On October 4th Monica Pope, owner of T'afia restaurant in Houston, participated in a unique outdoor event called Outstanding in the Field.

To explain what the event is about, here is info from the OutstandingInTheField.com Web site:

Outstanding in the Field is a roving culinary adventure - literally a restaurant without walls. Since 1999 we have set the long table at farms or gardens, on mountain tops or in sea caves, on islands or at ranches.
Occasionally the table is set indoors: a beautiful refurbished barn, a cool greenhouse or a stately museum.

Wherever the location, the consistent theme of each dinner is to honor the people whose good work brings nourishment to the table. Ingredients for the meal are almost all local (sometimes sourced within inches of your seat at the table!) and generally prepared by a celebrated chef of the region. After a tour of the site, we all settle in: farmers, producers, culinary artisans, and diners sharing the long table.

The mission of this group is "to re-connect diners to the land and the origins of their food, and to honor the local farmers and food artisans who cultivate it."

Founder Jim Denevan says, "Senses are heightened in the fresh air. And it's not every day you get to sit next to the person who planted the beans, raised the lamb, and shaped the cheese on your plate."

"It was a phenomenal event in many ways. Really extraordinary to be on this hell, I mean hill, in Washington County cooking for people who really get it and are willing to make the journey to literally eat where your food lives, and meeting and sharing the evening with the family who provides it. Many people asked me if it was fun. And no it wasn't. We're still recovering. I don't know how the OITF team does 80 of these a year. The funniest line was one someone told me late Saturday night - JJ said as he was blistering over a very large and very crispy whole pig, "Eating in a field, fun. Cooking in a field, not so much fun." But in the end we were all appreciative for the CONNECTION and the EXPERIENCE. And we're just crazy enough to do it again....
Monica Pope

"It was amazing, Cleverley, to be on the second highest hill in Washington County at a 170 foot-long table snaking along the flat top, breeze blowing, sun setting, people laughing and eating and drinking and talking.  It was something else."
Andrea Lazar



Here is Monica's menu for Outstanding in the Field, Saturday, October 4, 2008
at Jolie Vue Farms, in the bluebonnet hills of Washington County,
about 85 miles northwest of Houston, in the vicinity of Brenham. 

Standing hors d'oeuvres
* blue heron feta, cucumber & chilies
* all we need french breakfast radishes, greens creek raw milk gruyere, sprouts
* jolie vue corn dog, spicy ketchup
* grilled texas brownies, green garlic crepe, koki's green garlic sauce
* steamed pork bun with shiitakes, sweet soy, gomaishio

First Course
** j.j.'s "trotters & gear" with crostini & mustard
** deep-fried farmstead egg, sauce gribiche

Second Course
*** red heritage veal milanese, caperberries, lemon basil & blossom butter
*** smoked sausage with ring of fire bbq sauce
*** whole pig in caja china with grapefruit & salt (center cut, smoked shoulders, & grilled bellies)
*** gonzalez mushroom-almond sambal
*** swiss chard stem & goat cheese gratin

Dessert
* goat's milk panna cotta with persimmon, trentino persimmon sorbet & gelato and make your own cookie sandwich with treaty rum & rio grande organics pecan cookie & blue heron cajeta 

Photos from Monica's day out standing in the field: (in order taken)

Outstanding in the Field tour bus from California	Ribs & sauce on the grill
"All we need" French breakfast radishes	Blue heron feta, cucumber & chilies

T'afia's table out in the field

Dusty grills the links	Smoked sausage with Beaver's Ring of Fire BBQ sauce (Get BBQ sauce recipe here - It's Chef JJ's new blend)
Deep fried farmstead eggs	Setting the table
Table & View	Flat Creek Estate Pinot Grigio
Chatting with Miss Van, Houston's honey mistress	Chef Jonathan Jones' Trotters & Gear
Chef Monica Pope plating Red Heritage Veal Milanese & whole pig, cooked in La Caja China roasting box: center cut, smoked shoulders & grilled bellies	Dusty resting with the veggies after a long day cooking in the sun

                                                Chef Jonathan Jones (Beaver's Ice House) and Dusty