the Canopy Walk, led appropriately by Atlanta’s Seed and Feed Marching Abominable. Who better to usher in the slow food movement at our beloved garden? My membership has expired but I plan to renew it today out of love and respect for a great idea. Soon local chefs with a love and respect for local, sustainable foods will show us the farm to table way, chefs like Linton Hopkins, Kevin Gillespie, Hugh Acheson, Billy Allin, Ann Quatrano, Clifford Harrison, Scott Serpas, Jay Swift, Shane Touhy, Todd Mussman, Ford Fry and Nick Melvin to name a few.

Let's hope schools start making plans for field trips for hands-on learning. First stop, tomatoes.

*field bag can be found on Etsy here.