This year’s Tower Bridge Dinner menu revealed

On the evening of Sunday, Sept. 24, as the sun sets over the Sacramento River, more than 800 people will take their seats at tables running the length of the Tower Bridge for the city’s annual family-style dinner atop the iconic local landmark.

Those who were lucky enough to nab a ticket to the sold-out dinner can expect appetizers, local wine and beer, and a five-course meal that highlights the region’s bounty and will be prepared by some of Sacramento’s top chefs.

Restaurateur Ernesto Delgado—who owns downtown's Mayahuel and La Cosecha, as well as Mesa Mercado in Carmichael's Milagro Centre—is preparing the first course, which consists of his signature chile en nogada with picadillo and walnut crema using nuts from Yuba City’s Stephens Ranch.

For the second course, Kurt Spataro, executive chef of the Paragary Restaurant Group, will serve smoked steelhead trout from Sloughhouse’s Passmore Ranch and Mt. Lassen Trout Farm with crème fraîche, as well as cucumbers and flowering herbs provided by Soil Born Farms.

Casey Shideler, executive chef of Taylor’s Kitchen in Land Park, says she wanted to create a “very bright and beautiful dish” using in-season produce from Riverdog Farm in Capay. Her contribution to the Tower Bridge dinner includes grass-fed rib eye from Richards Ranch with chimichurri, curried turnip purée, pickled onions and sweet peppers, Easter egg radishes and cherry tomatoes.

“We as chefs here in Sacramento have such good relationships with our farmers that they specifically grow things for us that are unique,” Shideler says. “I think it’s unlike anything else in the rest of the country.”

The final course features grilled lamb loin from Dixon’s Emigh Lamb with bronze fennel yogurt prepared by Localis’ executive chef Chris Barnum-Dann, as well as sliced porchetta with late harvest corn and stone fruit gastrique created by Michael Tuohy and Santana Diaz, who run the food and beverage program at Golden 1 Center and will be utilizing ingredients from Oakley’s Dwelley Farms and Newcastle’s Twin Peaks Orchards.

The gala serves as a fundraiser for the free Farm-to-Fork Festival that takes place on Capitol Mall on Sept. 23 and as a culmination of the city’s month-long Farm-to-Fork celebration.

For more information about the event and to view the complete gala dinner menu, visit farmtofork.com.

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