Photo Gallery: Farm Dinner in Queens, NY

Jim Denevan brought his Outstanding In The Field dinners to New York this week, starting with last night's event at Queens County Farm, with Food Republic co-founder Marcus Samuelsson tasked with going ultra-locavore as guest chef. One day after a hurricane swept through the region, the weather provided a perfect backdrop to an inspiring evening in an unlikely place.

I've never been to the Queens County Farm before, nor had I ever been to an Outstanding In The Field dinner (though we've featured OITF on Food Republic). The former is an actual working farm with some educational aspects built in, just a stone's throw from the Grand Central Parkway. The latter is a traveling dinner series that has been serving out farm-t0-table (and other offshoots, like beach-t0-table) by bring the table right onto the farm. In this case, the table was set for 150 hungry guests amid corn fields, tomato plants and various livestock pens. 

Samuelsson and his Red Rooster Harlem team served up a menu that utilized as much as possible from the farm and from participating purveyors, like Roger Repohl of Bronx Honey, whose honey infused the butter that was served with tomato jam and cornbread. The rest of the menu included Queens Farm heirloom tomato and watermelon salad with basil-mint vinaigrette; gravlax with pickled fennel, Queens Farm fennel flowers and grain mustard sauce; fried Yard Bird with white mace gravy, jerk bacon and beans, and corn succotash with Queens Farm squash, leeks and tomatoes; and blueberry cobbler and vanilla ice cream, with strawberries drizzled with Bronx Honey and Queens Farm mint. 

OITF's loyal followers now number some 40,000, so it's getting tough to score a place at these thoughtfully placed tables. For those lucky enough tonite, Chef Dan Kluger of ABC Kitchen will be serving up items from the rooftop at Brooklyn Grange. In the meantime, here's some photo highlights from last night in Queens.

Photo Gallery: Farm Dinner in Queens, NY

Marcus Samuelsson

Okay, I know this looks fake, like we took a cut-out of Marcus and put it in a field. But I took the photo myself, just before he started cooking for the 150 guests on the farm, and I swear it's him! 

House at Queens County Farm

Just after turning off a busy road, this is the first thing you see on the grounds of Queens County Farm. It's hard to believe anything in an outer borough can be so quaint.

Cow

The Queens County Farm staff borrows bovines from Hawthorne Valley Farms in upstate New York. And no, they are not used for beef.

Virginia ham on biscuit

Before guests were taken up to the ultra-long table, they sipped Red Rooster's Lenox Lemonade (vodka) cocktails and snacked on mini-lobster rolls, fluke taquitos, summer corn soup with tomatillo pesto and Virginia ham on biscuit. Yum.

Alpaca

After the apps, Queens County Farm workers led us on a tour of the farm and livestock pens, including a stop to visit the weird-looking alpacas.

Goose

Some of the animals decided to put on a little show.

Outstanding In The Field dinner table

Most of the attendees' first view of the table left them breathless.

Plates

OITF veterans knew to bring their own plates (my neighbors, three sharp-dressed gentlemen, even had matching ones). Luckily, we newbies were taken care of as well.

First Course

A blackboard set up near the cooking station announced the first course, an heirloom tomato and watermelon salad.

Marcus Samuelsson cooking

See, he really was there! Marcus assembles the first course of the OITF dinner.

Roger Repohl of Bronx Honey

Local purveyors helped round out the meal with some nice touches, like Repohl's honey and Ben Rosenthal of Premium Wines' locally sourced wines (including a Channing Daughters rosé and a surprisingly good 2007 Merlot from T'Jara, both from Long Island). 

Ephraim & Joshua

Two of Marcus Samuelsson's top servers, Ephraim and Joshua, were amongst those who walked the length of the very long table throughout the meal.

Yard Bird

The centerpiece of the main course, the fried Yard Bird with white mace gravy.

Jim Denevan

Outstanding In The Field's founder Jim Denevan is a Californian and a chef whose brother is a longtime organic farmer.

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