The traveling culinary circus, Outstanding in the Field, will be on the road for its Winter Tour — a one-month series of warm-weather dinners in Louisiana, Florida and Hawaii. The roving “restaurant without walls” kicks off its winter tour with a visit to New Orleans, followed by four dinners in Florida and a trip to the Hawaiian islands.
In the summer of 1999, Jim Denevan came up with the idea of setting a table on a farm and inviting guests to an open-air meal in celebration of the farmer and the gifts of the land. Since that first event, Outstanding in the Field has staged table-to-farm dinners in all 50 states across the US and nine countries around the world,welcoming more than 80,000 people to its long table set in farm fields and orchards, on beaches and mountaintops, in barns and greenhouses. Hundreds of talented chefs — including dozens of Top Chefs and James Beard award winners and nominees — have cooked in OITF’s pop-up kitchen.
Outstanding’s communal table, carefully composed alongside the ingredients for the evening’s meal, inspires lively conversation at the table and a broader discussion about food, community and the meaning of place. After a tour of the farm, diners take their seats alongside the farmers, cheesemakers, ranchers, foragers, fisherfolk, brewers, winemakers and other local food artisans who have provided ingredients for the feast, coming together in delicious communion to break bread and share stories.
Saturday’s Central Florida dinner with chef Kevin Fonzo of K Restaurant is sold out, but Sunday’s dinner still has a few open seats!
- January 18: Lake Meadow Naturals Farm, Ocoee, FL – Guest chef Kathleen Blake, The Rusty Spoon, Orlando. Dale Volkert’s farm is one of OITF’s favorite winter stops, so we’re doing two dinners this year – the second with up-and-coming chef Kathleen Blake. Details and tickets here!
Cheers to the roving restaurant without walls, thrilled they are stopping in our neighborhood this weekend!
Photo Credit: Outstanding in the Field