Stone Acres Farm

Jim met Dan Meiser at the Hickories in 2021, and decided to swing by his farm the next day. After thirty seconds on this 200-year-old estate, he knew we had to host an event here. Between the orchards, vegetable gardens, greenhouses, and ornamental garden behind the pristinely preserved manor house, there is outstanding beauty and history in every corner of the property. In addition to the CSA and farmstand, Stone Acres provides farm-fresh produce to the 85th Day restaurant group, which includes the Oyster Club and Port of Call in nearby Mystic. Chef Renee Touponce runs the kitchen at both locations, focusing on the freshest ingredients from coastal Connecticut’s many farms and fishermen. She never ceases to impress us – there or in the field kitchen. Last year, she received a standing ovation for her dinner in the fields at Stone Acres, and we cannot wait for this year’s encore.

The North Farm

The North Farm, on the shores of Seneca Lake, is pretty hard to beat when it comes to beauty. It has golden grasses, a picturesque barn and wildflowers dotting the walking paths. The Paillard-Elkin family own the property, while Klaas and Mary-Howell Martens have been farming it for over 40 years. The Martens became leaders in the organic farming community about 20 years ago, and are now passionate agricultural educators. They rotate crops throughout the seasons, so we never know what will be in bloom when we arrive – but we know it will be both beautiful and delicious. At Good Luck Restaurant in Rochester, our guest chef Dan Martello helped pioneer seasonally-driven cuisine in the area, and we can’t wait to see to see what he brings to the field kitchen.

Sage Farm Goat Dairy

We have been coming to this gorgeous part of the country for quite a few years now and this family-run micro-dairy in Stowe is among our very favorite stops. Molly Prindell and her sister, Katie, run a small family operation with the help of their husbands, who pitch in with tractor work, compost management and maple syrup-making while Katie raises the goats and Molly makes the award-winning cheese. After reception, we’ll take a stroll around the property culminating in a picturesque hayfield with a panoramic view of the Green Mountains—an iconic Vermont setting. Meanwhile, Cara Chigazola Tobin of Burlington’s Honey Road will be joining us in the field kitchen for another year, bringing her inventive Mediterranean cuisine and local-first ethos to our summer feast. And she will surely utilize plenty of Sage Farm’s beautiful cheeses.

Dandelion Spring Farm

Farmer Beth Schiller likes to work in the margins. If you walk with her down the flower-lined farm road, around her pond and past the vegetable gardens, she will point out all the little projects she is most excited about in the corners of her fields. Even her main crops tend to be unique varieties of vegetables and herbs you won’t find anywhere else. She works directly with chefs to grow their hard-to-find favorites, as well as challenging and expanding their palates with new offerings. We’ll start the afternoon snuggled in the shade beside the farmhouse before tasting our way through her greenhouses on the way to the table, set overlooking her stunning produce. After last summer’s drought, we can’t wait to see what is bursting out of her well-watered fields this year. We’re sure Neil Zabriskie, chef and co-owner of Regards in Portland, will have plenty to work with. Their approach to blending the best ingredients from Maine’s farmers and fisheries with the fresh flavors of Southern Californian cuisine earned Regards a spot on Bon Appetit’s 50 Best New Restaurants list last year. We’re thrilled to invite Chef Neil in the field kitchen for the first time.

FarmerJawn at Elkins Estate

FarmerJawn follows regenerative farming practices that concentrate on soil health to produce healthy food. But Farmer Christa Barfield’s vision is much bigger than that. The vision is to better the health of folks living in Philly’s urban food desert by increasing access to good, organic food. Like Christa says, farming is the gateway to health. Come see how her vision is flourishing at Elkins Estate. Chef Andrew Henshaw, who worked for five years with Laser Wolf co-owner Michael Solomonov’s heralded Zahav, will bring Israel’s vibrant shipudiya (skewer house) cuisine to the Outstanding table. Laser Wolf’s universe is the charcoal grill, so Chef will be right at home here!

Brooklyn Grange at the Navy Yard

Blooming flowers, tomato vines, and fragrant herbs. Forests of kale, collards, and chard. The lively sound of bees buzzing and chickens squawking. All in the smack dab of downtown Brooklyn. We first set the table at Brooklyn Grange’s Navy Yard location in 2013 and we’ve been back nearly every year since. This year, we’ll welcome our good friend Evan Hanczor back to the field kitchen. Chef Evan has been a staunch supporter of Brooklyn Grange since the beginning and has cooked for us many times on the roof. His farm-to-table restaurant Egg was a Brooklyn institution for over 15 years before it closed in 2020. Now he runs Table of Contents, a pop-up dinner series celebrating the intersection of food, art and culture through literary-themed events. During the pandemic, Evan co-founded FIG (Food Issues Group), a grassroots organization fighting for food security and a fairer food system in NYC and beyond. FIG has delivered more than 70,000 meals to community members in need through its partnerships with local farms like Brooklyn Grange. We’ll toast to their hard work during our late summer meal on the roof.

Brooklyn Grange at the Navy Yard

Our Brooklyn Grange dinners are always some of the first to sell out, so we make sure to spend several nights here. Especially when there’s so many brilliant New York City chefs to helm the rooftop kitchen. Guest chef RJ Gitter runs the kitchen at Honey’s in Brooklyn — a restaurant, cocktail bar, and meadery just a few miles east of the Grange. He pairs traditional cooking methods with modern techniques to craft inventive menus with locally grown and foraged ingredients from across the Mid-Atlantic. You can expect plenty of ferments, unusual preparations and wild flavors using all the peak season produce grown right behind our seats. We’ll wash it all down with several varieties of Honey’s wild-fermented mead made with local honey, herbs and fruits.

Sagaponack Farm Distillery at Foster Farm

Night one at this hidden Hamptons gem, where the Foster family tends to 200+ acres of potatoes, vegetables, and grain. They also have a really cool collection of beautifully restored antique farm vehicles, including a tractor, farm truck, and two small airplanes (there’s even a small air strip on the property). Potatoes were once Long Island’s most prolific crop and the Fosters have been growing potatoes here for generations. These days, much of their thoughtfully grown spuds go into their estate-made vodka and aquavit, which we’ll taste during reception before we get a brief tour of the distillery. Meanwhile, our guest chef Whitney Ellis of ÆSHES – launching this summer – will be cooking up a bespoke wood fired feast in the field kitchen. We have a feeling the menu will include some of Foster Farm’s famous heirloom tomatoes, which will be at their peak in September.

Sagaponack Farm Distillery at Foster Farm

Before the Hamptons became a world-famous summer beach destination, it was home to a wealth of potato farms — and the Fosters are some of the only remaining potato farmers on Long Island. To this day, the family grows 200 acres of potatoes in addition to 30 acres of fresh vegetables and a small lot of grain. A heap of their spuds go toward Sagaponack vodka, which we’ll have the chance to taste at reception before sitting down at the long table to enjoy a meal from our good friend Jason Weiner. Jason is a bit of an OITF celebrity. He’s been doing events with us since 2008, and this will be his 15th appearance in the field kitchen, more than any other chef in OITF history. Earlier this year, we worked with Jason at Holman’s Harvest down in Palm Beach, Florida, where he opened an outpost of his popular Bridgehampton restaurant Almond in 2019. We’re thrilled to host him back on the East End again this summer.

Blue Moon Acres

Rice in New Jersey? Yep, it grows here at Blue Moon Acres farm in the rural eastern edge of the Garden State, along with a diverse salad bowl of micro-greens. Jim and Kathy started farming here in 1992 and soon thereafter sold their crop to their first restaurant customer in New York. Things just grew from there. What started as a backyard operation is now a 63-acre organic farm planted to micro and mezza greens, all manner of vegetables and several varieties of rice. That’s music to the ears of guest chef Sam Freund, whose New American restaurant White Birch is deeply committed to sourcing seasonal ingredients from local farms like Blue Moon. Sam’s a New Jersey native and a French-trained chef who worked in celebrated kitchens across the U.S. including Eleven Madison Park in NYC and TAG Burger Bar in Denver before opening his locally sourced sandwich spot Slamwich Scratch Kitchen and the more upscale White Birch. This is our first time hosting Sam in the field kitchen — join us in welcoming him to the culinary circus.