Last Sunday, The Chef and I piled into a minivan with two of my fellow Slow Food St. Louis co-leaders and their spouses and headed to Columbia, MO, for Slow Food Katy Trail and Broadway Brewery’s “Early-Spring Dinner and Beer Tasting,” a celebration of local spring foods to benefit Slow Food Katy Trail’s Slow Food-in-Schools projects.

In a nutshell, this was an amazing dinner … actually, it was one of the best dinners I’ve had in a long time. Aside from the usual suspects (ie, salt, pepper, olive oil) and some papaya used in the glaze for the chicken, the entire meal was made from local ingredients, many from Slow Food St. Louis friend, Walker Claridge, farmer and owner of Terra Bella Farm in Calloway County, owner of local Columbia grocery store The Root Cellar, and part owner of Broadway Brewery.

If he didn’t grow it, Walker sourced the remaining ingredients from other local farms near his own (all within 100 miles, I believe). I apologize for not recalling all of the lovely farms from which each of the ingredients came, but I was too busy gobbling up everything placed in front of me! Oh, the beer pairings? Spot on. I truly enjoyed all of the beers I sampled (my favorite was the Milk Stout).

The photos below don’t do this phenomenal meal justice, but I wanted to share them with you anyway … isn’t it amazing what Missouri has to offer?

THE MENU

Amuse: “Hothouse”

A big, bold, beautiful hothouse tomato with the pepperiest arugula I have ever tasted, topped with a think, lovely elderberry syrup

1st course: “Spring sextet charcuterie platter”

Walker’s delicious handcrafted coppa, soppressata, and chicken liver pâté served with a bold Romano cheese, a vegetable terrine, and Uprise Bakery crostini (Paired with Broadway Brewery’s Nut Brown)

2nd course: “A trio of beautiful babies”

Three baby-lettuce heads (one freckled, one red, and one green) lightly dipped in different dressings and each crowned with its own blend of delicate vegetables, cheese, and/or nuts … and each divine in it’s own right (Paired with Broadway Brewery’s Wheat)

3rd course: “A delectable duo of meats”

A sorghum-glazed baked leg-quarter of chicken shared the plate with herb-encrusted, dry-aged beef, first-of-the-season asparagus, swiss chard, Martin rice with Shitake Sunrise mushrooms, and a grilled spring onion and radish … aside from some chicken bones, there was nothing left on my plate when I finished (Paired with Broadway Brewery’s Porter)

4th course: “The dessert quartet”

A chocolate ganache bite made from Columbia’s own Patric Chocolate, first-of-the-season strawberry shortcake, blueberry compote shortbread, and the most amazing, flavorful mint sorbet (not pictured) … umm, yeah, again, there was nothing left on my plate when I finished (Paired with Broadway Brewery’s Milk Stout)

Here in St. Louis, Walker can be found selling his produce on Wednesdays starting in May at the Maplewood Farmers’ Market; you should definitely stop by and chat him up. But, I highly encourage you to make a trip to Columbia … the menu at Broadway Brewery features many local items and the beer is really good … it’s well worth the time and gas to get there!