Greer's OC

The Ecology Center, situated on a 28-acre Regenerative Organic Certified™ farm and education center in San Juan Capistrano, has recently unveiled its Fall 2023 Community Table dinner series. Scheduled for every Friday between September 29 and November 3, starting at 6 p.m., these gatherings offer a splendid opportunity for guests to savor a starlit, multicourse dinner in the brisk autumn air. The featured meals are carefully crafted by renowned guest chefs, incorporating ingredients sourced from The Ecology Center's own farm and prepared over an open flame, creating an intimate and communal dining experience.

Each dinner is limited to 72 guests, providing an authentic taste of the farm. Held in an open-air setting with expansive views of the historic agricultural property, Community Table goes beyond the typical culinary event, offering guests a chance to deepen their connection with the community and the land while also gaining valuable education. The evening commences with a happy hour in The Ecology Center's courtyard, followed by storytelling about the farm's mission and a tour. The main event consists of a custom multicourse meal prepared by the region's most renowned chefs, using freshly harvested regenerative organic ingredients from a mere 250 feet away.

Each dinner reflects the chef's unique background and interpretation of the season's array of fall fruits, vegetables, herbs, berries, and flowers. Notable chefs scheduled to host dinners this autumn include:

• Chef Marcelo Hisaki of Restaurante Amores - Friday, September 29
• Chefs Nic Webber and Jacob Jordan of 24 Suns - Friday, October 6
• Chef Camilla Marcus of West Bourne - Friday, October 13
• Chef Danny Romero of Two Ducks - Friday, October 20
• Chefs Colin Whitbread & Cody Requejo of Fiish - Friday, October 27
• Chef Whitney Aronoff - Friday, November 3

Going beyond organic, the ingredients featured in each dinner are also regenerative, aligning with The Ecology Center's principles of agroecology. This approach focuses on soil health, animal welfare, and social fairness, ensuring that farming practices give back more to the earth than they take. The menu for each ecologically chef-designed Community Table dinner is centered around ingredients from four categories of produce grown on the farm, based on the land's four seasonal rotations:

• "Market Garden" includes herbs, vegetables, lettuce, and flowers.
• "Milpa" encompasses corn, heirloom beans, and squash grown on the land.
• "Fruit Forest" includes fruit, seeds, and berries from the farm.
• "Cover Crop" consists of plants that restore nutrients and structure to the soil, such as grains and legumes.

Each dinner is priced at $160 per person and features a fixed-course, family-style menu. The dinners start at 6 p.m. and conclude at 10 p.m. To discover more about the participating chefs and to purchase tickets for upcoming Community Table dinners, please visit TheEcologyCenter.org/Community-Table.

The Ecology Center is also hosting festive parties and private events this holiday season. For inquiries, please contact info@theecologycenter.org. To experience the superior quality of hyper-local ingredients harvested on-site and purchase goods from 100 small artisan makers throughout the region, visit The Ecology Center’s Farm Stand, open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m.