Culinary Paradise
Organic Dinners Aid Farm Community

“Eating great foods and drinking fine wines under the moon in the middle of winter is what living in South Florida is all about.”

Dinner in Paradise Photo by Ian Maguire

By Mark Goldberg

Paradise Farms has no pigs or chickens, no cows or horses and not a barn or silo in sight. What Gabrielle Marewski’s farm has is symmetry, sacred geometry and healthy, energizing organic fruits and vegetables. Paradise Farms is a five-acre certified organic farm deep in Homestead where approximately 20 of our most notable chefs get their greens, heirloom tomatoes, avocadoes and edible flowers, to name a few items.

Last year, following our multitude of hurricanes, Marewski got together with Chef Michael Schwartz (of Nemo, afterglo and now the soon-to-open Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink) to organize a charity-driven, multi-course farmers dinner to aid the farmers on Florida’s west coast who were devastated by Katrina. It expanded into a six-dinner season, where diners could enjoy a special evening featuring three noted local chefs — different each session — for an intimate, up-close evening. The event was called Dinners In Paradise and, as Marewski described, “In addition to raising money for a great cause, we truly gave local gourmets a once-in-a-lifetime dining experience. Eating great foods and drinking fine wines under the moon in the middle of winter is what living in South Florida is all about.”

This year, thankfully, there were no major storms. But that hasn’t stopped Marewski and Schwartz from continuing the tradition. The first of six new sessions began Dec. 3, featuring Allen Susser of Chef Allen’s, Thomas Azur of Emeril’s and Marc Ehrler of Loews Hotel. Each of the chefs created two of the six courses, all of which used local and organic ingredients. And, without farm devastation, this year’s monies will go toward Earth Learning — a charity dedicated to sustainable organic foods — and toward scholarships for students at Le Cordon Bleu.

The evening began with some sweet tropical fruit wines from neighboring Schnebly vineyards and sweeter macaroon hors d’oeuvres with tomato, cream cheese and smoked salmon, and bleu cheese and pecan centers. Then drier Schnebly wines were poured and we started a tour of Paradise Farms.

As mentioned, the farm is designed on sacred geometry; the golden mean, which is based on a numerical sequence. Marewski says, “It’s all about vibration and healing in nature’s energy.” They harvest nonstop because plants have the most nutritional value in their first 10 days of life. And that makes it high-energy food. Being certified organic, the farm is inspected annually. They do things to sustain and build up the soil, like composting all waste and using lots of mulch. They hand-weed and use no pesticides, which is why some fire ants abruptly ended our tour.

Dinner was served in an open-air gazebo to about 50 guests each paying $150. Chef Marc Ehrler mentioned that so many restaurants are doing tuna tartare these days that he thought a mock tartare featuring an organic port wine poached pear, beautifully resembling the tartare would be a good starter. It was perfect.

From there we enjoyed baby brassica — a variety of wild greens — and edible flowers, all from the farm, sharing the plate with Asian turnips in a Satsuma mandarin citrus vinaigrette and aged goat cheese. A favorite was the wild, head-on Florida shrimp glazed with garlicky guava sauce, served with roasted eggplant, wilted mustard greens and toasted couscous. The seared local pompano was delicious, although the gnocchi in sweet tomato/basil sauce were a bit heavy. The pre-dessert chilled lychee sangria with whipped mascarpone was a charmer and the organic banana cream pie with caramel sauce and chocolate shavings sent everyone home happy.

The next dinner is scheduled for Jan. 14 and will feature Michael Schwartz and Alberto Cabrera from Karu & Y. Future dinners and chefs are Feb. 11 (Clay Conley of Azul, Sergio Sigala of Casa Tua and Mark Zeitouni of The Standard); March 11 (Kira Volz of Creek 28, Maria Frumkin of Duo and Sandee Birdsong of Tantra and afterglo); April 1 (Tim Andriola of Timo, Sean Brasel of Touch and Michael Bloise of Wish); April 22 (Giancarla Bodoni of Escopazzo, Larry LaValley of Mark’s South Beach and Jason Schneider of Bizcaya at the Ritz-Carlton Coconut Grove).

Dinners through March begin at 5 p.m. The April dinners begin at 6 p.m., owing to Daylight Savings Time. Paradise Farms is located at 1980 SW 320 St., Homestead. Each dinner is priced at $150 per person plus tax and gratuity. You can make a reservation for any of the five remaining dinners by calling 305-573-5550. Visit online at www.paradisefarms.net.

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