Slow Dinners – a satisfied recap of our food frenzy by Dawn

I have to say that my most vivid memories of the Slow Food Nation weekend will forever be the amazing food that I was able to sample! Sample might not be the right word though, as most of this food frenzy wasn’t a “tasting” menu, but full-on meals. And I did a good job of cleaning my plate over and over again.

Slow Food Nation started for me with the “Come to the Table” invite only event at Civic Center Plaza – a sit down dinner for 500 people. I talked a little about that already, but it was the start of much wonderful food to be consumed for the next 4 days. In fact, I ate again that night at Beretta with some friends from San Francisco – 2 dinners, 1 night - a healthy start!

Sustainable Table got involved with Slow Food Nation by becoming a sponsor of the Slow Dinners. Because we were a sponsor, we were given the opportunity to attend the Slow Dinners, a feast every night! There were actually almost 50 dinners during the whole weekend, each dinner was a sustainable restaurant paired with a non-profit. The dinners benefited the non-profits, some by giving a percent of the proceeds from the weekend to the organization and others by arranging a 1 night event with the non-profit involved, for a one night only charity dinner. The 4 dinners that Diane and I attended seemed very successful.

Friday night was the first dinner at Foreign Cinema, a fun restaurant in the Mission District that shows movies on a big wall in their courtyard (and across the street from one of my old apartments too!). The group they were paired with was Marin Organic. They are an association of organic producers in Marin County whose livelihood is based on a respect for nature and a sense of place. Their mission is to practice, support and promote sustainable, organic agriculture and encourage a preference for locally produced food. The movie they played that night was the documentary film, Hidden Bounty of Marin: Farm Families in Transition. The short film captures the rich landscape and daily life on the farms and ranches of West Marin. The dinner was amazing (and altered for us - we happen to be vegetarians, thank you to the chef!) – and not too heavy, something that was very important after I had already eaten ice cream twice earlier that day. Beautiful vegetables, so fresh and full of taste, the salad had the most amazing egg I’ve had in awhile. The main course was couscous with veggies (this all seems so simple, but I have to say that these vegetables were fresh and so flavorful, that even the simplest of preparation was amazing) and then we had dessert. Oh my god, dessert. So they must have run out, which probably would have been the best thing, just to leave us dessert-less. But instead, they brought out a “temporary” dessert, while we waited for the real dessert. Wow. And at this amazing dinner- for Slow Food, do you think that I could just say no, or not eat it? Of course not! Abandon some sustainable food, no way. So, the most chocolaty mousse arrives at our table… and we eat it, and then 2 more desserts come out, 1 for each of us, this yummy apple/ice cream thing. Then in a taxi, to the hotel, asleep within 20 minutes.

The second dinner, Saturday night, was at the famous and beautiful Greens restaurant in Fort Mason, where the Slow Food Taste Pavilion and music for Slow Food Nation was being held. Too bad we were at an event across town at Herbst Theater, but Michael Straus (of Straus Communications and Straus Dairy) came to our rescue and drove us back over to Fort Mason for the event. Greens was matched with MALT, Marin Agricultural Land Trust, an organization that was co-founded by Michael Straus’ mother, Ellen Straus. They preserve farm land, and have done so successfully since the early 70s, protecting over 40,000 acres. Phyllis Faber, the other co-founder, was in attendance, as was Deborah Madison (original chef of Greens) and the current chef, Annie Somerville, stopped in to talk with us too. Dinner was delicious. Dessert was delicious. The wine was delicious. The company was lovely! Oh, so much more food… every bite full was worth it. They even gave us copies of a few of the recipes from the evening – Corn & Cherry Tomato Salad with Arugula, Gypsy Peppers filled with Fromage Blanc and Fine Herbes, and Green Beans and Shelling Beans with Cherry Tomatoes. After we headed to a local wine bar and talked shop until the wee hours.

On to Sunday! The third amazing meal in a row was at Americano Restaurant & Bar, in the Hotel Vitale on Mission Street right by the bay. We sat outside at tables with names of vegetables to let us know where to sit. We were sat at the asparagus table with some fun attendees. I couldn’t see from where I was, but I’m pretty sure that most of the food was cooked outside! This “Starlight Supper” was paired with The Golden Gate National Parks Conservancy which I thought only included Golden Gate Park, but it actually includes 70 miles north and south of the Golden Gate Bridge, a beautiful stretch of land. The evening weather held up nicely – a perfect night to sit outside for dinner by the bay. Chef Paul Arenstam and someone from the Parks Conservancy spoke, as did Patrick Martins from Heritage Foods USA. Dinner included an heirloom tomato salad, fisherman’s stew (and our veggie version, which was a really great corn soup), and the entrée was a grilled skirt steak (our version was the other stuff on the plate) with polenta and broccoli de ciccio. Dessert was a tart berry pudding with a mascarpone cream on top. By now, all I can do is hope to get back to the hotel as quickly as possible, I’m so sleepy and perfectly satisfied.

Our last dinner of the event – oh so sad! – is at Laiola in the Marina on Chesnut Street. It is really packed as we walk up with a bunch young kids (I noticed later that those young kids were the crew from the nonprofit!) hanging out in the front area… it’s another strangely hot night in San Francisco, one of those days that makes San Francisco perfect. Laiola has teamed up with Alemany Farms, a great group who "empowers San Francisco residents to grow their own food, and through that process encourages people to become more engaged with their communities. We grow organic food and green jobs for low-income communities, while sowing the seeds for economic and environmental justice." Laiola serves up Spanish type tapas, California style... Diane and I shared everything, the picture above is of our 2 desserts, both so strangely amazing. The chocolate dessert, Pan con chocolate, was like a mousse, with sea salt and you were supposed to eat it on the bread- it was sooooo good. The other empty plate above at one time held a creme brulee, called Crema Catalana, and it had orange blossom and pink peppercorn. Both so good. The tapas were all amazing too, Tortilla Espanola, Chickpea croquetas, Piperade... and more.

These dinners were a great connection to the many non-profits that are working so hard to bring sustainable slow food to low income neighborhoods and other non-profits working hard to preserve our farm land. There were many other restaurants and nonprofits involved in these Slow Dinners, if you have time you should check out the Slow Food Nation site with all the details.

Thank you to all the restaurants, chefs, waiters, nonprofits and Slow Food members who brought this all together!

Article Tag(s): slow food nation, slow dinners, greens, laiola, americano, foreign cinema

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