Last year's dinner was at Tom Spicer's Farm.

An eagle-eyed cat that barks just informed me Sharon Hage is no longer the chef for the upcoming longest table dinner in the world, Outstanding in the Field.  Apparently Hage backed out and the organizers have added Jon Bonnell of Bonnell’s Fine Texas Cuisine. Anne Jones, of Latte Da Dairy, is still the host farmer. The $200 tickets to the October 19 FloMo event sold out months ago. I’ve been trying to reach Hage for a week. Guess she’s gone off the grid. Or maybe she’s underground.

Here is a recap of last year’s dinner at Spiceman’s F.M. 1410.

Read Teresa Gubbins review of Holy Grail Pub’s grub here.

jump for the menu…

Menu

Amuse: Roasted Figs stuffed with spiced cream cheese
Paired with Real Ale Phoenixx Double ESB

Appetizer: Roasted Quail with a Round Rock Honey Glaze.
Paired with Real Ale Sisyphus (Wimberly)

Small Plate: Assorted cheeses from Dallas’ Mozarella Company
Paired with Real Ale Brewhouse Brown (Wimberly)

Salad: West Texas Watermelon salad with Feta Cheese and mint dressing
Paired with (512) Wit (Austin)

Entrée: Grass-Fed Grayson County Tenderloin on Cheese Grits
Paired with Southern Star Buried Hatchet (Conroe)

Dessert: Deconstructed East Texas Peach Cobbler with (512) Pecan Porter Ice Cream
Paired with (512) Pecan Porter (Austin)

$65 per person
Call 972-377-6633 for reservations or email brian@holygrailpub.com

The Table has its own super-secret entrance. Photo by Desiree Espada.

Monday night our photographer Desiree Espada dropped by John Tesar’s inaugural dinner at The Table, the 12 8-seat tasting room next to The Commissary. The table was lined with friends including Jennifer and David Uygur (Lucia), Chef Bruno Davaillon (Mansion execuchef), Michael Flynn (Mansion sommelier), Tim Byres (Smoke), Teiichi “Teach” Sakurai (Tei-An), and The “Ubiquitous” Brad. Sarah Reiss from our staff was also invited. Here are the pictures Desiree managed to capture.

The table at The Table. Photo by Desiree Espada

The Tesar at The Table. Photo by Desiree Espada.

Celebrity guests behind the secret curtain. Photo by Desiree Espada.

The Tesar pours the wine between David and Jennifer Uygur, Bruno Davaillon. Michael Flynn takes a photo; The Brad's shoulder. Photo by Desiree Espada

After midnight at The Table: Jennifer Uygur, Bruno Davaillon, and Tim Byres. Photo by Desiree Espada.

Chad Houser preparing his contribution to lunch in Kamal's kitchen in Batroun. photo by Randy Potts.

Writer Randy Potts and Chad Houser (Parigi) are in Lebanon cooking with Chef Kamal Mouzawak. Potts has filed two reports. Today he sends the following update:

Lunch in the Garden

In the morning, I am up at 6:30 making fish kibbeh with Kamal – a beautiful bowl is filled with translucent white fish, cayenne peppers, cilantro, onions, saffron, cinnamon, zest of lemon and tangerine, fine wet bulgur. Kamal grinds the mixture using his Kitchen Aid grinder attachment and the result is pressed and laid across a bed of onions, pine nuts and salt and baked slowly. Later, Houser is making his contribution for lunch – grilled zucchini, stuffed with grated halloumi cheese, topped with a homemade mocajete — and watching the tomatoes grill beside a whole octopus.

Lunch today is for 20 people in the garden: it is a simple affair. Simple in a royal sort of way–rustic and elaborate at the same time. The guest list includes a New York Times journalist, the wife of the Mexican ambassador in Beirut, and Walid the “trash king” of Lebanon who invented a way of pulverizing rubber tires to replace sand in cement mixtures.

If you have seen the movie Big Night, one of my favorite movies, you have a small sense of what it was like, although, honestly, the food was better.  I sighed about every two minutes, overwhelmed with the food, the conversation, the surroundings. Houser’s dish is amazing and the guests from Mexican  loved his mocajete.

The spread in the garden -- fish kibbeh, grilled octopus, Houser's zucchini, etc. photo by Chad Houser.

Houser is now busy planning the menu for he will prepare at Kamal’s restuarant, Tawlet where he will cook a week from today.  I can’t give it away but let’s just say it will be a little taste of Texas in Beirut.  Imagine Parigi-quality, homey Texas fare, with what’s available fresh at Kamal’s market, and you’ll be pretty close.  Or just wait a week, and we’ll have pix and a full report .

Last year Sharon Hage and Tom Spicer created a magical evening.

Save the date: On Wednesday, October 19, Sharon Hage will be the guest chef for Outstanding in the Field’s longtable dinner that will take place at Latte Da Dairy in Flower Mound. There will be food, wine, and goats. Here is a report from the last event. Here’s how to reserve your place for the next.

Intrepid intern Katie Minchew ran away with the circus—for the afternoon. Read up on her adventures with the elephants at the Dallas Farmers Market:

The Shrine Circus is in town at Fair Park Coliseum until Sunday.

Yesterday, despite the unseasonably chilly weather, three of the show’s Asian elephants—Cindy, Betty, and Bo—presented a little side show at the Dallas Farmers Market where the public was invited to “lunch with the elephants.” Cindy and Betty worked up their appetite giving the kids (and policemen) rides around the ring while Bo lounged behind the scenes awaiting the feast of fruit supplied by the Dallas Farmers Market.

Larry Carden, son of the George Carden of George Carden Circus International, talked me through the feeding of these magnificent pachyderms. They eat 150 squares of hay per week, one thousand dollars of produce each week, and 20 bags of feed every day. They don’t usually get this much produce at a time so “this fruit table will be a treat for them,” said Carden.

Jump for the rest of the story.

Watching the elephants feast was the most entertaining event of the afternoon. With one swoop of her trunk Cindy swiped all the pears in her section to the ground for easier access while Bo curled a pile of whole bananas and carrots into his mouth before sticking his trunk over Cindy’s mouth to check for scraps.

Halfway through the feeding, Bill Cunningham, executive director of the circus, announced his PR speech of the day: “Bo, Cindy, and Bo only eat produce from the Dallas Farmers Market when they’re in town, and you should too.”

After the show, I briskly strolled the market. The colors of the fruits and vegetables were so bright that I never wanted to step in a Target or Tom Thumb again

You can catch Bo, Cindy, and Betty and their colleagues of the Shrine Circus through Sunday (www.2011circus.com). You can find the ripe fruit and vegetable at the Dallas Farmers Market seven days a week from 8:00 am to 6:00 pm. (www.dallasfarmersmarket.org).

Chef Matt McCallister loves farmers. photo by Kevin Marple.

My first headline for this post was “How Cute is Matt McCallister?” Then I continued to read the list of chefs who are participating in the next Chef for Farmers event and I decided I could write that same headline about all of them. Well, maybe not Jack Perkins. He’s too grizzly. And John Tesar isn’t boyishly cute. He is John Tesar.

Anywhoo, the technically jobless McCallister is credited with founding Chefs for Farmers, the organization dedicated to raising the “awareness for the importance of using local ingredients and supporting the farms and farmers in and around Dallas-Fort Worth and North Texas.”

I hate long tables so I’m glad to read that this event at the Highland Park “Casa Linda” Cafeteria, is glorifying cafeteria-style seating and McCallister plans to spin farm tunes alongside DJs Jennifer Miller and Paul Paredes. I’m humming the Old MacDonald remix as I type. (For the record, I made the “spin farm tunes” up. But it’s a good idea.”IJS.) Oh, and it’s BYOHairnet.

Go below fo mo.

CHEFS FOR FARMERS ANNOUNCES ALL-STAR TEAM OF CHEFS

Cafeteria Style Event Slated for March 13 at Highland Park Cafeteria

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

January 27, 2010

Dallas, TX — An all-star team of Dallas’ top chefs including Chad Houser and Janice Provost (Parigi), John Tesar, Matt McCallister, Dan Landsberg, Tim Byres (Smoke), Randall Copeland and Nathan Tate (Ava), Scott Romano (Charlie Palmer) Brian Luscher (The Grape), J. Chastain (The Second Floor), Jack Perkins (Maple and Motor), Justin Fourton and Diane Fourton (Pecan Lodge), Rick Griggs (former pastry chef of Abacus) celebrate local farms at a benefit dinner March 13 at the famed Highland Park Cafeteria.

Each Chef takes a classic approach to dining with farm-fresh ingredients, preparing two gourmet dishes to be served cafeteria-style.  Guests interact with chefs one on one as they grab a tray and walk the queue selecting from a multitude of comfort classics Salisbury Steak, Wild Boar Sloppy Joes, Tater Tots with Pork Belly, Cabbage Rolls, Fresh Pasta with Duck Meatballs, Fried Chicken, Chicken Fried Steak, Broccoli Rice Casserole, Ambrosia Salad etc. served up by DFW’s finest. Complimentary old school style drinks will be served by guest host DLynn Proctor.

DJs Jennifer Miller and Paul Paredes will be mixing the tracks at this one-of-a-kind event with a special appearance by guest DJ/Chef Matt McCallister.

A portion of the proceeds benefit The Family Place, the largest family violence service provider in the Dallas area serving thousands of victims of family violence each year with award-winning programs that keep women and children safe. For more than 32 years, The Family Place’s mission to end the epidemic of family violence has remained constant through intervention, emergency shelter, and crisis counseling for all victims, saving lives with transitional housing and case management, transforming lives for the better.

Founded in 2010 by Chef Matt McCallister, Chefs for Farmers was organized to raise awareness for the importance of using local ingredients and supporting the farms and farmers in and around Dallas-Fort Worth and North Texas.

Featured “Farm and Folks” include JuHa Ranch, Mozzarella Company, Texas Heritage Bee and Texas Honey Bee Guild.  Sponsors to date are Central Market, Fresh Point, Artizone and Range.

The feast begins at 4pm as each guest picks up a tray and walks the line.  Cost is $85 per person excluding tax and service fee.  To purchase tickets go to www.chefsforfarmers.com or call www.prekindle.com. Highland Park Cafeteria is located at 1200 North Buckner Boulevard, Dallas, TX 75218 in Casa Linda.

Guests mingle on the patio at Smoke. photo by Andrew Chalk.

Last night,  Foodways Texas held its inaugural Dallas fundraiser at Smoke at Oak Cliff’s Belmont Hotel. Their mission is to promote, celebrate, and preserve the food heritage of Texas.

The evening began with a reception in the Belmont Hotel where, to accompany passed hors d’oeuvres, guests could choose between Tito’s Handcrafted Vodka (Austin) mixed in a variety of martinis or wine, which included Becker Vineyards (Fredericksburg) 2009 Fumé Blanc and 2008 Cabernet Sauvignon Reserve wines. Beer lovers sipped Full Moon Pale Rye Ale, a brew from Real Ale Brewery in Blanco, Texas.  Good, Better, Best — a film which documents  the making of Texas sorghum syrup — played in the background.

Smoker at Smoke! photo by Andrew Chalk.

Opening speeches by founders Marvin Bendele, Robb Walsh, and chef  Tim Byres whipped the foodie crowd into a  noisy and festive food frenzy. After introductions, we sat  for a family-style dinner in the back room of Smoke. Several folks of the sold-out crowd braved the outdoor patio. Executive chef Tim Byres roasted the oysters listed on the menu below on an open pit. He melted the scampi butter and seared the chorizo to create a hearty take on the familiar shellfish.

The large tables gave guests the opportunity to meet new people from all walks of life who had come to learn about good Texas food. One look at the menu below is a great example of the diversity of Texas food. The menu looked like a nightmarish task for the kitchen staff, but  they handled it with aplomb. The wait staff, at least some of whom were volunteers from the Foodways Texas organization (I even ‘Observed’ a ‘moonlighting’ restaurant critic), made their way adroitly between tables, despite the crush.

The Brick Roux Gumbo Proved a Hit.photo by Andrew Chalk.

At the end of the meal, some guests learned to shuck oysters, taught by seafood supplier Jim Gossen. I shucked my first one ever and, maybe I’m biased, but its briny flavors seemed so fresh immediately after opening.

Look out for Foodways Texas next event, a symposium in February devoted to the edible heritage of the Gulf Coast.

The menu:

GULF COAST GATHERING

MONDAY, JANUARY 24th, 2011

SMOKE Restaurant

901 Ft. Worth Ave, Dallas TX 75208

Cocktail Reception

Pimento Cheese Croquette & Tejano Red Sauce

Pickled Shrimp with Rio Star Grapefruit

Salted Snapper & Fresh Masa

Smoked Sausage Kolache with Fruit Mustard

Chicken Salad & Celery Toast

Family Style Menu

Brick Roux Gumbo with Fresh Fish, Oysters & Andouille Sausage

Fire Roasted Oysters with Scampi Butter, Mexican Chorizo & Ash Salsa

Raw Oysters with Mignonette & Red Chile Vinegar

Grilled Whole Shrimp with Horseradish, Herbs & Pickled Relish Vinaigrette

Cornmeal Fish Fry with Green Chile Hushpuppies

Lettuce Salad with Radish Vinaigrette

Stewed Collard Greens with Sorghum

Hominy Casserole

Blue Cheese Cabbage Slaw

Mustard Seed Potato Salad

Spicy Charro Beans

Assorted Vegetable Pickles:  Peppered Green Beans, Sweet Carrots, Bread & Butter

Cucumbers, Cumin Red Onions & Jalapenos

Fresh Breads, Biscuits & Butter with Jalapeno Jelly

[SideDish paid to attend.]

“The Dallas dining scene is broken, as anyone who’s eaten out lately can attest. It’s slipped from being a city that drew international attention for its renegade restaurants to a town where corporations serve as tastemakers, chefs aren’t taking chances and customers are so stingy with their food dollars that restaurants can’t engage in the type of fine-dining play that distinguishes cities such as Chicago and San Francisco.”

Well Hanna, “eat out lately” is all you have done. Hence your statement: “Atlanta has grits, Chicago has pizza, Memphis has barbecue and Dallas has—well, mussels.” Mussels are a trend (with chorizo!). You are right: We aren’t San Francisco or Chicago (or Los Angeles), we are Dallas. So, we don’t have what they have and that makes us broken? Yikes! Another outsider’s perspective on what we need.

At the risk of sounding like a female dog, I ask you why you chose to print this:

“Many chefs who chant the organic, local, seasonal mantra advocate a hands-off approach to cooking. “Chefs need to let ingredients speak for themselves,” Dallas Morning News critic Leslie Brenner wrote in her prescription for the city’s restaurants, published last summer.”

I’ve been writing about food here for 14 years. Why didn’t you call me?

Horrors!  Sharon Hage closed York Street! Avner Samuel reinvented himself again! Cool it.  Sharon will be back and Avner’s ability to shed his skin every few years and open another concept is, and has been for 30 years, an important dynamic here.  Oh, and by the way, Avner was an integral part of the “Gang of Five.” Born in Jerusalem, he cooked all over Europe before moving to Dallas in the early 80s and started making tortilla soup from scratch at the Mansion. Stephan and Dean will confirm his influence. They all learned a lot about their techniques and regional ingredients from the Mexicans in their kitchens. One of which, Amador Mora, now has his own restaurant, Maximo.

Dallas has ALWAYS been the way you find it now. Our cuisine sprung from cowboys and Mexicans, not a gold rush and a culture filled with ethnic neighborhoods. We have a long history of Tex-Mex. And chili. And Helen Corbitt’s casseroles (Have you eaten at the Zodiac Room? There’s some vintage Dallas food there.)

“Dallas’ untethered cuisine is so thoroughly out-of-step with how most epicureans are now thinking that the city’s begun to exist in a sort of self-imposed isolation, a decidedly unhealthy position for a city with culinary ambitions.”

Oh my head. I believe the kitchens in Dallas are more vibrant and progressive now than they have been in years. We have more farmers markets; we have a stronger “eat local” movement; we have vegetarian and vegan. Our locavore scene may not be as big as other cities, but it’s a hell of a lot bigger than it was ten years ago or even five years ago. TWO years ago. We are not broken. Quit trying to fix us. Grrr.

UPDATE: A smart chef in town just called me to say, “Dallas diners are the problem. They talk about being epicureans but at the end of the day they prefer to go to Houston’s.”

Blaine Staniford's smoked fish with turnips, pickled radish, smoked roe, atop crispy Melba toast (left); happy revelers (right). Photography by Meredith Stein.

On Sunday, intern Meredith Stein attended Chefs For Farmers 135-person long-table dinner at Times Ten Cellars. Tell us all about it, Meredith…

Yes, they’ve done it again. Matt and Iris McCallister, the mastermind duo behind Chefs for Farmers, welcomed yet another packed house Sunday evening. This time, the shindig was at Times Ten Cellars in Fort Worth and guests quite literally rubbed elbows with one another as they crammed into the three long tables set up for the feast. Prior to the six-course meal, Times Ten kept the wine flowing as the 135 guests snacked on pizza creations by Jay Jerrier of Il Cane Rosso.

A Matt McCallister original — a roasted sunchoke soup shot — served as the amuse bouche and was followed by a gazpacho with blue crab and a hint of white truffle from Jon Bonnell of Bonnell’s Restaurant. Five of the six wines paired by Grace sommelier Ryan Tedder were products of Dunham Cellars (mighty fine work, Mr. Tedder!).

jump for the full story and pictures…

Jay Jerrier created pizzas using his woodfired pizza oven.

Blaine Staniford (also from Grace) served an assortment of smoked fish accompanied by turnips, pickled radish, smoked roe, and a couple slivers of Melba. Dan Landsberg (formerly of Tillman’s Roadhouse) provided one of the tastiest salads I’ve ever tried — a micro-beet salad with sunflower sprouts, baby fennel, watercress goat cheese, baby leek ranch dressing, and tiny potato crisps.

Next up: the braised pork shank atop a cheddar-apple dumpling created by Dena Peterson of Fort Worth’s Modern Art Museum. It was so good that I stole a few bites from my neighbor (Yes, I knew him, and yes, he was a vegetarian, which was the ONLY reason there was anything left on that plate).

Roasting marshmallows around the bonfire (left); roasted sunchoke soup shot (right).

By course number five, dinner chatter had steadily increased in volume from polite whispers to full-on yelling across the table (Thank you, wine.) Stomachs were growing full, but Michael Morabito’s (Colonial Country Club) Burgundy Pasture Beef slathered in chickpea panissa, shitake, and bright lights chard forced knifes and forks back into service.

I have to applaud Zach Townsend of Pure Chocolate Desserts’ outstanding finale: pavé with homemade crème fraiche, topped with crystallized organic lavender. Though a little rich for some palettes, I found it perfection.

Zach Townsend of Pure Chocolate Desserts’ pavé with homemade crème fraiche, topped with crystallized organic lavender.

Following dinner, two shuttle buses transported guests hungry for more to a bonfire at Jim and Janet Lane’s J Bar L Ranch. McCallister piled giant logs onto the fire — his bonfire flame record is 60-feet – as revelers gathered around. Later, a Native American charged in on his Appaloosa (I’m still not entirely sure who he was and where, exactly, he came from), whipped out a flute and chimed in with the campfire music. The capper: handmade marshmallows and hot chocolate — and a keg of homebrew Rahr’s Ugly Pug.

A Native American guest who joined in the on campire songs.

Chefs for Farmers dinners benefit Meals on Wheels of Tarrant County , an organization that provides nutritious meals to older adults and persons with disabilities who live independently. A special round of applause goes out to North Texas farms Burgundy Pasture Beef, Dominion Farms, Scott Farms, and Tassione Farms, all of which provided the fresh ingredients for the dishes.

A third farm-to-table dinner is scheduled for March. Stay tuned…

Chefs for Farmers' inaugural event last fall.

In October, intern Meredith Stein did a great job covering (and photographing) the first Chefs For farmers farm-to-table dinner. Looks like the next one’s just around the corner. Take it away, Meredith…

If you missed the first farm-to-table fundraising dinner in October, you’re going to want to snag tickets to the encore event on Sunday, Dec. 5. The premier long-table feast, which was set amidst a pasture at Eden’s Organic Farm, was a sold-out smash hit. This time around, the party is at Times Ten Cellars in Fort Worth.

jump to read more and reserve your spot…

Local chefs will create a 6-course meal for 135 lucky guests. “Chefs were chosen not only for their culinary skill, but for their commitment to support local farmers by sourcing from nearby Texas resources,” says Matt McCallister, founder of Chefs for Farmers and head chef at Stephan Pyles. “We will honor the hard work which produces such incredible ingredients from Scott Farms, Tassione Farms, Dominion Farms, and the folks at Burgundy Pasture Beef.”

Tickets are $150 and proceeds will benefit Meals on Wheels of Tarrant County. Hors d’oeuvres and cocktails will begin being served at 3 p.m. sharp, and following dinner, a bonfire after-party is set to take place at Jim Lane’s J Bar L Ranch (and yes, there will be homemade marshmallows by pastry chef Kim Smith of Tillman’s to roast over the fire).

Bring a blanket to stay warm, and when the evening is over, donate it so that Chefs for Farmers can distribute it to Meals on Wheels.

Visit www.chefsforfarmers.com to reserve your spot at the table.

As for the long-table trend, what’s next? Highest? Lowest? Widest? Lengthiest? We’ll let you know as soon as we get the word.