Menu
We are excited to welcome you to our Community Table throughout the fall. This beloved event brings a renowned chef to our farm to design an ecological meal around our four seasonal rotations (market garden, milpa, fruit forest, cover crops) highlighting the bioregional cuisine of San Juan. By bringing these culinary artists back to the source, they have the chance to connect with new ingredients, unearth fresh inspiration in our bioregion’s historic foodways, and discover the rewards of relationship with the land.
“My life is an open cookbook, and I am inspired everyday by the abundance that Mother Earth supplies for us. Eat with love and respect for her and know that every dollar you spend on food can enrich our earth.”
Chef Cathy is committed to cultivating a regenerative food culture and encouraging people to cook with abundant love and respect for the earth. She connects chefs, butchers, ranchers, and farmers in the effort to reach the larger community of home cooks. Cathy was raised in northern California and her connection to the Slow Food Movement began as a small child. Later on in life, she was introduced to Alice Waters and found her life’s calling the moment she stepped into the Chez Panisse kitchen. Cathy graduated from U.C. Davis intended on pursuing a criminal law career but her passion for cooking led her to the kitchen thus “What A Dish” catering was born.
Her boutique catering company and café never strayed from local sourcing which led to her relationship with The Ecology Center. She is honored to be a Community Accord Chef. Chef Cathy, along with other like minded chefs from Orange County, make a commitment to source local, whole foods within a 250-mile radius of the San Juan Capistrano organic farm. This departure from standard restaurant sourcing practices has led to a network of ranchers, farmers and other food artisans who are committed to regenerative agriculture and sustaining our Earth. She was the founding executive chef for Model Meals, a food delivery company embracing the “Whole 30” lifestyle. She was the consulting executive chef for Eilo’s Kitchen, working with founder Aileen Kruidenier to bring whole foods to guests with AutoImmune Issues. Her latest project includes Kitchen 415 guided by using “food and education to disrupt and rebuild current commercial and home food practices”.
FAQ
DIETARY PREFERENCES
Community Table dinners are fixed course, family-style meals. As such, we cannot accommodate every dietary restriction. Please email us with any dietary needs. We will try to accommodate for vegetarian/vegan needs, gluten intolerance, and seafood/shellfish allergies but let us know if there are any specific dietary restrictions for any of your guests. We will do our best to accommodate anything beyond the 3 listed. If there are any life threatening allergies we recommend emailing before purchasing tickets.
SCHEDULE
Community Table Dinners begin at 6pm, when we’ll start with drinks and a farm tour. We appreciate timeliness as the dinner is coursed intentionally with just one seating. Dinners typically end around 10pm.
REFUNDS
We can offer refunds up to one week before the dinner. In the case that you need to cancel last minute, we would be happy to work with you to pass along your tickets to friends or family members.
MEMBERSHIP
If you are an active member of The Ecology Center, thank you so much for your support! As a token of our appreciation, we are pleased to offer you exclusive ticket pricing. If you are not yet a member but wish to take advantage of the discount, please visit our SUPPORT page to become a member today. If you’re unsure of your membership status, feel free to reach out to us at [email protected], and we’ll be happy to assis
