I was invited to attend a celebration of heirloom tomatoes at the Cedarbrook Lodge over the weekend.  They said heirloom tomatoes and I was there but they added a lot more to the lineup to solidify yet another amazing experience at the Cedarbrook Lodge (click).

A list of amazing restaurants:

• Chef William Belickis, Mistral Kitchen
• Chef Mark Bodinet, Cedarbrook Lodge
• Chef Christine Keff, Flying Fish
• Chef Bobby Moore, Barking Frog (Willows Lodge)
• Chef Jason Wilson, Crush
• Chef Michael A. Young, Olives Café Wine Bar
• Chef Paul Bosch, The Resort at The Mountain
• Chef Gabriel Claycamp, Alchemy Meats
• Chef Dalis Chea, Herban Feast & Fresh Bistro
• Chefs John & Chris Hussey, Private Chefs (Soap Lake, Wash.)
• Bernie & Delia Flores, Salsa Champ

A list of amazing wineries and brewers:

• Left Coast Cellars
• White Heron Cellars
• Chatter Creek Winery
• Wineglass Cellars
• Tertulia Cellars
• The Pike Brewing Company
• Maritime Pacific Brewery

And live music by:

• Black Lab Trio
• First Circle

Uh, that’s a big time event….I have to go!  So I packed my camera and my stomach and raced around for an hour before I had to go to work.  I would have loved to stay longer but that whole work thing….paycheck thing….yeah

I knew there were a lot of different varieties of heirloom tomatoes but seeing them up close and personal is a little staggering. They set up a tasting and viewing table so each attendee could try the tomatoes….see for yourself!

I showed the video to Mindy and I saw the amazement in her eyes. I think this will raise the bar for her farm next year……MORE TOMATOES!

The restaurants and chefs that were there were featuring lovely tomato dishes using these fabulous tomatoes.  I had the pleasure of trying these myself and let me just say they were all fantastic.  I grew up not liking tomatoes because they were the run of the mill red beefsteak tomatoes that had no flavor or excitement. Over the last few years I have been searching for a way for tomatoes to redeem themselves. Tomatoes, you are redeemed and you have the chefs at Tomatofare to thank for this.

Mistral Kitchen:

The shot glass has tomato water in it with little crunchy pieces of bread. Absolute genius.  Totally stealing that!!

Cedarbrook Lodge:

I kept waiting for the chef assistant to walk away from the table so I could have just grabbed the entire pie. It was really good. Great job Chef Bodinet (pictured below)!

Fresh Bistro (CHEF DALIS CHEA (not pictured)!!!!!! One of the nicest guys I’ve ever met.  Fresh Bistro is one of my regular hang-out spots. Love that place! Best brunch dish I’ve ever had…Loco Moco.)

Olives Cafe and Wine Bar:

I’ve never heard of this place but after this showing it’s a definite must visit restaurant.  They’re located in Edmonds (thanks for the correction Carolyn). I ate three of these……

The Barking Frog:

It was hard to eat this because it looked so pretty.  I just wanted to stare at it for a while but not in a creepy way…… It was verrrrrryyyy good.

The Resort at the Mountain:

This dish helps my a.d.d. I can do two things with one dish! Cool! Eat and drink! It was simple and tasty.

Alchemy Meats:

I’ve said it on this blog a few times. I’m a huge fan of Chef Claycamp.  He brought us The Swinery, Culinary Communion, and gypsy dinners.  It was very cool to see him at this event serving up a panzanella salad. Good luck with your new venture chef!

Crush:

Jason Wilson is on fire right now.  The James Beard award winner for best chef in the Northwest. He showed up ready to rock with his tomato dish.   Loved the pesto foam!

Finally, I’ll leave you with a picture of the one of the coolest chefs I’ve ever met.  Chef Breiman is the culinary director for the Cedarbrook Lodge and has put a lot of time and passion into turning the Cedarbrook Lodge into a top destination resort in the Northwest.  Everytime I talk to him I am excited to hear what he has to say and it was very nice of him to take a little time to show me around the event as well as introduce me to his wife, Mrs. Tomatofare

Thanks again to everyone at the Cedarbrook Lodge as wel as all the other chefs, restaurants, wineries, and bands in attendance!

Eric