Tomato By Design
What a perfect warm summer evening to stroll amongst the tomato vineyards of Gott’s secret garden. Tonight a small handful of bloggers, myself included, are invited to partake in a delightful tomato orgy feast. Gott’s Roadside executive chef, Rick Robinson, prepares a slew of delectable, tomato focused dishes. Beginning with a gazpacho soup, we travel on to a panzanella and then a tomato, zucchini, and chevre tart. And then there is a junk food surprise (not on the menu). “It’s hard to find good, cheap white bread out here” Rick says with a little Southern drawl. He reaches into a box of ice fishing through bottles of Schramsburg champagne and pulls out a huge bottle of Dukes Mayonnaise. Huh?! A North Carolina native, Rick wanted to share a taste of the South with us. A good old Southern Sandwich recipe: white bread (he uses Wonderbread)-beef steak tomato- mayonnaise- and lots of salt and pepper. “It’s transcendent”, says the man who previously spoke to us about the finer attributes of poke.
The night ends with dripping ice cream, a full moon casting dappled light through two hundred year old oak tree branches and the low holler of the wine train whistling by. There is no other place I would rather be than here, a private dinner party at Gott’s Roadside, toasting wine with some of Napa’s best (you know who you are).
Below photos by Ashly teplin.
Executive chef Rick Robinson.
Tomato color inspired design.Scandinavian interiors, photos by Indra Fortney.
The real ‘Mccoy’ flickr
For more spicy literature on tomato’s check out these local blogs
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