An evening on the Hollygrove Farm... E-I-E-I-O!

Written by Meghan Jones | Thursday, 30 July 2009 08:37

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Old MacDonald may have had a farm, but there's no way it couldn't hold a candle to our Hollygrove. I mean, sure, his had tons of noisy animals and quite the catchy jingle, but did he ever have anything like Tuesday night's "Evening on the Farm" benefit? I think not.

The aptly named Hollygrove Market & Farm is located in a sunny yellow house in the Hollygrove neighborhood, a few blocks behind the big, white post office building on Carrollton near Earhart. Most of the property around the house has been turned into beds, currently growing thyme, okra, cayenne peppers, melons and rows-upon-rows of black-eyed Susans! Even though the farm is very much in the middle of town, last night's event, with its fresh flowers in Mason jars and cute little kids (and chickens!) running around with muddy feet, felt much more like a country affair. Except for the fancy food...

Some of the best chefs in the city were underneath that striped food tent, serving up dishes made with Hollygrove produce to about 300 hungry patrons. Right when we walked in, we snagged some of Mia Calamia's blueberry buckle. She's the genius pastry chef at Patois, and it was a good thing we ate dessert first: it was long gone well before the night was over.

Herbsaint and Cochon were there, doing what they do best: roasting a whole pig and serving it up with all kinds of sauces and trimmings. Chef Donald Link was manning the roasting station behind the table, and they even had

some homemade cracklins from the pig skin!

Boucherie brought along their famous purple truck, and some rice and boudin cakes that they topped off with a local bean salad. They also had the most incredible chevre-sage cornbread that I have ever had the pleasure of eating. I think that was my favorite part of the entire night; studded with chunks of melty goat cheese (a theme of the evening), that cornbread actually melted in my mouth.

Bayona had a lamb meatball served with more goat cheese (gosh, I love goat cheese), a black olive sauce and some farm-fresh cherry tomatoes. At the table next door, MiLa had some yummy scallop puffs with an orange-chili vinaigrette. At first I wasn't too sure how I felt about puffed seafood, but one little bite made me a convert.

Lest you think Hollygrove's benefit only fed carnivores, let me tell you about some of the delicious veggie options. Cafe Degas had a huge salad bowl full of lettuces from the farm topped off with plums, goat cheese (three cheers!) and a vanilla vinaigrette. Dan Esses, who's quickly becoming famous for his handmade pasta, was serving wild mushroom canneloni.

Last but not least, the guys from Huevos cooked up a humongous pot of vegetarian jambalaya chock-full of veggies from the farm, and it was delicious. They'll be opening up a new restaurant right next door come September, called Crescent Pie & Sausage Company, and judging from the menu they had out last night, you're going to want to eat their pizzas. All the time.

All that eating makes a girl thirsty, but we were in luck. Not only was NOLA Brewing Co. there with their Blonde and their Brown ales, but a lot of the restaurants were also pouring seasonal cocktails to go with their food.

Herbsaint offered a cleverly-named Little Miss Piggy cocktail to go with their pork, and Patois' chef-owner Aaron Burgau was pouring watermelon-huckleberry-blueberry drinks topped off with True Vodka. It was summer through a straw. Bayona had a cooler full of shaved ice to serve up cucumber juleps, and Old New Orleans Rum had cocktails made with their new, spicy ginger beer. Huevos had libations for the non-drinkers in the form of blueberry-plum frescas mixed with club soda. Yum!

The lovely summer evening was topped off with a silent auction - for items like an autographed copy of Susan Spicer's "Crescent City Cooking," a gift certificate to Cafe Degas and a basket full of Louisiana spices and kitchen items - and John Lisi & Delta Funk provided dancing music. Oh, and of course, La Divina was there to sweeten the evening with two different kinds of heirloom melon sorbetto.

If you want to support Hollygrove but couldn't make it on Tuesday, you should definitely stop by their Saturday market day. Every Saturday from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., you get a boxful of fresh, seasonal produce, most of which is from local farmers. Sometimes they'll throw a recipe or two in, too, and the whole thing is only $25. Really, what's better than that!?

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written by ElisaCHERRY26, May 25, 2010

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