On Wednesday, September 10, I attended Parker Red’s Farm to Fork Dinner benefiting Slow Food NYC at Kings County Distillery in the Brooklyn Navy Yard.
The dinner was supporting Slow Food NYC’s Producer Summit, an event bringing together local farmers, chefs, and distributors to discuss challenges and celebrate successes of the current local food system. The Producer Summit will be held at Hawthorne Valley Farm in early November, and the hope is to create “an actionable strategy to strengthen and expand the supply chain of organic and sustainably-grown food to New York City restaurants.”
The evening began with live music, radishes with butter and salt, boiled peanuts, charcuterie, and a tasting—moonshine, bourbon, and chocolate whiskey—made from corn and barley grown onsite at the distillery in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. (*Kings County Distillery regularly hosts a great little tour for only $8, with the tasting included!)
After a few more drinks and snacks, we all gathered to sit down for dinner, cooked by Chef Ned Baldwin and his team. (*Three years ago when I moved to New York, I worked with Ned for one day when I “trailed” [a restaurant industry term for a trial day working in the kitchen] for him at Prune restaurant. I ended up working somewhere else, but had such a memorable experience and learned some valuable lessons from my day at Prune.)
The menu:
To Start: Whelks and Trotters flamed with King’s County Moonshine served warm with Green Tomatoes, Lemon and Fennel Blossoms; Charred Treviso, Anchovies, Lemon
Moving Forward: Salad of Corn, Watercress and Peaches mixed Liver Mousse, Toasts, King’s County Bourbon
Digging In: Whole Roasted Carrots, Crumbs, Gremolata; Braised Collards with Mushrooms and Tomatoes; Slow Sticky Pork
To Finish: King’s County Chocolate Bourbon Bread Pudding
Whelks and trotters
Treviso salad
Ned preparing the liver mousse toasts
Corn salad with watercress and peaches
My friends Michelle and Matt, looking cute
The slow sticky pork was amazing, so tender and sweet
The dessert line-up
Chocolate bourbon bread pudding. YES
It was such a fun experience to participate in this dinner party. I am lucky to have been so well-fed and well-drunk 😉
Want to feel good about dining out? Check out this directory of the restaurants, bars, food and beverage artisans, and stores and markets that have been awarded the Slow Food NYC Snail of Approval.
Slow Food NYC works to create a food system based on the principles of high quality and taste, environmental sustainability, and social justice—in essence, a food system that is good, clean and fair. We seek to move our culture away from the destructive effects of an industrial food system and towards the cultural, social and economic benefits of a sustainable food system, regional food traditions, and the pleasures of the table.
Figsinmybelly 
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