Outstanding in the Field

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Outstanding in the Field

We are Outstanding in the Field: bringing the table to the farm—dining at the source of our food.

Our mission 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. 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.

09/03/2026

We set our table amid the rolling vistas of Hilltop Hanover Farm August 30th, 2026 for a celebration of Westchester’s agricultural roots. Owned by Westchester County, the 52-acre environmental center is a working farm devoted to sustainable agriculture, environmental stewardship, community education, and a locally accessible food system through its farm stand and CSA program.

As its name suggests, the farm offers spectacular views, on our last visit, the skyscrapers of Manhattan, more than 40 miles away, could be seen from the table.

The Stissing House team brought the height of summer through, from Jake’s Gouda cheese puffs and hand-chopped Montauk tuna to Hilltop Hanover Farm tomatoes and Steelbow Farm squash stewed with Ardith Mae goat cheese. Osmote Duroc and Ibérico pork, grilled with Hilltop Hanover peppers and Wild Hive Farm grits, led into a Farm To People peach and Greig Farm raspberry trifle to close the night.

photos by claire ciccarone

host farmer
Adam Choper |
Hilltop Hanover Farm & Environmental Center, Yorktown Heights, NY

guest chef
Clare De Boer | Stissing House
Stissing House, Pine Plains, NY

guest winemaker
Benjamin Riccardi | Osmote
Osmote Wine

guest brewery
Lasting Joy Brewery | Lasting Joy Brewery

guest beverage producer
Mountain Valley Spring Water | Mountain Valley Water

guest produce partner
Farm To People | Farm To People | Food Delivery

09/02/2026

We returned to The Hickories August 29th, 2026 to set the long table once again, and dare we say, the first signs of fall? The weather was immaculate, and the season felt like it was just beginning to turn.

The Hickories might be our favorite farm tour. Every year we think of more questions to ask Farmer Dina and the farm crew, and every year our curiosity is rewarded anew. So much to learn, a meal goes down well when there’s food for thought.

This year we finally sat down with Dina to get nostalgic about the past 13 years of doing this event together, though she challenged Jim on the count, insisting it’s been even longer. We’ll let the history books (or Dina) settle that one.

Benjamin and The Farmers’ Feast team brought the season through in every course, house-cured trout on Lightforce Bakery bread, marinated beets with preserved Love Apple Farm peaches, a duo di pollo with eggplant caponata, closing it all out with a Lightforce Bakery & Love Apple Farm apple strudel, a fitting nod to their own orchard back home. Guests brought home a little piece of that harvest before the night was through.

And if you haven’t stopped by Dina’s farm store yet, add it to the list, it’s full of the same care and character that makes the whole farm special.

photos by claire ciccarone

host farmer
Dina Brewster | The Hickories
The Hickories, Ridgefield, CT

guest chef
Benjamin Bruckenthal |
The Farmers’ Feast Inc.

guest winery
Louisiane Remy & César Vega | Barbichette Wines
Barbichette

guest brewery
Nod Hill Brewery | Nod Hill Brewery

guest water producer
Mountain Valley Spring Water | Mountain Valley Water

08/30/2026

Farmer Feature No. 002

Meet Mark DeRespinis of Esoterra Culinary Garden, a “culinary grower” whose 4 acres of no-till, biointensive beds in Boulder’s Shields Valley are a master class in diversity. Alongside 3 acres of perennials, Mark grows over 300 species of edible leaves, shoots, roots, and fruits. His work with rare varieties is sourced from breeders and seed keepers devoted to flavor and nutrient density.

His unwavering focus on soil and ecosystem health shows up on the plate in the produce with a vitality you can taste. Esoterra now supplies close to 50 restaurants across Colorado, and Mark is always looking ahead to what’s next in the garden.

Last month, we set our long table right at the edge of his rows, the heart of relating, as he’d put it, between grower, land, and guest. 🌿

video by claire ciccarone

08/29/2026

At our recent dinner at Storm King Art Center, the fire did more than cook the meal. With its minimal, modular design, Vuuris became part of the landscape.

Our guest chefs cooked directly over the open flame, grates hot, fire steady. Once the meal was plated and the last course cleared, the Vuuris shifted shape and purpose. Reconfigured as sculptural centerpieces, they drew guests together as the evening cooled. A single design, multiple moments: moving naturally from culinary tool to design object to gathering place.

photos by claire ciccarone

08/28/2026

We returned to the storied grounds of Storm King Art Center, setting our iconic table in the company of massive sculptures amid acres of manicured meadow and forested woodland. Following a reception on a hilltop overlooking the art installations, guests strolled down to the table below.

Chef Rafiq Salim of Ridgewood’s Rolo’s brought his mastery of the wood-fired hearth to the field kitchen among the sculptures, a StarChefs New York Rising Star and this year’s James Beard semifinalist for Best Chef: New York State. He joined us last year for a memorably windy event on Governors Island, and we love a chef who’s up for a little adventure.

The table moved from tostadas and frittata through tuna tataki and chili shrimp, to grilled pork with plums, closing with a strawberry oat crisp, a menu marking the close of a Hudson Valley summer.

Photos by claire ciccarone

host museum Storm King Art Center | Storm King Art Center New Windsor, NY

guest chef Rafiq Salim | Rolo’s Rolo’s, Ridgewood, NY

guest winemaker Benjamin Riccardi | Osmote Osmote Wine, Burdett, NY

guest distillery Condesa Gin | Condesa Gin Mexico City, MX

special thanks Vuuris | Vuuris Brooklyn, NY

artist credits
Lynda Benglis, North South East West, 1988/2009/2014–15 © 2026 Lynda Benglis / Licensed by VAGA at Artists Rights Society (ARS), NY
Columns of Danskammer, circa 1834
Sarah Sze, Fallen Sky 2021
Mark di Suvero, Mother Peace 1969-70
Arlene Shechet, Bea Blue, 2024
Mark di Suvero, E=MC2 , 1996-97
Saif Azzuz, weych-pues / tàkhòne (where the rivers meet), 2026
Joel Shapiro, Untitled, 1994 © 2026 Joel Shapiro / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

08/27/2026

Verrill Farm | August 23, 2026 | Concord, MA

More than a decade after our first visit in 2013, we returned to Verrill Farm, a 100-year-old property where farming has always meant adapting. What began as a dairy in 1918 shifted to produce in 1990 as pressure mounted on the dairy industry, and today the farm holds 100 acres of prime farmland alongside 100 acres of wildlife habitat, woodland, and wetland. Farmer Steve’s daughter Jennifer now oversees much of the operation, including a bakery that sends nearly 4,000 pies out the door each Thanksgiving — while Nadyson Damata, who started on the farm team in 2012, stepped into the role of Farm Manager just last year.

Chef Erin Miller of Cambridge’s Urban Hearth made the trip back to the source. Trained under Dan Barber at Blue Hill, Erin’s menus have always carried that same philosophy, honoring the producer behind every ingredient. Verrill Farm was her choice for where to cook. It’s great to be back.

The table moved from sweet corn arancini and tandoori-spiced broccoli through a grilled melon salad and a sweet corn risotto with lobster, to a yogurt-marinated chicken with n’duja, closing with a chamomile citrus icebox cake and local peaches and blueberries, a menu built entirely on the rhythm of a New England harvest.

Photography by claire ciccarone

host farmers Steve Verrill, Jen Verrill & Nadyson Damata Verrill Farm | Verrill Farm Concord, MA

guest chef Erin Miller Urban Hearth | Erin Miller Urban Hearth Cambridge, MA

guest wine Oscar Hernandez Olmstead Wine Co. | Olmstead Wine Co. Boston, MA

guest brewery Notch Brewing | Notch Brewing Salem, MA

guest water producer
Mountain Valley Spring Water | Mountain Valley Water

08/25/2026

We believe a meal has always been about more than food, it's where people find each other.

Our private events team carries that same spirit into life's biggest moments: a wedding beneath open sky, surrounded by the people who matter most. A brand activation built to launch something new. A corporate gathering designed to bring a team, a client, or a cause together at the long table.

Every event we create is an invitation, to taste, to wander, to connect. Through cuisine rooted in place, culture worth savoring, and community that lasts long after the last course.

Link in bio to start planning your event.

08/24/2026

Stone Acres Farm | August 21, 2026 | Stonington, CT

Our founder met farmer Dan Meiser at an Outstanding In The Field event back in 2021, and swung by Stone Acres the very next day. One look at the 200-year-old estate, its orchards, greenhouses, and ornamental gardens tucked behind a pristinely preserved manor house, and he knew we had to bring the table here.

Chef Reneé Touponce of Oyster Club has her own history with this ground, Stone Acres has supplied her kitchen for years, so her menu was really just an extension of a relationship already years in the making. She’s earned a standing ovation at OITF before, and this encore was no exception.

The table moved from oysters and clam casino through a watermelon soaked in peach kombucha, past a chilled lobster tail with ‘nduja butter, to a smoked tuna toro brisket finished with wood-fired peaches — Connecticut’s coast and Stone Acres’ own harvest, traced across every course.

An evening built on a chance encounter, two hundred years of ground, and a chef who never stops impressing.

Photos by claire ciccarone

host farmers Will Conway, Pete Higgins & Hannah Estabrooks Stone Acres Farm | Stone Acres Stonington, CT

guest chef Reneé Touponce Oyster Club | Oyster Club Mystic, CT

guest wineries Ravines Wine Cellars | Ravines Wine Cellars Geneva, NY
Hermann J Wiemer Vineyard | Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard Dundee, NY

guest brewery New Park Brewing | New Park Brewing West Hartford, CT

08/22/2026

Provincetown Pier • Provincetown, MA • August 18, 2026

Salt air, harbor views, and a table full of familiar faces, Provincetown delivered again this year.

Host farmers Kalliope and Mike Chute of Mermaid Menu worked the historic oyster and shellfish flats in Provincetown harbor to bring the table its oysters, joined by Dale Gorman of Sandy Bottom Oysters, whose harvest doubles as a filter for the very harbor it comes from

Guest chef Katherine Dufault of The Canteen brought her seafood-shack sensibility to the outdoor kitchen, with Clos du Val pouring alongside. Grateful to this stretch of the Cape and everyone who came out to sit with us.

photos by claire ciccarone

host farmers
Kalliope and Mike Chute | Kalliope Erin Chute
Mermaid Menu, Provincetown, MA

additional oyster farmer
Dale Gorman | Sandy Bottom Oysters
Sandy Bottom Oysters, Provincetown, MA

guest chef
Katherine Dufault | The Canteen
The Canteen, Provincetown, MA

guest winery
Clos du Val | Clos du Val Wine Co.

Address

New Orleans, LA

Website

http://outstandinginthefield.com/, http://outstandinginthefield.com/contact-us, https://shop.outstandinginthefield.com/c

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