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Just an hour away from the Bay Area, on the western edge of California’s Great Central Valley, you’ll find Yolo County, a countryside dotted with only a few towns and three times more acres than people. Here, farmers raise everything from organic vegetables to beef, lamb, pork and quail, olives and olive oil, honey and grains. There are more than a dozen wineries and several craft breweries in the county and plenty of restaurants, too. But it’s Yolo’s pop-up feasts that woo visitors at this time of year, showcasing the region’s hyper-local ingredients with style and panache.
The pop-ups source directly from the farms and ranches, and the multi-course menus are developed to reflect the best of the peak of season. These prix-fixe spreads ($75-$150) can be intimate affairs, like the 40-seat table at Winters’ Putah Creek Café Pop-Up, or as grand as the 728 seats at Woodland’s Dinner on Main. Meals are served almost entirely family style, which along with the local wines that are generously poured, encourages neighborly conviviality.
Not surprisingly, all these farm-fresh pop-ups sell out quickly, so start planning ahead to sample the authentic farm-to-fork experience in the heart of Yolo farm country.
The Village Feast
The Village Feast in Davis was started 12 years ago by former mayor Ann Evans, who modeled it on the French “grande aioli” feasts held all over Provence each August. The feast, a fundraiser for Davis Farm to School and Les Dames d’Escoffier Sacramento Chapter, is held each year at the city’s Central Park, under the sycamore trees next to the award-winning Davis Farmers Market — this year on Sept. 28.
More than 300 guests take their seats at long tables decorated with white linens and bunches of flowers. Guests bring their own napkins, dishes and flatware, and you’ll see everything from Heath stoneware to Limoges china, vintage damask napkins to hand-sewn checkered squares. The annual menu stays the same – platters of heirloom tomatoes, fingerling potatoes, hard-cooked eggs, grilled vegetables, bowls of golden aioli, bean salad, grilled leg of lamb and baguettes, arrive at the table, course after course, concluding with fresh fruit galettes.
Dinner on Main
The annual Dinner on Main became an instant success when Woodland native Linda Henigen first launched it three years ago. Her goal? To celebrate her city’s revitalization and the county’s farms and farmers, and to raise funds for a year-round Edible Learning Garden and other worthy causes. Chefs from around the county come together to devise a menu reflecting a theme – this year’s sold-out feast, scheduled for Sept. 15, is themed around grilling and smoking.
Blocks of Main Street, the city’s central thoroughfare, are closed for the occasion and cars are replaced with a long line of white linen-draped, fully set tables to seat 728 people. The six-course, family-style meal is served by volunteers with help from participating restaurants’ staff. And the centerpiece of this year’s menu will be wooden platters of smoked and grilled meats, including chicken, lamb and sausages, along with chimichurri sauce, garbanzo bean salad and smoky corn salad. This extravaganza is preceded by a course of Golden Tomato Gazpacho, followed by Grilled Stone Fruit Salad and then Smoked Trout and Local Caviar.
Park Winters farm dinners
Park Winters is an exquisite, renovated 19th-century country estate in the town of Winters. Partners John Martin and Rafael Galiano, formerly of San Francisco, added a barn and kitchen, and planted a small, organic farm on the property. Today, it’s a sought-after wedding and event venue, and the public is invited for a series of multi-course farm dinners for 70 to 80 people.
The pop-up dinners are usually held once a month, with indoor or outdoor garden seating, depending on the weather. They have their own chef, whose menus showcase what’s in season at the farm and entrees that range from grass-fed beef from nearby Manas Ranch to grilled quail from Wolfe Farms.
Putah Creek Cafe Pop-Up
The newest pop-up in the county is held on the second Wednesday of each month at Winters’ Putah Creek Cafe. It was the inspiration of Emarie Van Galio, operations director for the Buckhorn Restaurant Group, and Buckhorn executive chef Brett Cosentino. Emarie has long experience in event planning, and the eclectic table decor mixes elegant with rustic – think candelabras and sunflowers.
Each month’s four-course, Mediterranean-Californian menu is developed with Putah Creek chef Fred Reyes, and includes local wine pairings and a specialty cocktail served outside, weather permitting. Look for such dishes as grilled rib-eye steaks, fresh fruit and frisee salad and, perhaps, a cocktail incorporating lavender. The setting is intimate, a single long table for 40, with appetizers and cocktails on the adjacent patio — and plans to turn this dinner into a year-round celebration.
YOLO, indeed.
If You Go
The Village Feast: 1 to 4 p.m. Sept. 28 at Davis Central Park in Davis. Tickets, which start at $95, are available at https://bayareane.ws/VillageFeast.
Dinner on Main: This year’s event, Sept. 15 in downtown Woodland, has already sold out. Check back at https://woodlandsdinneronmain.org for details on next year’s feast.
Park Winters Farm Dinners: Dates vary. Dinner tickets are $125. Find more information on upcoming dinners (and add your name to the wait list for sold-out dinners) at www.parkwinters.com. Park Winters is located at 27850 County Road 26 in Winters.
Putah Creek Café Pop-Up Dinner: 7 p.m. on the second Wednesday of each month, including Sept. 11 and Oct. 9 at the Putah Creek Cafe at 1 Main St., Winters. Tickets are $75 avia Brown Paper Tickets at https://pccgardendinner.bpt.me.
Georgeanne Brennan is a freelance journalist and author who lives in Northern California.