Synergy is the best word to describe the dynamic Virginia culinary scene as of late, especially when it comes to interplay between restaurants and the booming local beverage industry. See for yourself Oct. 22, when seven of the state’s rising culinary stars team up with five Virginia distilleries for a reception and six-course dinner at Trummer’s on Main in Clifton dubbed a “Salute to Virginia Distilling.”
Stefan Trummer, owner and mixologist of Trummer’s on Main, will kick things off with a cocktail reception highlighting the featured Virginia distillers: James River Distillery, A. Smith Bowman, Copper Fox Distillery, Virginia Distillery Co. and Catoctin Creek Distilling Company. Then, guests will take their seats for a seven-course meal with spirit pairings.
Host chef Austin Fausett will be joined in the kitchen by Joe Sparatta of Heritage in Richmond; Jason Maddens of Clarity in Vienna; Patrick Robinson of Ashby Inn in Paris; Keith Cabot of Evening Star Cafe in Alexandria; Joy Crump of FOODE in Fredericksburg; and Kevin Kelly of Rappahannock River Oyster Co. “I’m really excited to meet Joe Sparatta because I’ve been wanting to do an event together for a long time,” Fausett says. He says the same of Crump, who appeared on “Top Chef,” and Cabot, who recently took the reigns at Evening Star Cafe.
Each chef will be responsible for a dish, which will be paired with a spirit. Menu highlights include:
– Cured venison loin with juniper, persimmon, apple-celery root slaw and celery seed vinaigrette
– Thyme butter-basted scallops with creamy parsnip-leek soup
– Sprouted wheat berries with charred kuri squash, crispy collards, Lindera Farms mulberry vinegar and duck juice
– Collard green gnocchi sardi with guinea hen, cipollini onions, red cabbage and caraway
– BBQ pork cheeks with sweet potato confit and lemon/jicama slaw
– Parsnip and pear cake with roasted parsnip puree, poached pear and fig espuma
Scott and Becky Harris, the husband and wife team behind Catoctin Creek Distilling Company, will use the dinner to showcase two of their lesser-known spirits (as compared to their award-winning Roundstone Rye). “We’ll be highlighting our Watershed Gin and Pearousia,” Scott Harris says. “The Ashby Inn is doing a pear dessert, so our pear brandy was the right fit.”
This is not the first time Trummer’s on Main has played host to a Virginia culinary blowout. Fausett says the “Salute to Virginia Distilling” was inspired by a similar dinner held last October when Virginia chefs recreated the dinner they cooked at the James Beard House in New York.
All proceeds from the event will benefit Farm Aid—an organization supporting family farmers that started as a benefit concert in the 1980s thanks to Willie Nelson, John Mellencamp and Neil Young. Tickets to the dinner are $175 per person inclusive of the cocktail reception, six-course dinner and tax and gratuity. Tickets may be purchased online here.
Laura Hayes hails from Philly (but don’t hold it against her). She’s been covering the local dining scene for three years, and her work has been published in the Washington Post, Food Network, Washington City Paper, Arlington Magazine and more. Having lived in Japan for two years, she finds herself in a constant state of craving sushi. Laura always orders her favorite savory dish again for dessert and keeps her gut in check through lots of CrossFit classes.
