Dining in Paradise

Chefs serve up fresh, organic meals on mystical Paradise Farm

By Danny Brody

Dinners in Paradise feature fresh ingredients grown on the farm.

Paradise Farms owner Gabriele Marewski seemed remarkably serene, considering that one of the two chefs scheduled to cook that particular evening, Alberto Cabrera of Karu&Y, had canceled his participation at Dinner in Paradise, a monthly gathering where local celebrity chefs collaborate with chefs from the Homestead farm on an organic dinner for 60 guests.

Karu&Y had just announced its closing. “Chef Alberto is gathering up all the perishables in order to donate them to Camillus House,” Marewski offered.

The team of four chefs from the Ritz-Carlton Key Biscayne, led by head Chef George Fistrovich, along with farm Chef Christian Urbani, appeared prepared to pick up the slack.

The white-coated chefs moved slowly through the fields, their eyes straining to recognize herbs in their natural environment. “Some lemon verbena for Fred’s dessert?” said Chef Fistrovich, as he cupped the green herb in his hands, deeply breathed in and pulled out a sharp folding knife to cut off some leaves. Fred is Frederic Monnet, who was kneeling on the ground nearby, smelling some mint. “My parents have a farm near Lyon, France, where I grew up,” he said, smiling. “This is normal for me.”

Marewski and Chef Michael Schwartz, who now heads the wildly successful Michael’s Genuine Food & Drink in the Design District, founded Dinner in Paradise three years ago to help Hurricane Katrina victims. In their first year, they raised more than $6,000 for Louisiana’s organic farmers.  Last year, the beneficiary was Earth Learning, a local green organization; this year, it’s TREEmendous Miami. “They grow trees,” Marewski succinctly noted.

Although Schwartz has become much too busy at his restaurant to help out the way he used to, he will be cooking at the March 9 Slow Food Miami dinner, along with Escopazzo Chef Giancarla Bodonis and Chef Mark Zeitouni from The Standard’s Lido Restaurant. The $150-per-person event, which was expanded to 85 guests, has been sold out for months.

“I miss the dinners; they're very special,” Schwartz said. “Of course it makes me feel good to have a busy restaurant, but I always look forward to getting Gabriele’s list of what she is harvesting right at that moment and putting together a menu that includes the freshest ingredients, like pea shoots or grape tomatoes.”

The setting is almost mystical and, in fact, some of the structures, including Marewski’s passively cooled house (there’s no air conditioning), the arbor and gazebo under which the guests eat dinner were designed by local architect Robert Barnes using the principles of “sacred geometry.”

“At Paradise Farms, chaos comes into coherence, and we consecrate the vibration,” Barnes said after consulting a swinging gold amulet to divine “good energy.” “I thank Gabriele for allowing me to do her farm.”

After Marewski rings a country farm bell, a quick tour takes the guests through a maze of “incredible abundance,” where tiny tomatoes have popped up and weeds near trees are pulled by hand. Her purple house, and the nearby sweat lodge and sacred circle, all have “a great aura,” said Melissa Simpson, an administrative manager at Pizza Rustica and a floor manager of the dinners for three years. “I got involved in the first dinner because of Michael Schwartz, and I've worked at every one since.” Although there have been some minor slip-ups, “an event has never gone wrong,” Simpson said.

Perhaps the dozen or more volunteers and the three Cordon Bleu interns are also charmed by the bucolic setting.

Dinner in Paradise draws a mixed crowd — some young, some old, and some who work in the restaurant business, but mostly couples looking for an unusual experience — a meal eaten on the farm where some of the food was actually grown.

“We’re trying to close the loop,” Marewski said. “It’s an opportunity to open our farm for people to get a glimpse of what it takes to farm locally, and maybe inspire them to start a small garden, and then they are one step closer to the ultimate goal — growing their own food.”

Even Schwartz is amazed at the lack of understanding about how food ends up on people’s plates.  “Most people shop at a grocery store, and they don’t get how hard farming food really is,” he said.  “But when they come to Paradise Farms, they get a sense of why it’s important; they appreciate local, fresh food more, and waste less.”

As we sauntered back to the gazebo, passing rare Butea trees — called flames-of-the-forest for their bright orange blossoms — and small pomelo trees with big, heavy fruits lightly swaying in the cool evening breeze, the chefs seemed to have everything under control. The hors d’oeuvres, including a mouthwatering jigger-full of smooth cauliflower cream topped with organic, smoked American caviar and basil oil, and a simple Sun Gold tomato bruschetta, were served with some fruity aperitif wines provided by Homestead’s Schnebley Winery.

After everyone took their seats, the chefs introduced their dishes — six courses, each accompanied by a well-paired glass of wine, starting with the Carambola Paradise Salad, which contained baby brassica greens and edible farm-grown flowers. Incidentally, all of the centerpieces were created using edible flowers, including sweet purple wild petunias. Of the dozens of flowers grown there, most end up in high-end restaurants in the Miami area or are sold in one of the two farmers’ markets that Paradise Farms began participating in this year — Coral Gables on Saturday and Las Olas on Sunday.

The second course was a giant yellow calabasa flower, which tastes much like a zucchini blossom, served with organic eggs, sweet fennel and pink Key West shrimp. Guests stared at the unusual presentation in disbelief. I don’t think anyone had ever seen a flower that big on a plate. This was followed by a small dish of smoky green lentils, with real baby carrots, roasted peppers and wilted greens. All of the plates are relatively delicate — that is to say small; but by the end of the meal, you will have had your fill.

The Line-Caught Wahoo Ceviche arrived next, with whitefish draped over heirloom tomato slices of varying purple, yellow, green and red hues, and surrounded by a chocolatey-looking coulis made from sapote. It was pristine, and its radish mignonette a crunchy, peppery counterpoint.

The fifth course, introduced by Chef Fistrovich, was a Cardoon Potato Ravioli with sea urchin nage, carrot rosemary froth (made with fresh-picked rosemary) and fresh fennel leaves.

“Back in Italy, we would cook all day to make a fish fume, braised at least eight hours, add the cognac, reduce the liquid,” he explained. “Here on the farm, we roast it in the oven.” The cardoon is a rarely seen relative of the artichoke, and its mild bitter taste added another dimension to the sea urchin nage (normally poached and then served in the reduced cooking broth). Each bite of the al dente ravioli was lusty with flavors of both the sea and the earth.

“I cook six nights a week,” said Laurie Borden, a former chef from New Jersey who drove to the Homestead dinner from Boca Raton. “There is a disappointment factor in so many restaurants I go to. There is something about this whole experience that almost makes the food taste better.”

Laura Azzolino and husband Rich, whose family owns the landmark North Beach, San Francisco restaurant Caesar’s, came directly to the farm after a six-hour flight. “It's all so wonderful. You can really taste the difference organic makes,” Laura Azzolino said, as tablemates devoured pastry chef Frederic Monnet’s Red Lady Papaya Bar — a square tier of papaya from the farm accompanied a key lime/banana coconut mousse with a white coconut emulsion, banana compote and caramelized bananas that ripened right there in the gazebo, alongside some Soli organic ice cream and a miniature flourless chocolate cake topped by a crispy cookie. Chef Monnet, whom Chef Fistrovich calls “one of the best pastry chefs in Miami,” stole the show. 

There was applause, then wonder as the sacred bonfire raged on the mystical farm under a sky with abundant stars. Just another meal in Paradise.

Although the March 9 dinner featuring Chef Michael Schwartz is sold out, you can join Table 8’s Govind Armstrong, Casa Tua’s Sergio Sigala, Timo’s Tim Andriola and Touch’s Sean Brasel for Dinner in Paradise on March 23. The dinners cost $150 per person and continue through April. For information and reservations, visit www.paradisefarms.net.

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