adventures of a tired coder

Set between the soil and the sky, Outstanding in the Field's long, linen-draped table beckons adventurous diners to celebrate food at the source. Bringing together local farmers and food artisans, chefs and winemakers, we explore the connection between the earth and the food on your plate. Join us as we feast on the gifts of the land.

Pete & Brook mentioned this event in 2008, and I was intrigued. But back when reservations opened up for the dinners that year, I guess the economy hadn't taken away everyone's money just yet, and the Seattle dinner was sold out pretty quickly. They raved about the event afterwards, though, so when the 2009 reservations opened (on the first day of Spring!) I was right there.

Now, it does sounds like a great event. The pictures are beautiful, they get great chefs, and the food sounds delicious, but... $180 plus tax for 5 courses? That makes the Herb Farm seem like a bargain (a story for another entry). Actually, $180 was on the cheaper side for the dinners on the site... there were three Seattle-area dinners for 2009, and one of them was over $200! We got our reservations anyway (yes, they charge the whole thing right away), and as I started reading reviews of the event on Chowhound I started to feel a bit of buyer's remorse.

It was a short day at work on July 15, 2009, since the event started at 4pm and was all the way out in Carnation. We were greeted with two wines and trays of appetizers, and things immediately looked up. In my opinion, the highlight of local ingredients in the Pacific Northwest is seafood, and our appetizer trio included seared tuna loin, scallop ceviche, and mussel skewers. Yum!

Once everyone arrived, Jim Denevan, the founder of Outstanding in the Field, talked briefly and then handed it over to Andrew Stout, the owner of the farm. He gave us a tour of the farm, including some time to check out all the different herbs in the garden and a view of a lot of different tractors. Finally, we crossed a little bridge over to the dining area, where Outstanding in the Field's signature long table was stretched out next to a row of raspberry plants. We walked to the end of the table and sat down, which ended up being a good decision because we ended up right next to Andrew Stout and Kevin Cedergreen, the winery owner.

The food was delicious, featuring the grain emmer (the chef is opening up a restaurant called Emmer & Rye), heritage Wooly Pigs pork belly, and king salmon. And it was a beautiful view, being out there in the middle of a farm as the sun slowly set. As the dessert course was being prepared, they handed out small containers for us to pick raspberries to take with us, which I thought was really generous... then as we left, they had a little produce stand set up, where we could fill paper bags with as much as we wanted to take.

Ultimately, it's hard to put a price tag on how much that experience is worth because it's pretty uncomparable to anything in the normal restaurant world. We got an awesome meal of local ingredients with a ton of good wine (7 glasses - he added a Riesling that wasn't on the menu) in a beautiful, unique setting. If you've got the money, I definitely recommend checking out whether or not OitF has a dinner near you next year. Though I will say (in a somewhat biased way) -- it might be hard to beat the local ingredients that we have here. :)

Menu
Full Circle Farm
Chef: Seth Caswell
Wine: Cedergreen Cellars

seared tuna loin, currants
smoked grapeseed oil, crackers
BC scallop ceviche, citrus, cucumber cups
marinated Taylor Shellfish mussel skewers
2008 Voila Rose
2005 Cabernet Sauvignon
* * *
roasted Full Circle Farm beets, herb salad,
blueberries, basil-mint vinaigrette
2007 Sauvignon Blanc
* * *
wild mushrooms, Oxbow Farm cauliflower,
emmer, baby greens, hazelnut vinaigrette
2008 Chenin Blanc
* * *
Wooly Pigs pork belly, cabbage, zucchini,
spicy mustard
2004 Thuja
* * *
king salmon, Full Circle Farm carrots,
fennel, escarole, spring onions,
Golden Glen herb butter
2006 Cabernet Sauvignon
* * *
Bluebird Grain Farm emmer biscuits,
apricots, raspberries, fresh cream

More pictures, including pictures of the courses