50miles from field,
forest and sea
Foraged dinners · Big Sur, California
Dinner from what the land had that morning.
Delia Rook walks the ridge and the tide line at dawn, cooks everything over one oak fire in a meadow above the fog, and seats you at one long table to eat it. Nothing on the plate comes from farther than fifty miles, and the menu tells you how far each thing came.
- 6courses, all over the fire
- 12–24guests at one table
- $225a guest, all in
- 27 miaverage, last Saturday’s plates
The fifty miles
Every plate, and how far it came.
Last Saturday’s dinner for twenty-two, mapped from the fire. Miles by road or trail, the way Delia drove or walked them that week.
- ✶Oak and bay laurelThe meadow itself0
- 1ChanterellesUnder the live oaks on the ridge3
- 2Mussels, sea lettuceGull Rock, at low tide6
- 3Sea saltBoiled down from Pebble Cove9
- 4Leeks, chicories, eggsLone Pine Farm18
- 5HoneyThe hives at Sycamore Flat22
- 6RockfishOff the boats at Monterey31
- 7ApplesAn old orchard in Carmel Valley34
- 8LambHalvorsen Ranch, upper Carmel Valley42
- 9Cream, butterTwo Creeks Dairy, Salinas Valley47
FieldForestSea
Three ways to sit at the fire
Book the whole table. It’s yours for the night.
There are no tickets and no strangers. Every dinner is one party’s, and every price includes the cooking, the service and the clean-up.
-
The meadow table$225 a guest
Our fire, our meadow, your whole table
A meadow on Lazaro Ridge, nine hundred feet above the fog. Book the whole table for a birthday, a rehearsal dinner or a team that deserves better than a hotel ballroom: the walk up, six courses and the fire.
- 12 to 24 guests
- Saturdays and Sundays, April to December
- Blankets, lanterns and a barn roof if it rains
-
Your land, our fire$195 a guest
The same six courses, at your place
We bring the iron fire ring, the grate and the oak to your land in Big Sur, the Carmel Highlands or Carmel Valley. The fire leaves a dark patch the first rain takes, and nothing else.
- 10 to 40 guests
- Fire ring and county permit handled
- Table, linens and lanterns, $18 a guest
-
Forage & fire lunch$140 a guest
Pick it in the morning, eat it at noon
Two hours on the ridge and the tide line with Delia and a basket each, then lunch over the coals from what you found. Small, muddy, and the best way to understand the dinners.
- 6 to 10 guests
- Sundays, 9 AM to 2 PM, all year
- Boots on; baskets and knives lent
A fire dinner, start to finish
From the tide line to the embers.
- 6:40 AMLow tide
Delia is on the rocks below Gull Rock with a canvas bag and a tide table. Mussels in the open months, November to April; sea lettuce all year.
- 10:00 AMThe ridge
Chanterelles under the live oaks after the first rain, bay laurel, wild fennel along the fire road. Every mushroom is checked by two people before it goes in the basket.
- 1:00 PMThe fire is laid
Fallen oak from the ranch, split that week. Coals take three hours, so the lamb goes up first, hung on a chain at the edge of the fire.
- 4:30 PMThe walk up
You park at the ranch gate and walk ten minutes up through the grass. The table comes into view at the last bend.
- 5:30 PMAt the fire
The first plates are eaten standing by the coals: mussels off the grate, bread from the ashes. Most guests stay at the fire longer than they meant to.
- 6:45 PMSundown, the table
Everyone sits. Four more courses, each with a card saying where it came from and how far. The fog comes up the valley about now.
- 9:30 PMThe embers
Apples roasted in the ashes, coffee boiled in the pot. The lanterns light the path back down.
4:41 PM · the last bendThe table comes into view, and so does the sea.
The menu
Six courses, each with its mileage.
Written the Thursday before, rewritten Saturday morning when the ridge has its say. This is what twenty-two guests ate last Saturday, at $225 a guest.
Fern & Fire
The meadow · Saturday 7 November · 22 guests
36°16′ N · 121°48′ W · sundown 5:05 PM
- By the fireMussels opened on the coals, wild fennel, sea lettuce butterGull Rock · 6 mi
- Bread baked in the ashes, cultured butter, Pebble Cove saltTwo Creeks · 47 mi
- From the ridgeChanterelles in the pan, a farm egg yolk, bayThe ridge · 3 mi
- From the boatsWhole rockfish on the grate, charred leeks, nettle salsa verdeMonterey · 31 mi
- Off the chainLamb shoulder, six hours over the fire, white beans, wild rosemaryHalvorsen Ranch · 42 mi
- In the embersCarmel Valley apples roasted in the ashes, honey, bay-leaf creamCarmel Valley · 34 mi
$225 a guestAverage 27 miles · farthest, the cream: 47
The season
What’s wild, month by month.
The menu follows this, not the other way round. This November the first rain came on the 2nd, and the chanterelles were up by Friday.
Fire dinners April to DecemberFieldForestSeaForage & fire lunches on Sundays, all year
The cook
Hi, I’m Delia.
I grew up at the end of a dirt road off Highway 1, where dinner in October was whatever my mother found under the oaks that afternoon.
I cooked for eleven years in restaurant kitchens in San Francisco and Monterey, most of them at the wood oven, and drove home on my days off to walk the ridge. In 2017 a rancher on Lazaro Ridge let me build a fire ring in his top meadow and set a table for sixteen friends. Fern & Fire is that dinner, about four hundred times since.
I still pick or meet everything on the plate, I still lay every fire by hand, and if it isn’t good within fifty miles that week, it isn’t on the menu.
Delia
How we forage
- Take one in ten.Never a whole patch. It has to be there next year, and so do the deer.
- Only with a yes.Private land with the owner’s permission. Nothing from state parks or the national forest.
- Two sets of eyes.Every mushroom is checked by Delia and by Jonah, who forages with her, before it reaches the fire.
- Leave no ring.The fire ring goes back on the truck and the ash goes on the ranch garden.
- Since 2017on Lazaro Ridge
- 400+fire dinners
- Certifiedfood protection manager, Monterey County
Reviews
5.0 from 47 hosts on Google.
“We walked up through the fog and there it was, a table and a fire. The best night of our wedding weekend.”
Hannah & TheoRehearsal dinner, 22 guests“The card said the lamb came from 42 miles away. My father asked Delia the rancher’s name. She knew his dog’s name too.”
Luis R.Birthday, 16 guests“Muddy boots, a basket of chanterelles and lunch over the coals. The best offsite my team has had.”
Priya S.Forage & fire lunch, 9 guests“Rain came in at six. Everyone moved under the barn roof, the fire kept going, and nobody minded at all.”
Claire D.The meadow table, 20 guests
Where
Inside the circle.
The meadow is on a private ranch on Lazaro Ridge, twenty minutes south of Big Sur village; the gate and the code come with your booking. We cook on your land anywhere inside the fifty miles. Past it, the ingredients would have to travel, and so would we.
- Big Sur
- Carmel Highlands
- Carmel-by-the-Sea
- Carmel Valley
- Monterey
- Pacific Grove
Questions
Before you book.
What if it rains, or the fire danger is high?
The meadow has an open-sided barn at its edge with a steel fire pit under a hood, and the table moves in. On a red-flag day there is no open flame at all: Delia cooks in the closed iron firebox the county allows and tells you the night before. You never lose the date.
What does $225 a guest include?
Six courses, the walk, the fire, the table, lanterns, blankets and service. Bring your own wine with no corkage, or have a Carmel Valley pairing at $65 a guest.
Can you cook around allergies and diets?
Yes. Vegetarian guests get their own course from the ridge and the farm each time, and shellfish or nut allergies are easy to keep off a fire. Tell us when you book.
How far is the walk up?
Ten minutes on a mown path, about 150 feet of climb. Anyone who would rather ride goes up in the ranch truck with the blankets.
What should guests wear?
Layers and flat shoes. The fog makes it ten degrees colder at sundown. There is a wool blanket on every bench.
How does the $500 deposit work?
It holds the table and comes off the bill. The rest is paid a week before. Move the date once, free, up to thirty days ahead.
Book a fire dinner
Pick the night. $500 holds the fire.
Weekends from April to June go a season ahead, and two Sundays are left this December. Choose yours, say how many are coming, and Delia texts you within the day to start on the menu.
The meadow table $225 a guest · your land $195 · forage & fire lunch $140
- 1Service
- 2Date
- 3Details
This is an example website made by Humfrid, so nothing was booked and no card was charged. On a real one, the deposit is paid right here and the date is yours. Get a website like this