Terrina of heirloom tomatoes and watermelon with basil and cucumber
Only 32 hours remain until the start of the 2013 Tomato Dinners at Oliveto!
The menu has more or less been finalized, the kitchen is a hive of activity, flats of tomatoes continue to arrive (TEN CASES of Dirty Girl Produce’s Early Girls!) from around the Bay Area, and just in the nick of time we got a much needed bump in temperatures.
If you’ll recall, last year’s season started out relatively steady but, due to low temperatures, failed to peak as we had predicted forcing us to move the dinners back into September. It’s always a gamble with these dinners, where a change in weather can have a major impact on the quality of tomatoes. We are always aiming to hit it right when the tomatoes are at their peak of ripeness, but truthfully its a bit of a guessing game. So this year, we’re feeling pretty darn lucky.
Right out of the gate, it looked like this year’s tomato season was going to be gangbusters after a number of crazy heat waves hit just as the first tomato plantings were beginning to fruit towards the end of June and beginning of July. Then as July progressed the hot weather started to flag & had us concerned we might be looking at a repeat of last year. But lo & behold! Last week the mercury started to climb again with temperatures hitting close to or above 100 degrees from Lodi to Guinda. More importantly, the tomatoes we are now seeing are actually PERFECT. We could not have scheduled it better.
Reservations are still available! Please join us.
