7th Annual "Afternoon in the Country"

Today, we went down to Serenbe, for the benefit food/wine/beer festival presented by Les Dames d'Escoffier International.

If you don't know, or haven't gone, Serenbe is a 900 acre live/work/play community about 30 miles south of Atlanta. It is devoted to environmental responsibility. Serenbe itself has 20 acres for its own organic farming; the produce then distributed to its residents and restaurants. Rather than a traditional sewer system, they installed a biological wastewater treatment system. Storm runoff is directed into vegetated filter strips. It's a great example of new urbanism, and residents contributing to conservation and sustainability. So, if we won the lottery, we'd move here. Click here to check out Serenbe.

Anyway, to get back on topic, they host a yearly festival in support of Les Dames d'Escoffier and Georgia Organics. Tickets are pricey, and we had some reservations about spending the money. (But after a hard-earned yard sale weekend, with cash in hand, our walls came down).

For 3 hours, you sample the absolute best dishes from Atlanta's top chefs, as well as a great selection of complementing wines and craft beers.

There is a silent auction of a vast array of items - anything from 1/2 a Berkshire Pig from Riverview Farms to framed art to gift certificates for restaurants to being a cheese monger for-a-day at Sweet Grass Diary. Now, after a couple glasses of wine and beer, you are much more apt to waddle over to the auction boards and put your bid in.

Oh, and there's a cake raffle too. Not just any church-bake-sale cake, we are talking serious perfection here folks. Tall 14 layer cakes, decorated with fresh orchids and shaved chocolates.

Five dollars - and a prayer to the Diety of Dessert - is all it takes to be a potential winner.

We had the pleasure of meeting so many folks behind these great restaurants. It is really unbelievable that the chefs themselves, as famous as they are, come down for this day, completed devoted to their craft and to this organization and festival. One we were shocked to meet: Kevin Rathbun. Genuinely nice guy, obliged to fulfill our foodie desires for a short chat and a picture. And his pastured Asian chicken noodle salad? Like an explosion of textures and spices. Fresh herbs and greens to cool your tongue between bites of spicy tender chicken, all packaged in small Chinese boxes. This man is down to the details, and it clearly shows.

There were more than 60 restaurants and artisan producers/growers to sample. Weaving through the crowd, with wine (or beer for Eric) in hand, we stop at each linen-covered table, and hear the each Chef explain the nuances of their particular dish. Here's a sampling of what we discovered....

• Pork belly sliders from JCT Kitchen
• Butternut squash soup with crispy bacon and chanterelles from Trois
• Sweet potato panna cotta from Woodfire (my favorite!)
• African squash pudding with fall fruit compote from Taurus
• Georgia vegetable gumbo and crispy pork belly from Farm 255
• Suvee duck breast with cinnamon sweet potato souffle from 103 West
• Mini-meatball sandwich from Restaurant Eugene
• Braised short rib with chocolate vinegar on sauteed cabbage from Canoe
• Ham and cheese tortellini from Via Elisa
• Lamb meatball on cheese spaetzel from Five Seasons
• Smoked salmon and capers on homemade corn chip from One Midtown Kitchen
• BBQ chicken deviled egg from The Feed Store
• Lamb fennel sausage on fennel apple slaw from Food Studio
• Beef carpaccio from Strip
• Artisan cheeses from Sweet Grass Diary
• Whole leg of lamp on fresh collards, corn muffin from Farmhouse at Serenbe
• Beers of Munich and Dunkel from Five Seasons -- they even tapped a giant pumpkin, and poured their pumpkin brew through it to enhance its pumpkin-ness.

It's really all overwhelming... the tastes... the textures.... the flavors. You are definitely spinning into a downward food coma by late afternoon.

We are so glad we got this opportunity. And as we waddled back to the car, we discussed our favorites, our surprises, the humble manner and genuine nature of the chefs we met and their dedication to their craft.

And lastly, we had to include a picture of Biscuit, a furry faced foodie, who was probably hoping for any leftover pork belly from a passersby.