Farm to Feast: Foodie Event of the Season

March 16, 2011 - PRLog -- Farm to Feast® Offers Local Food Prepared by Internationally Known Chefs
Foodie event of the season at Summerfield Waldorf School and Farm


Santa Rosa, Calif. (March 16, 2011) — The question on everyone’s lips this season is, “what will be the fare at the Farm to Feast® event taking place at Summerfield Waldorf School and Farm on Saturday, May 14?”

Farm to Feast® features world-class chefs crafting a meal that is only matched by the ambiance of dining under a majestic 100-year-old walnut tree on Summerfield’s 38-acre working biodynamic farm in rural Santa Rosa. The event begins at 4 pm, and includes pre-dinner wine tasting, a multi-course dinner, and critically acclaimed wines. Tickets ($250) may be purchased at Brown Paper Tickets (www.brownpapertickets.com) while more information is available via www.farmtofeast.org or 707.575.7194 ext 105.

Chef/co-owner Traci Des Jardins of San Francisco’s Jardinière will be joined by Sonoma County chefs/restaurateurs John Stewart and Duskie Estes of Zazu and Bovolo. Pastry Chef Patricia Taan of the Michelin-Star Farmhouse Inn in Santa Rosa will prepare desserts while Nick Peyton, owner and maître’d extraordinaire of Healdsburg’s two-Michelin-Star Cyrus, is orchestrating dinner service.

Des Jardins operates three other restaurants including Public House at AT&T Park in San Francisco. She has appeared on Bravo TV’s Top Chef Masters, is a recipient of two James Beard Foundation Awards, and has garnered top awards from publications such as Food & Wine, Esquire and the San Francisco Chronicle. She is co-hosting the 2011 James Beard Awards.

Stewart and Estes have appeared on the cover of Wine Spectator and have been featured by several media outlets including Food & Wine, Sunset, Every Day with Rachel Ray, Bon Appetit, Art Culinaire, Travel & Leisure, Press Democrat, San Francisco magazine, USA Today, Zagat, Luxury and Michelin. The couple won the Napa tasting of this year’s Cochon555 while Estes was a candidate in Season Three of The Next Iron Chef on Food Network.

Ted Lemon of Littorai Winery, who has been nominated for a James Beard Award as an Outstanding Wine and Spirits Professional, will be pouring along with “Summerfield family vintners” (those having/had enrolled students): Small Vines, Davis Family Vineyards, Claypool Cellars, Littorai Wines, Martinelli Winery, Porter-Bass and Kings Hill Cellars.

“Farm to Feast is a fabulous event,” said Peyton. “Where else can you be on a biodynamic farm, have a meal that is made fresh from that farm, and be served by top chefs from San Francisco and Sonoma County?”

Estes agrees. “It is an incredible event because it is authentically all about a sense of place,” she said. “The food comes right from the Summerfield Farm and is then prepared by rock-star chefs. The wines poured are unmatched at a dinner like this under the stars. Littorai, Martinelli, Davis Family and Small Vines, for example, are renowned vintners of the World’s best pinot noirs. You want a spot at this table.”

Dana Revallo, Summerfield's farmer, will be working with students to harvest food for the dinner. Revallo is an alumnus of the world famous elBulli restaurant in Spain.

When pressed to reveal this year’s menu, Stewart said, “The driving factor is what is available at that time of year. We won’t know until it gets closer, but it’s very serious food and casually served … just like our restaurants.”

For attendees wishing to extend their experience to a two-day wine-country adventure culminating at Farm to Feast®, Summerfield family vintners offer a Wine Safari that provides behind-the-scenes private tours of some of the most interesting winemakers, winegrowers, and producers in the Russian River, Anderson Valley and Sonoma Coast wine regions. (Visit the Farm to Feast® page of www.summerfieldwaldorf.org.)

Farm to Feast® is an annual scholarship benefit for Summerfield Waldorf School and Farm that helps support 35% of students who receive scholarship assistance, amounting to almost $700,000 annually.

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About Summerfield Waldorf School and Farm
Summerfield Waldorf School and Farm (www.summerfieldwaldorf.org.) was founded in Santa Rosa in 1974. It provides a Waldorf-based education for children from early childhood through high school. An integral part of the school’s curriculum is a 38-acre campus with 15 acres that have been biodynamically farmed for 30 years and certified Demeter Biodynamic® since 2003. This farm is one of only 100 such farms in the United States. Summerfield Waldorf School and Farm is a 501c (3) non-profit corporation. An early childhood through high school education supports the growth of social awareness, active tolerance and living harmoniously with the environment.