Like many omnivores, Restaurantarama is a bit hypocritical about being a meat eater. We’ll consume beef, chicken and pork if they are locally and organically raised, but never veal or lamb, because babies are just too cute and sweet. We also used to have an illogical restriction on rabbit, because it just seemed wrong to eat any species that we once cared for as a pet. Pigs can be pets too, you say. Yes, we get it, and we’ve since changed our tune on Thumper thanks to a visit to Fossett’s last spring where we dined on rabbit pâté so heavenly that we convinced ourselves it would be a sin not to enjoy it. Of course, it helped our conscience immensely that Fossett’s executive chef Craig Hartman explained that he uses rabbits very happily well-tended in our own Virginia wilderness by Jameson Farm. And it’s a good thing for you that our meat-eating ways have matured, because otherwise we would miss out on telling you about another glorious rabbit experience at last week’s Meet the Farmer Dinner at Palladio Restaurant at Barboursville Vineyards.
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Taking the local theme to the max, 80 percent of Chef Melissa Close’s ingredients for the PEC dinner—from the vegetables and meats for the main courses to the eggs, milk and flour for the bread in the bread basket—came from within 70 miles of the restaurant. |
A fundraiser and outreach program for the Piedmont Environmental Council’s “Buy Fresh Buy Local” campaign, the event featured a five-course meal prepared by Palladio Executive Chef Melissa Close and guest chef Jonathan Hayward, formerly of the Toliver House and now of the Gordonsville Deli, paired with wines from Barboursville. Chef Close told the diners that over 80 percent of the ingredients—from the vegetables and meats for the main courses to the eggs, milk and flour for the bread in the bread basket—came from within 70 miles of the restaurant. Even the table centerpieces came from flowers grown locally by Roundabout Farm. Among the crowded dining room of PEC supporters were a few of the producers themselves, including Michael Clark, whose Planet Earth Diversified supplied the microgreens for the herb salad that accompanied a colorful plate of roasted red and yellow beets from Roundabout Farm, topped with a sweet and creamy chevre from Caromont Farm.
The other courses included Oven Roasted Green Fence Quail braised with Local Greens and Wade’s Mill Grits and Rose Geranium Crème Brulee with Perfect Flavor Ice Cream and Honey Marinated Cherries. But the highlight of the night was the Green Fence Farm rabbit, which Chef Close paired with fresh pasta, wild mushroom ragu and Everona Farm pecorino. The rabbit was incredibly tender, with a rustic but not-too-gamey flavor, the pasta was fluffy and buttery and the cheese was sharp with a hint of peppery spice. The mushrooms gave the dish an underlying robustness, and the Barboursville Barbera was bright and fruity with just the right amount of acidity to wash it all down.
(We don’t typically describe dishes in full detail in this column, but this one deserves the words, because it was one of the finest we’ve had to date, partly because we could see where it was all lovingly raised and grown practically out the window on the horizon.)
Interestingly, during this particular course, not much was verbalized by the other diners at our table who had paid $100 a head to attend the event—just a lot moans of satisfaction and one mostly coherent comment from the fellow next to us: “Mmm. That’s good.”
Melissa Wiley, who spearheads the “Buy Fresh, Buy Local” campaign for the PEC, said this second annual Meet the Farmer Dinner (last year’s was held at Toliver House) raised about $8,000, with all proceeds benefiting the campaign.
