Chefs For Farmers started in 2010 as one farm dinner for about a hundred people. This week it takes over Dallas for the 16th time, and the idea hasn’t changed much. Iris Midler founded it, and every chef still gets a stipend from the festival to buy from local farms, then cooks something worth the trip.
This is CraveDFW’s last look before the gates open. If you caught our early bird preview last month, here’s what has firmed up since, and eight chefs to find once you’re inside.
The week opens Wednesday, Nov. 4, with something the festival has never done before. Chefs For Farmers partnered with the James Beard Foundation on a Friends of James Beard Benefit Dinner at Meridian, hosted by chef Eduardo Osorio. The lineup includes Misti Norris of Far Out, Reilly Brown of Frenchie, RJ Yoakum of Sushi Kozy, Jennie Kelley and Brandon Moore of Fond, and Brenda Perez. A portion of the proceeds goes to the foundation.
Thursday night moves to Far Out for Under the Texas Sky, a dinner for American Airlines AAdvantage Mastercard cardmembers. Norris shares the kitchen with Houston’s Evelyn Garcia and Henry Lu of JŪN, this year’s James Beard Award winners for Best Chef: Texas, and Ian Lanphear of Isidore in San Antonio. Both dinners are sold out, so if you’re holding a ticket, you got lucky…