On Thursday, we went to a Dinners at the Farm event at White Gate Farm in East Lyme. We’d purchased our tickets back in February and knew it’d be one of the highlights of our summer.
To answer your question, yes, the event is just that. The multi-course gourmet meal, with produce picked that very day at that very farm, is cooked on the back of a converted 1950s Ford truck. Other ingredients (meats, cheeses, etc.) are sourced from local purveyors. The chefs, led by River Tavern owner Jonathan Rapp, design the menu just a few hours before guests sit down to the first course. It gives new meaning to fresh food.
It’s also a tremendous sensory experience. While you enjoy the exemplary cuisine, you’re also watching the sun sink further in the sky, until your plate is bathed in twilight and a perfect evening air blows lightly through the tent. When you leave, your path back to the parking lot is illuminated by stars.
We were serendipitously seated next to the farm’s owners, Pauline Lord and David Harlow, who could not have been nicer or more gracious. We’re already looking forward to the 2012 season.
I put together a photo gallery for A La Carte, but I fear my photo skills will never do it justice. Click through for pictures of the six courses:
- Fresh mozzarella with blueberry vinaigrette, marinated beets and mint pesto
- Raw tuna and heirloom tomato with peach and hot pepper coulis
- Risotto with clams, cherry tomatoes and parsley
- Seared scallop with peach, corn, tarragon salad and lobster cream
- Roast chicken breast with peach and eggplant relish and coleslaw
- Lime fool with raspberries
Our only qualm was that Connecticut wines were nowhere to be found. Not at cocktail hour, nor served with the meal. A bartender explained that the chefs chose the featured wines (a dry French rose, and a white and red with dinner whose labels I didn’t catch) to pair better with the cuisine.
The owners told us that they’d served Connecticut wines in past years, but that guests had complained about the quality. As a food and wine lover, I understand the desire for compatible pairings. But as a supporter of the Connecticut Wine Trail, I was a bit disappointed by this. You’d think it’d be an opportunity not only to highlight the local vineyard offerings, but also to create courses that would indeed pair with the estate wines grown right here in the Nutmeg State.
No matter what wines are served, Dinners at the Farm is a special outing, and benefits Connecticut’s rich tradition of agriculture. Learn more at their website, dinnersatthefarm.com.
Leeanne Griffin is a freelance writer and food enthusiast.
