LOS ANGELES —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
The evening was one that Cube billed as a “Maker’s Night,” and diners were nibbling their Italian-style cured meats in the company of Armandino Batali, founder of the Seattle-based salumeria where the tasty bites were made. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Guests also supped the carrot soup with chive oil and crostini alongside Alex Weiser of the Weiser Family Farm in Tehachapi, Calif., where the main ingredient was grown. And they bantered with Mandy Pedrozo of Pedrozo Farm in Orland, Calif., and Jeremy and Jessica Little of Sweet Grass Dairy in Thomasville, Ga., who made the various cheeses incorporated throughout the five-course menu. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Restaurants long have hosted winemaker dinners, during which guests can meet the people behind whatever is in their glass that night. And many restaurants also feature meals that celebrate artisanal products—though typically the purveyors are not in the room. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
But chefs now are taking such food-focused events a step further, hosting evenings in which guests are introduced directly to the people who produce the ingredients on their plates. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
From the renowned L’Etoile in Madison, Wis., and Blue Hill restaurant in New York, which have been hosting such events for years, to Blue on Blue in Los Angeles, which recently launched chef-guided tours of the Santa Monica Farmers Market, restaurants across the country are finding new ways to emphasize the farm-to-fork connection. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Such events represent a trend that fits with the Italian-born Slow Food movement, in which chefs are making a conscious attempt to use more local ingredients. The evenings also have become a marketing opportunity to draw in diners who appear increasingly hungry for information about the food they eat. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
“It’s one thing to talk about our cheeses in the restaurant,” said Rachael Sheridan, buyer for Cube’s gourmet market and organizer of the cafe’s Maker’s Night events, “but it becomes a different thing when it’s about the person sitting next to you at dinner who made that cheese with his hands. It’s his baby.” —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
For Cube, whose market sells everything from frozen truffle pizzas made in Italy to Hawaiian white honey, the focus isn’t so much on local as it is on quality and hard-to-find products. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
The store and cafe, which specialize in cured meats and cheeses from around the world, provided a setting where Sheridan often found herself talking to the staff about the people behind the products. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
“So the owner, Alexander Palermo, said to me, ‘Why don’t you call them and see if they can come?’” Sheridan said. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
However, wrangling the purveyors for Cube’s first Maker’s Night, an all-cheesemaker event held last November, was a laborious undertaking, Sheridan said. The restaurant flew in cheesemaker Bob Stetson, from Westfield Farm in Massachusetts, for example, as well as Joshua Beck of MouCo Creamery in Fort Collins, Colo.; Dane Huebner of the Wisconsin Sheep Dairy Co-Op; and Brent Wasser of Sprout Creek Farm in Poughkeepsie, N.Y. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
“I really enjoyed it,” said Stetson, who brought one of his chocolate goat cheeses and some unique “surface-ripened” blue goat-cheese logs. The attendees at the dinner were “people with a serious focus on food,” he said, “and when you see people focusing on your food, it’s very rewarding.” —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
The 140-seat restaurant sold out for the $75-per-person, multicourse dinners over two consecutive nights, raising an estimated $4,000 for the Cube Foundation, which aims to support Slow Food programs in local schools. The Maker’s Night in early May, which also sold out, raised an estimated $10,000. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Of course, Cube’s owners also hope that such dinners will create more demand for the products, which are sold in the adjacent store. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Sheridan said the popularity of such events stems in part from a basic desire for more human contact. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
“It’s really special to say, ‘I met the guy who made this cheese or this salumi,’” she said. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Cube’s next event will aim for more local purveyors, she added. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Enabling guests to “eat locally” is the mission of chef Jeff Jackson at A.R. Valentien, the fine-dining restaurant of The Lodge at Torrey Pines in La Jolla, Calif. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Jackson launched an annual event called Celebrate the Craft about five years ago that has grown into an annual, weekend-long love fest that connects guests with local farmers, regional chefs and wine-makers. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
“The original intention was to connect the clientele with the source of their food,” Jackson said. “When you buy a painting, you want to know who the artist is.” —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Celebrate the Craft started when Jackson invited local farmers to the Lodge for the weekend, pairing each with a regional chef to prepare a course for a picnic meal during the day, and a more formal dinner that night, both of which were open to the public. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Initially, the dinner was a formal event, with guests in the restaurant dining room while the farmers, chefs and winemakers ate family-style on the terrace. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
“We were having such a ball outside, there was such camaraderie, that we decided to do it that way for everyone,” Jackson said. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Now guests, farmers, wine-makers, and the chefs sit together at one long table on the terrace. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Last year, that table included about 150 people, including chefs such as Trey Foshee of George’s California Modern in La Jolla, Carl Schroeder of Market in Del Mar, Calif., and Antonio Friscia of Stingaree in San Diego. About 22 California purveyors and winemakers also attended, including those from Niman Ranch, Coleman Farms, Aniata Cheese Co., Burnquist Organics and Windrose Farm. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
The dinner, priced at about $140 per person last year, and the event’s picnic, $65, raised money for Slow Food. This year’s event is scheduled for September. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
At L’Etoile in Madison, eating local is an all-out commitment, even in the dead of winter—except for seafood, one of few ingredients used that is not produced in the region. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
The restaurant was founded 31 years ago by Odessa Piper, who also helped found the Dane County Farmers Market there, one of the largest of its kind in the country. In 2005, Tori and Tracy Miller bought the restaurant from Piper, and they continue to host events that bring diners closer to food purveyors. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Later this month, for example, the restaurant has scheduled a mushroom dinner, before which the restaurant staff will forage with expert mushroom hunters, who will later join guests for a five-course, $60 dinner featuring their quarry. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
“It really doesn’t come alive for guests until they meet the farmers or purveyors first hand,” said Lael Grigg, L’Etoile’s co-general manager. “Our relationships with our farmers and purveyors are so important. It’s really more of a friendship than just a business relationship.” —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Dan Barber, chef and co-owner of the restaurant Blue Hill in New York, couldn’t agree more. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Blue Hill and sister restaurant Blue Hill at Stone Barn in Pocantico Hills, N.Y., long have served dinners that aim to bring guests and purveyors together, in part because it adds a new dimension to food. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
“You bring the people producing the product into the restaurant because you want to tell stories about where the food comes from,” he said. “It adds a ‘flavor’ that makes the food taste even better.” —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Recently, Blue Hill hosted a dinner for about 80 people that was free to longtime regulars and favored purveyors to thank them for their support. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Typically, however, the restaurant does charge for such events. Last fall, Blue Hill, which isn’t usually open for lunch, hosted a luncheon series called “Meet the Farmer,” with meals going for $95, including wine. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Guests loved it, said Irene Hamburger, a spokeswoman for the restaurant. “As one supplier put it,” she said, “people may not want to get their hands dirty, to touch the soil, but they want to shake the hands of the people who do.” —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Chefs also want to strengthen their relationships with farmers. For Gabriel Gabreski, executive chef at the restaurant Blue on Blue at the Avalon Hotel in Beverly Hills, Calif., the recently launched chef’s table events are an extension of his own “personal time” at the Santa Monica Farmers’ Market. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
For a $250-per-group fee, Gabreski now meets restaurant customers at the farmers market for a tour. Typically, the group also has booked a chef’s table at the restaurant, and the goal at the market is to shop for that dinner. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
Gabreski describes it as “a social experience” that allows guests to follow the craft of a meal from start to finish. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
“In some cases, I’ll show the certain vendors that are great for carrots, for example,” he said. “But some of it is entirely spontaneous.” —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
On one recent tour, a vendor happened to have duck eggs. So Gabreski bought them to make fresh pasta for the chef’s table that night. That group happened to include a lot of zucchini fans, so they bought squash blossoms to stuff with goat cheese and fry tempura-style. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
From the baby artichokes, served Roman-style with a Meyer lemon aïoli as appetizers, to the mixed berries and vanilla cake with lemon verbena for dessert, about 90 percent of the $175-per-person, seven-course meal catered to the tastes of the group from what was seasonally available that day. —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
“Events like this are good for us all because we’re educating people,” Gabreski said. “Maybe they’ll be more willing to try a fava bean or different potato varietals.” —When diners gathered at the restaurant Cube here earlier this month for a special dinner highlighting artisanal ingredients, they got more than just a taste of some delicious salumi, cheeses and produce.
