The Local Beet's First Farm Dinner

The Local Beet is pleased to announce our first ever Farm Dinner, a multi-course, family-style dinner featuring locally-produced, seasonal ingredients prepared by our own Sustainable Cook, Melissa Graham of Monogramme Events and Catering (MAG on LTHForum). We’re proud to be able to have Melissa cook for us and our guests. She is an excellent cook and a tireless advocate for bringing families together at the table around organic and sustainably-grown foods.

We are also proud to present this meal at Genesis Growers, a farm run by Vicki Westerhoff just 70 miles outside of Chicago. Vicki is intently focused on growing high quality produce and eggs without the use of pesticides, herbicides or synthetic fertilizers. Read more about Vicki and Genesis Growers here.

Currently, the menu is in the planning stages and will be determined based on what we expect to be available. Tickets to the dinner do not include alcohol, but the event is BYOB.

Sunday, September 20th, 2009, 3pm



Click here to purchase a ticket

The dinner will take place at Genesis Growers in St. Anne, Illinois, just 70 miles south of Chicago. Genesis Growers is located at 8373 3000 S Rd., St. Anne, IL, 60964. Click here for a map.

Ticket prices:
Adults: $40
Teens aged 13-18: $30
Kids 12 and under: $20
Kids 5 and under: FREE
Ticket prices do not include a small service fee from Brown Paper Tickets.

We hope you and your family will join us for an early evening on the farm. Please let me know if you have any questions.

Best,
Michael Morowitz
Editor in Chief
The Local Beet

I'll be there! Can't wait!

I'm in. And I'll bring beer.

Melissa’s menu for The Local Beet’s First Farm Dinner has been released. The menu is, of course, subject to ingredient availability and might undergo a few tweaks and changes, but I hope you get the general idea.

Appetizers
Tomato Soup Shooters with Brunkow Cheddar Wafers
Zucchini Fritti

Main Course
Long-Marinated, Wood-Grilled Chicken with Salsa Verde
Roasted Beet Crostini with Aged Goat Cheese & Basil Oil
Wheatberry Salad with Basil, Tropea Onion & Cherry Tomatoes
Heirloom Tomato, Plum & Mint Salad with Balsamic Dressing
Mama Lena’s Garlic-Marinated Tri-Color Peppers
Green Salad with Creamy Sarvecchio Dressing, Croutons & Bacon (optional)

Dessert
Peach-Frangipane Crostata with Farm Fresh Cream
Melon Skewers with Minted Yogurt

Tickets to the dinner do not include alcohol. The event is BYOB

Having tasted Melissa’s cooking before, I’m seriously excited about this meal. I hope you can join us. There are tickets still available.

More info and ticket purchasing link here:
http://www.thelocalbeet.com/2009/08/12/ ... rm-dinner/


Best,
Michael

Thinking about this and planning ahead - should we aim to show up right at 3, or allow for extra time from transportation from parking area / seating? Is there an opportunity to walk around the farm a bit beyond the dinner area? Sounds fantastic, and hope I'll be able to confirm and buy soon.

Santander wrote:Thinking about this and planning ahead - should we aim to show up right at 3, or allow for extra time from transportation from parking area / seating? Is there an opportunity to walk around the farm a bit beyond the dinner area? Sounds fantastic, and hope I'll be able to confirm and buy soon.

I'd say plan to show up at 3. The appetizers will be passed as people arrive, and we definitely hope to have Vicki give people tours of the Genesis operation.

Best,
Michael

Just ordered our tickets and we are very excited to attend our first farm dinner!

Suzy

Last call for tickets! We'll be closing ticket sales in the next day or two so that we have enough time to properly plan. I hope you can join us on the farm.

Best,
Michael

i just ordered my ticket. this should be a terrific event-now let's just hope for good weather.... justjoan

We've ended up with a wedding that afternoon, so I'll have to enjoy this vicariously. Wishing much success on what I hope is only the beginning of a fruitful partnership between people I like and a farm I like (and would like to see in person), and eagerly awaiting the reports.

We too have a wedding next Sunday (one we're looking forward to, for a change). Otherwise, we'd be all over this.

Btw, the very best melon I've had all season was from Genesis . . . by a wide margin.

=R=

Thank you for a delightful evening! Despite the rainy weather, it was a pleasure to tour Farmer Vicky's acreage. Bringing home fresh pumpkins was an added bonus to the evening. I thought the company was delightful and the food was delicious. Melissa did an incredible job with the menu. I was especially enamored of the wheatberry salad and the tomato soup shots with the parmesan wafers. Even my finicky daughter enjoyed everything on her plate.

It was so nice of Cookie Monster to bring some additional desserts from Delightful Pastries for us to sample and to see so many familiar faces and meet new people. I hope you will try this again in the spring months because I would be more than happy to drive down to St. Anne again. Kudos to The Local Beet!

Suzy

sdritz wrote:Thank you for a delightful evening! Despite the rainy weather, it was a pleasure to tour Farmer Vicky's acreage. Bringing home fresh pumpkins was an added bonus to the evening. I thought the company was delightful and the food was delicious. Melissa did an incredible job with the menu. I was especially enamored of the wheatberry salad and the tomato soup shots with the parmesan wafers. Even my finicky daughter enjoyed everything on her plate.

It was so nice of Cookie Monster to bring some additional desserts from Delightful Pastries for us to sample and to see so many familiar faces and meet new people. I hope you will try this again in the spring months because I would be more than happy to drive down to St. Anne again. Kudos to The Local Beet!

Suzy

Thanks, Suzy. Coming from the person who probably suffered the most at the hands of Mother Nature, that means a lot.

In spite of our tents, there was a lot of water. Even in those adverse conditions, Melissa, not surprisingly, knocked the ball out of the park. The food was great and I think everyone left full and happy.

I was pleased that we were able to get a tour of Vicki's farm in before the rains really came down. I think everyone enjoyed getting to see exactly what a herbicide/pesticide-free farm really looks like and the chance to have Vicki on site to talk to everyone and answer questions was priceless.

The rain prevented me from getting a ton of great pictures, but I have a few and I'll post some soon. Thanks to all the LTHers who made it out: The Dritz Family (3/4ths), nr706 & moetchandon (the beet beer made the event extra special), RAB/REB (and pooch), Cookie Monster (an unexpected "Delightful" surprise, she was hidden under someone else's reservation).

Thanks also to Rob (Vital Information) + family and Melissa (MAG) + family for helping to execute a great first farm dinner.

Best,
Michael

Great event! Well worth the drive, even with the weather not cooperating. The Local Beet was ready, though, with a big tent. RAB and I really appreciated all the effort that clearly went into planning and executing the dinner.

It was quite fun and educational to tour the farm. And, we're now deciding what to do with our large, freshly-picked pumpkin.

Food highlights for me were the tomato soup shooters, the beet crostini, and heirloom tomato salad. And, of course, everything tasted better with the highly-coveted salsa verde. Ooh, and desserts were great, too. And, nr706's beet beer, which I enjoyed much more than the Magic Hat (with beets) that was offered for comparison.

What made this event special for me, though, was that there weren't a ton of folks. We were seated at just two, not-too-large, tables. While I still wasn't able to chat with everyone, it was an intimate event, with really nice folks.

Thanks to everyone who helped with the planning and execution. I'm looking forward to the next event!

Ronna

I had a great time, despite the weather. Thanks for all the effort Michael, Rob and Melissa put into the event. I enjoyed meeting Farmer Vicki and seeing her farm. Now, if I can just figure out if I can get a pumpkin ale made by Halloween ...