A Tour of California

Every season we hit the ground running (with tables and chairs) and 2009 is no exception. We have now completed our first 11 dinners!! Riding on a rare lucky streak our generally unreliable 1953 bus Outstanding has made it to 11 out of the first 12 sites! We've seen hot days, cold days and everything in between (no rain though...). Orchard dinners, ranch dinners, vineyard dinners, hill top dinners, valley bottom dinners, cliff top dinners dinners close to the freeway dinners in the middle of nowhere, even dinners where diners were hit by waves...we've seen a lot.

Here are some photo highlights of a memorable early season:

May 23 & 24 - Devil's Gulch Ranch, Nicasio, CA

Devils Gulch Ranch Bus Parking

Outstanding in the Field dinner host Katy Oursler

bundles up for a chilly day with warm mittens

Guest Chef Steffan Terje of Perbacco restaurant, San Francisco, California
a warm and wonderful personality on a chilly day

Our long table in farmer Mark Pasternak's Marin County Pinot Noir vineyard

June 6 - McEvoy Ranch, Petlauma, CA

One of our longest tables ever - McEvoy Ranch

Nion McEvoy starts off the farm tour

McEvoy Vista

June 13, 14 - Secret Sea Cove Dinner, California Coast

The legendary Sea Cove Dinner site

The table is ready for guests

Here comes the surf...

Fisherman Hans Haveman pitches in to protect the table from rising surf

Guest Chef Mourad Lahlou of Aziza Restaurant in San Francisco, California

Dinner is served

Chef Stuart Brioza enjoying the perfect weather, pitches in in the kitchen.

Stuart had cheffed a bracingly chilly Outstanding in the Field vineyard dinner

at Devils Gulch Ranch a few weeks previous

Another beautiful day at the beach. Our second Sea Cove dinner.
Chef Jamie Lauren and pastry chef Luis Villavelazquez
along with Jered Lawson from Pie Ranch tour the table
with Outstanding founder Jim Denevan

June 17 - The Abalone Farm, Cayucos, CA

Brad Buckley of The Abalone Farm shows off the product at the cliff side table site

Very fresh abalone

Cliff edge parking for table and bus

Chef Deborah Scarborough's grilled squash blossom pizza

July 18 - Windrose Farm, Paso Robles, CA

Windrose Farm setting

Chef Chris Kobayashi of Artisan Restaurant, Paso Robles

In the cool shade of a towering oak tree

Halter Ranch - established 1880

Mmmm!

June 20 - McGrath Family Farm, Camarillo, CA

Ventura County table

View from the bus

Among the gladiolas

Ready for guests

Farm tour!

Chef Tim Kilcoyne of The Side Car Restaurant, Ventura, CA

Ribollita of McGrath beans, beet greens and carrot top pesto

Dining in the field

June 21 - Coleman Farm, Carptineria, CA

At the Coleman's

Chef Jim with Chef Rich

Uni shooters to start

A kitchen with a view

roast pork with Coleman Farm's greens

From the table

June 27 - Clark Summit Farm, Tomales, CA

Outstanding,
in the Field

Moo

Ready for the tour

After 11 successful dinner journeys the bus finally breaks down
right where the table is supposed to go

Katy keeps good cheer

Chef Melissa Perello carving the Clark Summit beef

Hilltop table

Stretching out into the sky

Outstanding crew sits down for family meal after the event ends

June 28 - Star Route Farm, Bolinas, CA

Warren Weber's coastal farm

Little Miss Sunshine redux

California weather

Cindy of the OITF staff

July 2 - Green String Farm, Petaluma, CA

Beautiful Sonoma County

Chef Christopher Lee brought his artisan made prosciutto slicer

OITF Bread by baker Mike Zakowski

Chef Christopher Lee in the field

Sonoma View

Passed hors d'oeuvres at the entrance to the barn

On site baking

Our first dinner!

Farmer Greg Rawlings of Blue Moon Organic Farm was overjoyed to host an Outstanding in the Field dinner in his fields. He told us it was something he'd been thinking about for years. Chef Jim Denevan, founder of Outstanding in the Field, arriving fresh from a successful art-making expedition in Northern Nevada, gathered the Spring goodies at Blue Moon and once again composed a spontaneous menu of the moment. The forecast called for a very hot day cooling in the early evening. Preparations were made with extra tenting and umbrellas as ingredients were harvested fresh from the field. Jim had help in the kitchen with Outstanding bus driver and chef Caleb Coe and chef Anthony Kresge, a long-time fellow surfer from Jim's favorite break Pleasure Point. The three cohorts cooked up a creative collaboration. The dinner guests arrived and quickly made their move to the cool shade tent adjacent to the greenhouse. Chris Banthien arrived to contribute her Aptos-grown olive oil to the first course. After a heat-shortened farm tour guests comfortably settled in beneath cool white umbrellas. Jean and Jerry Thomas of nearby Thomas Farm joined us at the table contributing their meyer lemons, garlic and fresh herbs. Rebecca Thistlethwaite from TLC Ranch shared the story and photos of her pigs from nearby Aromas. Pamela and Steve Storrs of Storrs Winery attended and poured wines, including their Christie Vineyard Chardonnay made with grapes grown just across the way. A memorable day and evening at Blue Moon Organics in Aptos, California.

Smiling service staff, happy to be back in the field

John Thurmond grilling Blue Moon Organics veggies

TLC Ranch Porchetta with roasted Blue Moon Organics veggies

Dinner Scouting

Outstanding in the Field preseason planning involves plenty of farm and restaurant visits. Last weekend we headed South in perfect spring weather to Southern California to check 2009 and 2010 dinner sites, meet chefs and get some needed time outside of the office. First stop on our road trip: a visit to Rustic Canyon Wine Bar and Seasonal Kitchen in Santa Monica to sample seasonal dishes from our Wattles Farm dinner guest chef Evan Funke. Chef Evan greeted us and soon several courses were served. Spring in Southern California does bring a lot of fresh produce to the table. Owner Josh Loeb has put together an encyclopedic wine list with almost everything you would ever want. We sipped a Red Car Wine syrah and loved every dish. Red Car will be pouring their wine at our sold out October 10 dinner at Wattles Farm in Hollywood.

The next day we boarded a ferry to Catalina Island. An Outstanding friend Hollace Rice alerted us to the possibility of a Catalina dinner. We weren't able to put it all together for 2009 as island dinners requires a bit more time and a lot more planning. A tour of the island and meeting the islanders would give us what we need for a well-planned 2010 event. When we arrived we met Gregg and girlfriend Sana who would be our guides to the island. Gregg owns the Hotel Metropole which became our home base for the next few days. Gregg and Sana are excited to bring Outstanding in the Field to the island and make room for Outstanding guests at the hotel. What amazing guides they were! We saw ALL of the island: beautiful coves, ranches, vineyards, buffalo, fishing piers, foxes, mountain top vistas- even an unexpected vintage Flxible tour bus! We had enough experiences to fill a book, but here are some pictures to give you an idea. We hope to see you on the island next year.

A Flxible- on Catalina Island!

Guess we won't have to bring our own bus

One of the many beautiful coves around Catalina Island

Leah sporting her new Catalina gear

Where the buffalo roam...

Jim at the Rusack Ranch

Vineyard at the Rusack Ranch

Paso Robles Wine Country

After our busy but relaxing weekend on Catalina we grabbed the late ferry to Long Beach and started the drive to Paso Robles. The next day we made our way to Windrose to see our farmer friends Bill and Barbara Spencer and meet up with guest chef Chris Kobayashi of Artisan Restaurant. Chef Chris was honored this year with a James Beard Award Nomination for Best Chef: Pacific Region. We're very excited to have Chris at the Outstanding table. Chris arrived with his wife Shandi and their boy Cooper and soon we were tromping around the field with Bill Spencer. Farmer Bill showed us his dozens of apple varieties, the young potato plants, cover crops and myriad other farm curiosities. Bill provided us with a really cool map of where all of the goodies would be growing at the time of the dinner. Chef Chris, map in hand, went about thoughtfully planning the menu. Jim spied our table site; an ancient sheltering oak with enough shade to cool all the diners. We are looking forward to an amazing feast!

Out in the field with Chef Chris Kobayashi and Farmer Bill Spencer

Our proposed table site- in the shade of the old oak tree

A Different Kind of Farm

What a location! Our long table will be perched on a cliff overlooking crashing waves and endless vistas. When we arrived we soaked in the views and poked around looking for our host. We soon found Bradley Buckley of The Abalone Farm and enjoyed a thorough tour of the grounds, learning everything about abalone - very fascinating! Bradley is the perfect tour guide: knowledgable, interested and charming. Our enthusiastic guest chef and Outstanding event veteran Deborah Scarborough of Black Cat Bistro is so excited she's already written most of the menu which of course revolves around our key ingredient: abalone.

Ocean view at The Abalone Farm


Leah and Brad working out some details

Brad showing the young abalone