Heirloom Tomato Festival Review

If the organizers of the 13th annual Kendall-Jackson Heirloom Tomato Festival were looking for a slogan for their event, one happy guest trolling the food booths at Saturday’s gala was overheard offering up a pretty good contender.

“Eat until you can’t breathe; drink until you can’t walk.”

Certainly, both goals were easily achievable, as long as the eating appetites were appeased by a singular food: tomatoes, and the drinking desires by a singular wine: Kendall-Jackson.

Thanks to the creative efforts of nearly 50 of Sonoma’s top chefs, and the generous pours of a lot of the very good wine, the mission was accomplished by the hundreds of guests lolling on the grass toward event’s end, listening to live music and soaking up the sun that peeked through dissipating thunderclouds.

Still, it was serious stuff: Each chef competed to woo the most votes as they presented recipes centered around the more than 175 varieties of heirloom tomatoes that are grown in every size, shape and color imaginable in the culinary garden of K-J’s Wine Center in Santa Rosa.

Certainly the cooks had a delicious portfolio of fruit with which to inspire. With names ranging from elegant (Brandywine, Blue Fruit) to precious (God Love, Peace Vine) to bizarre (Ding Wall Scotty, Mortgage Lifter, Olga’s Round Yellow Chicken, Pink Ping Pong), the tomatoes offer a virtual candy box of ravishing flavors and textures.

That meant tasty takes like Kendall-Jackson’s gazpacho shots of green tomato and cucumber with lemon verbena-infused olive oil; the almond macarons with tomato jam from Chloe’s; and the Zinfandel barbecue pulled pork in spinach wrap with heirloom tomato cheese spread and yellow tomato aioli from Cloverdale’s Zinful Chef.

The Brasserie Hyatt went big, sending out hunks of seared ahi on grilled Costeaux bread decorated with chopped heirloom tomato, wasabi aioli and microgreens, while Cutie Cakes went small, tempting with positively tiny (and positively delicious) tomato cupcakes topped with miniature whole gold tomatoes.

The lines for tacos at Vero’s Kitchen and for gelato at Fiorello’s were too daunting for some guests to maneuver, but Bistro des Copains did quick turnover handing out their silky heirloom tomato terrine over sun-dried tomato chips and arugula. Equus of Fountaingrove Inn lured with its braised Moroccan lamb with tomato chutney, and Hana Japanese put out a ravishing, spicy tuna poke with chopped tomatoes.

So fiery was Sea Thai’s roast tomato soup with Dungeness crab jus and spicy tomato salsa, though, that one guest chewed on her napkin trying to quell the flames (she was grinning while she gnawed).

It can be hard to cook with tomatoes, apparently. Enough chefs played it safe with their recipes that one guest whimpered, “How many gazpachos do you need — certainly not this many.” Yet then she stepped up to Mosaic’s booth, where chef Tai Olesky was offering “macho gazpacho” — each cup boosted with a generous shot of vodka. “Helloooo,” she said gleefully, slurping it down.

Other guests, meanwhile, were wondering, how creative is too creative, as they contemplated Madrona Manor’s “nitro caprese” of frozen tomato “gravel,” mozzarella froth, Madrona basil fino and EVOO (picture extraordinarily salty tomato-flavored dry ice). Said chef Jesse Mallgren, “The point is to have fun and hopefully have it still taste good.”

One delightful dish was a classic: Rocker Oysterfeller’s set-up of Little Farms yellow Brandywine grilled cheese with Valley Ford Estero Gold cheese and purple Cherokee tomato jam. Another dish deserves to be: John Ash & Co.’s stunning cherry tomato and basil upside down cake slathered with Kendall Farms crème fraiche infused with preserved lemon and sprinkled in vanilla salt.

Ultimately, the People’s Choice prize went to Pazzo of Petaluma, for its silky tomato-lobster bisque, while the Critic’s Choice honors were bestowed on the barbecued oysters with heirloom tomato relish from Nick’s Cove in Tomales Bay.

Yet perhaps the toughest critic of them all was a toddler in attendance, who, as the party began to wrap up, watched sadly as his coveted dish was packed up and put away.

“Mine!” he shrieked, pointing at the Sea Thai booth — head-over-heels for, no, not a tomato, but an enormous coconut used as table décor.

Details: www.kj.com/events/tomato-festival/