"Outstanding" Urban Farm Dinner
Photos from an Outstanding in the Field virtuous feast at Chicago's City Farm
In This Issue
• Outstanding in the Field Farm Dinner Goes Urban: Art, Cuisine, Purpose
• Today’s Chicago Region Farmers Markets
Outstanding in the Field Farm Dinner Goes Urban
Outstanding in the Field is a California-based company that stages extraordinary farm dinners in locations across (and occasionally outside) the United States.
These atmospheric events are extensions of founder Jim Denevan’s experiences as a chef and a visionary environmental artist, best known for his elaborate geometric beach drawings that — like Asian sand mandalas — are intended to be ephemeral.
Launched in 1999, the Outstanding in the Field tour has returned and came to Chicago’s City Farm — headed by Ken Dunn, a local urban farming and composting legend — for dinners on back-to-back nights. I was invited to attend last night’s dinner in advance of writing about the September release of a documentary, Man in the Field: The Life and Art of Jim Denevan, that showcases his unique approach to life.
The purpose of the events is to build a greater sense of community and connection to those who produce the food we eat. “When dining together we have the opportunity to consider and recognize our common humanity as we get to know each other more deeply,” Denevan said in the Founder’s Message on the Outstanding in the Field website. “We can break bread and breathe deep. A part of the promise of a new day.”
He continued, “Once again, we will dine in appreciation of the places where our food comes from and the hands that harvest it. We will dig for even deeper connections. We’ll have a good look around to see, smell, taste and feel where we are. We will be nourished by it. Renewed. Glasses filled and then filled again. In joyous celebration.”
The centerpiece of every Outstanding in the Field dinner is a long, white-clothed table with wooden folding chairs. A piece of conceptual art in its own right, the table is sometimes long and straight, giving the illusion that it goes on for miles, and sometimes takes on elaborate geometries to fit the setting.
The screener version of the film that I viewed emphasizes how Denevan employs his artist’s eye to choose the most striking setting for the table, which often has a backdrop of purple mountains’ majesty and amber waves of grain. City Farm provides a different challenge, as it is a postage stamp of a farm located on a site that used to be part of the trouble-plagued Cabrini Green housing project. Here the table had a slight curve to hew to the landscape.
The dinner, prepared on site, was created by a team led by Chef Maxwell Robbins of Longman & Eagle in Chicago’s Logan Square neighborhood. The ingredients were provided by farms and vendors familiar on our local scene, such as Nichols Farm & Orchard, Slagel Family Farm, LeClare Family Creamery and Publican Quality Meats.
After a reception that included passed appetizers (steak tartare, oysters, goat cheese-stuffed dates), a Middle East-influenced first course could easily have sufficed for a whole meal. Nonetheless, it was followed by chicken and bass grilled over an open flame.
It was a truly memorable experience. Tonight’s second City Farm dinner is sold out as is Saturday’s dinner at Seedling Farm around the lake in South Haven, Michigan, but Sunday’s dinner at that location still has seats available, according to Outstanding in the Field’s website. It ain’t cheap, but if you want an experience an ultra farm dinner at least once, it is worthy of your consideration.
Good reporting and photos, Bob. Thanks for taking us there.
Thanks, Patrick!