Executive Chef David McClure and the culinary team from Williamsburg’s acclaimed Amber Ox Public House will bring their kitchen to a Charles City working farm for a unique dinner-in-the-pasture experience that is a fundraiser to support Habitat for Humanity Peninsula and Greater Williamsburg.
All 100% of the ticket sales for the Home Grown dinner will support the House That Small Business Built, a Habitat home that, upon completion this fall, will be sold with a zero-interest mortgage to a widowed father of six who lost his wife to cancer in 2020.
The event from 6-9:30 p.m. is set for Wednesday, Oct. 11 at Reckon Acres, which raises its produce hydroponically and its livestock responsibly. This is the first time the 42-acre sustainable farm has opened to the public under the management of owner Chris Cook and his business partner, Andrew Voss.
Reserve tickets for the four-course family-style dinner at homegrown.love. The special dinner features a rustic yet refined menu inspired by the primitive South American asado tradition, known for its open fire cookery of whole animals.
“I don’t know of any other restaurant group or restaurant that has done anything like this dinner in our region,” said Cook, who bought the farm with his wife, Heidi, a year and a half ago. “Being part of this fundraiser, having the potential to raise nearly $40,000 for an incredible organization, a great purpose and a great cause, is awesome for our team.”
Amber Ox sources all of its eggs, its pork and many of its leafy greens and vine vegetables from Reckon Acres. McClure, one of the region’s signature chefs, crafted the themed menu with Cook and Voss, partners of Against the Grain Restaurants. The restaurant and hospitality company located in Williamsburg features five dynamic brands, including Amber Ox and Precarious Beer Project.
“Making any dinner where 100% of the proceeds go toward building a house for a family, being able to cook and do something you love that will end up helping other people, is amazing,” McClure said.
The Home Grown evening will begin with hors d’oeuvres, including blue crab potato causa with salsa Macha, pastrami-cured beef tongue and papa rellena with eggplant tapenade. Dinner will showcase the best of Amber Ox, with fresh vegetables harvested from the farm cooked directly on the embers on the fire, whole King salmon smoked over several hours and entire pigs raised at Reckon Aces for Peril Aji Amarillo Pork Jus. Hazelnut-mint gremolata will bring out the flavors of lamb cooked rotisserie style.
Dessert will be a play on Tres Leches, a sponge cake soaked in three different kinds of milk, all fresh, along with local honey and grilled local apples. Refreshments will range from fall-inspired signature cocktails to Virginia wines to craft beer, including draft offerings from the Precious Beer Project. Find the full menu here.
Every partner presenting Home Grown is donating its goods and services so that all of the money raised will support the home.
The House That Small Business Built, kickstarted by Consociate Media, is one of four Habitat houses being built in Charles City and sold through the Habitat first-time Homebuyer Program.
