Published: December 01. 2009 2:00AM

By Renata Parker
CONTRIBUTING WRITER

There's nothing that replaces the simple taste of fresh. Just bite into a plump fig straight from the tree or slice into a vine-ripe South Carolina tomato — indescribably delicious. Thankfully, fresh is making a serious comeback, especially in restaurants where diners are craving back to basics in food.

Restaurants are taking note and luring diners back to where our food comes from in the first place: the farm. For the past eight years, Carolina Farm Stewardship Association, along with the support of local chefs, has hosted dinner events on various farms as a way to promote our local food sources. Diners, all with a shared affinity for fresh food, recently traveled from all corners of the state to experience an elegantly presented Upstate Farm Dinner at Red Fern Farm in Gray Court. Local dining opportunities like this are cropping up as a way to reacquaint diners with the taste of fresh food.

Red Fern Farm proprietors Katherine and Clark Mizell, who specialize in raising Tunis sheep, graciously opened their 100-acre farm and shared the bounty of their verdant pastures. The farm-inspired, four-course menu was a collaboration between five talented Upstate chefs devoted to local, well-grown products.

“American Grocery, as well as all of the restaurants participating in the farm dinner, have an exemplary record for sourcing locally and have great working relationships with individual growers,” said Roland McReynolds, executive director of Carolina Farm Stewards Association. “The on-farm dinners give people a chance to learn more about sustainable agriculture in South Carolina and the importance of support of local farms

American Grocery
chef Joey Clarke welcomed guests with a glass of Champagne and a tasting portion of tender Tunis lamb.

Diners then flocked to a large tent on the front lawn of the main house to savor the culinary rewards of the farm, while woven baskets packed with robust loaves of fresh bread were passed to each table — a warm slice of heaven.

For the first course, chef Joe Fredette, of Summa Joe’s Searing Pans in Anderson , delivered roasted duckling on a butternut squash bellinis with pear pepper jelly chutney and goat cheese crème fraiche. Next, chef Jason Parrish presented a salad of fresh lavender and baby arugula, topped with cracked black pepper-crusted Split Creek Farm goat cheese accompanied by perfectly ripe sweet muscadines drizzled with balsamic honey reduction and extra virgin olive oil.

Chefs Katie Tillman and Valerie Lowe, of Friends at the Cove at Lake Hartwell, served an entree of a spicy grilled pork chop with a serious helping of mashed sweet potatoes, complemented by crowder peas and pepper cranberry relish with a port wine fig reduction.

And for the finale, chef Joey Pesner of The Cliffs at Keowee Falls and Keowee Lake wowed the crowd with a trio of apple desserts: a warm caramel apple chocolate cake, a sour apple dumpling and a Rome apple pudding.

Each course was paired with a wine selected byDarlene Clarke,
American Grocery’s sommelier.

Pack your appetite and bring your fork back to the farm by experiencing an authentic farm dinner. Check the CFSA Web site for events near you or for a list of restaurants, like American Grocery, which use products from local farms.

After all, as Commissioner of Agriculture Hugh Weathers said during the Red Fern Farm dinner, “You are what you eat. Locally grown is to dine for.”