slow food and lots of laughter

Slow food. What does this mean? My thoughts on it are that you get together with great people and celebrate excellent food. The Slow Food Dinner in Bloomington takes this to an extreme. This year, eight of the very best chefs in our area got together and presented a gastronomic adventure that lasted 4.5 hours and included the most amazing sampling of local fare that I have encountered at one table.

I attended the dinner with Darcy, a co-worker and a wonderful friend who shares my great love of food and certainly the company made the meal a delight. We surveyed each dish, tasted and discussed, ooooed and ahhhed the wonders that landed on the table in front of us, laughed and had a fabulous time. Great food can not be enjoyed alone, it is for sharing with friends.

I want to share about the meal and ask that you pardon the simplicity of my descriptions. I don’t want to overcomplicate this with foodie jargon because that was not the perspective with which I walked into this dinner. We ate and drank and laughed, I left feeling completely satisfied and blissful. Can any speculation of ingredients or preparation methods capture this? Are there truly words to describe this feeling?

The evening started off with appetizers from Gregg Rago of Nick’s and Alan Simmerman – our chef at the Bloomingfoods West Side Store. There was a wonderful assortment featuring goat cheese, braised pork, quail eggs, a refreshing chicken salad served on cucumber slices, and tiny new potatoes with their middles scooped out and filled with goodness. I spoke with Alan and he noted that all of the ingredients were locally sourced. He had to purchase olive oil and two or three other ‘condiment’ items off the shelf at Bloomingfoods but all the main ingredients were from local farms. This amazed me!

Appetizers were followed by a mini pulled pork sandwich topped with coleslaw from Greg Hardesty, formerly of Elements in Indianapolis. I have to admit that the first bite disappointed me – I was underwhelmed. It had a lovely flavor but I expected something big. I kept eating and I began to realize how good he is – this unassuming ‘sandwich’ got better with every bite. It was subtle and it seemed that the flavors collected in my mouth a little at a time until by the end of it I was sorry to see it go. Fortunately there was not much time to lament the empty plate.

Up next was a chilled soup from Daniel Orr of FARM bloomington. We were presented with a Cress Veloute and Paillettes – little puff pastry bread sticks. The creamy texture was amazing and with every mouthful little exclamations of joy burst forth from our lips! The paillettes were fluffy and beautiful and made us giggle with delight. I am sure the lovely wine pairings had something to do with the giggling, but certainly it was inspired by the food in front of us.

After the soup was a salad of sorts. Regina Mehallick, of R bistro in Indianapolis, created a dish that challenged me. I have to preface this with the detail that my father is half croat – my grandmother grew up speaking Croatian as her mother never spoke a drop of english. There were plenty of interesting foods I encountered as a child and I could not then, and still can not today, eat blood sausage. So out comes this lovely presentation, blood sausage sitting on a slice of nectarine. It was topped with a poached quail egg and served with fresh, lovely mixed greens. I had one bite and that was all I could manage. The presentation was exquisite, but I had met my match.

Okay – I recover quickly. The next dish was one that I had been looking forward to for days. Jeff Finch, of Finch’s in Bloomington, created a little piece of heaven, managed to capture it and persuaded it to grace our table. A rabbit crepinette with a mushroom crepe, roasted beets, and a whole grain mustard jus. A crepinette is a small, flattened sausage and this example was precious. I ate every bit and tried to wish more into existence. The mushroom crepe – divine! The mushrooms were perfectly sauteed – it would have been a pity to see them reduced to mushy, tasteless blobs – but they were simply perfect. This course was presented with the first red wine of the evening, Hogue Genesis Cabernet Sauvignon from Colombia Valley, and it was bold enough to partner with the strong flavors of rabbit and mushroom.

Time for a break – a fresh black raspberry sorbet to cleanse the palate and prepare us for the next dish. Zoe, our server, inquires if we are full yet. Full? No. The portions were perfectly sized for a meal this extensive, and the pacing gave us plenty of time to breathe and chat between courses.  I must confess that I ate very little all day, a piece of fruit, a muffin, lots of water. One must plan for this sort of situation! We were looking forward to the rest of the dinner.

I was surprised by how much I enjoyed the game meats – the next offering was Long Farms Elk, prepared by Dave Tallent, of Restaurant Tallent in Bloomington. This was the first piece of steak that I have eaten since 1994. I walked into this meal knowing it was on the menu and had decided that I was going to eat it, and suddenly, after many years of not eating red meat, I found myself enjoying this. It was served with cabbage, grits, and a red wine gastrique. The dish was paired with a big syrah – Lost Canyon Syrah Stage Gulch from Sonoma, and the bold fruit complemented the dish well.

Up next was a surprising little thing. Tad Delay, of Limestone Grill in Bloomington, served up a plate of fried cheese that changed how I think of fried cheese. There was a Capriole Old Kentucky Tome Frico Taco that was crispy and salty – served with watercress greens. He paired this with Capriole soft goat cheese that had been made into little balls and fried, and a strawberry gastrique. The truth presented by this dish was simple, fried cheese = happiness.

The arrival of dessert meant the ending of the meal – but what an end it was! David Fletcher, of BLU Boy Chocolate Cafe and Cakery in Bloomington, presented a trio of miniature indulgences that left us feeling completely satisfied. My favorite was a tiny goat cheese and chocolate tartlet. The desserts were served with a bubbly – Banfi Rosa Regale – an effervescent wine that evaporated in my mouth, it left me with a tickle and a giggle.

The food was created by the best chefs in town and served by the best front of house staff in town. I can not overlook the servers who donated their time to this event. They were friendly and professional and worked their butts off on a Sunday night to serve the crowd of people who arrived to celebrate this glorious, local fare.

I am amazed this happens in our town. I am thankful to have been at this dinner. I look forward to next year.