Seasonal 56 Restaurant may be located “all the way down” in Langley, but the passion that goes into their cooking is worth the drive down for a visit any day. Earlier this week, my husband and I attended one of their long table dinner events, aptly titled Gumboot Dinner. The name was borne from Susan at Glorious Organics, one of the restaurant’s main suppliers of organic produce.
The concept aims to dig right into the source of your meal, farm-to-table style. The dinner is a wonderful way to learn about organic farming, wines, and how chef Adrian Beaty creates a locally sourced menu for 20 to enjoy.
The event takes place about every six weeks and includes a few of the growers and vintners, adding a nice dimension to dining with a large group. On this particular evening, folks from Six Masters Farm, Glorious Organics, Glen Valley Organics and River’s Bend Winery (all located nearby) were present to both discuss their products and to enjoy the end result.
Six Masters Farm provides chef Adrian Beaty and wife/partner Shannon Beaty with a range of meats and eggs. The concept of humanely handling the animals really makes a difference in the animal’s welfare and ultimately in quality of our food. So many skills of animal husbandry are lost today. Six Masters aims to produce things non-industrially. Their motto is “Fresh from the soil, food for the soul“. Duck, lamb, and pork dishes were served using their organic meats.
[Local cheeses and homemade crackers]
Glen Valley Organics is a cooperatively-owned farm only moments away from the restaurant. A previous farmer was retiring and interested in mentoring new farmers. The current partners have been farming for five years and are looking at developing new projects on the farm. We enjoyed a salad containing Glen Valley’s huge and delicious beefsteak tomatoes.
Susan at Glorious Organics brought her celebration mix greens that I also had the chance to enjoy at the Feast of Fields media preview last month. She gave kudos to both chefs Adrian from Seasonal 56 and Andrea at Bishop’s (in Kitsilano) for being among the most creative Lower Mainland chefs.
[Celebration mix greens atop organic beefsteak tomatoes]
[Salad greens served with beans and smoked bacon]
According to Gary Faessler from River’s Bend Winery, “A winery is probably the most risky business venture that you can possibly get into.” His 78 year old father started River’s Bend from scratch. River’s Bend is spread on 30 acres on the bank of the Serpentine River, located between White Rock, South Surrey, and Cloverdale.
A great BC wine will feature BC’s tender fruit, and should not feel the need to be masked with smoke and mirrors, either by using oak or driving the alcohol content up. It may be in vogue, but it ruins the ripe, clean fruit (with nice acidity) that is produced in BC.
River’s Bend’s Pinot Gris, Viognier, and Merlot/Cabernet varietals were poured during the dinner. The Merlot/Cabernet paired really well with the duck, while the Pinot Gris was a great fit for the fresh cheeses and homemade crackers brought out at the start of dinner.
The not-too-sweet Amber fortified wine followed with our desserts. This after-dinner wine contains flavours of peach and apricots with almond and walnut aromas.
Speaking of desserts, a tantalizing array of four desserts were passed around with coffee, rounding out an engaging evening. Although we didn’t know anyone at the start of dinner, we felt as though we were with a group of old friends around the dinner table by evening’s end.
Seasonal 56 is located in Langley at 26730 56th Avenue. Visit the website for upcoming Gumboot dinners as well as other special events.
We were guests of Seasonal 56 for the purpose of experiencing their Gumboot Dinner for this feature.