Asheville Farm To Plate Class Field Trip 2010

We love all of Asheville, but it is our hosts really make our Asheville field trip great. We select them because of their committment to local products and sustability. We'd like to give them a special thanks, taking it from the top:

The Biltmore Estate: Touring the magnificent home, grounds, and winery is a special treat.

The Corner Kitchen restaurant: Chef/co-owner Joe Scully not only cooked marvelous local-sourced dishes for us, he walked us through the domain of everything he serves us.

Jamie Adger showed us the ins and outs of raising pastured pork and chickens on his Hickory Gap Farm, which supplies Asheville's best restaurants.

Jennifer Thomas welcomed us into her Montford Walk-In Bakery for a warm lesson on her special multi-grain sourdough made completely with wild yeast.
Chef/owner William Dissen, a long-ago Magnolias alum, gave us a great supper at The Market Place, Asheville's original farm-to-plate restaurant.

Jael and Dan Rattigan showed us local sourcing in their fine art of chocolate making and pastries at the French Broad Chocolate Lounge.

And Justus Orchards in Hendersonville sent us home with a van full of mountain apples.

Thanks to Dodie Stephens at the Asheville Chamber and Peter Marks at the Appalachian Sustainable Agriculture Project for helping us meet all of these fine folks. We can't wait to come back!

CIC Grad Duane Fernandes at Grove Park Inn

According to the April 13 Asheville Citizen-Times, on Thursday, June 10th, award-winning Charleston chefs Sean Brock from McCrady's and Jacques Larson of Wild Olive will joining the Grove Park Inn's Horizons Dining Room Chef du Cuisine Duane Fernandes to create a special menu for the inaugural dinner of its wine dinner series.

"Chef Fernandes attended Johnson and Wales University, followed by The Culinary Institute of Charleston where he graduated with an Associates Degree in Culinary Arts. While in Charleston, Fernandes worked at several notable restaurants, including the highly acclaimed Peninsula Grill, Lemaire in Richmond, Virginia and [New York's] Michelin three-star restaurant Per Se (rated the seventh best restaurant in the world)." http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20100413/NEWS01/100413043/1311

Farm to Plate Course Field Trip to Asheville

On Sunday, September 13th,

Chef Carmel's Farm to Plate Class set off on a field trip to Asheville, North Carolina. The pictures (in chronological order) tell the story of how the group toured and tasted. Notice the smiling faces!

Sunday:

Tour the Biltmore Estate. Wine Tasting at Biltmore Winery

Check into Brookstone Lodge
Dinner at The Corner Kitchen with Chef/Owner Joe Scully

Monday:

Old-Fashioned Pie Making with Slow Food Board Member Barbara Swell at Log Cabin Cooking
Lunch and free time in town

Tour Jamie Adger's Hickory Nut Gap Farm: Pastured pork, chicken, and beef

Dinner at Zambra with Chef/Co-Owner Adam Bannasch

Dessert at The French Broad Chocolate Lounge with Owner Dan Rattigan

Tuesday:

Pick-up Take-Home Picnic from Laurey's

Tour and Tasting at Spinning Spider Creamery with Owner Chris Owen

Photos courtesy of Hospitality Department Head Patricia Agnew.