Residents will feast at annual Harvest Dinner Thursday night

The Carrboro Farmers’ Market is hosting its fourth annual Harvest Dinner at Carrboro Town Commons Thursday. 

Chefs from 20 nearby restaurants will use locally sourced ingredients to create fresh meals for those who purchased a ticket for $65 ahead of time.  

Steel String Brewery of Carrboro and Benjamin Vineyards Winery of Graham will team up to provide beer and wine for purchase at a pre-dinner cocktail beginning at 6:15 p.m.

“The dinner brings together the main groups of people that make the market so successful — the farmers, our shoppers and the local chefs,” said Carrboro Farmer's Market manager Erin Jobe.

Participating chefs include Jeff Barney of Saxapahaw General Store, Andrew Moore of Venable, Sera Cuni of The Root Cellar and Brendan Cox of Oakleaf.  

Many of the restaurants have been a part of this event since it began four years ago. 

Bill Smith, head chef at Crook’s Corner, said he has been asked to make his always-popular banana pudding, which he has made every year for this event.  

Sandwhich and ACME have also participated the harvest dinner every year.  

Janet Elbetri, one of the owners of Sandwhich, said chef Hich Elbetri is making a vegetable trio dish with roasted butternut squash, eggplant and sautéed kale. 

ACME chef Kevin Callaghan said he is making deviled eggs, smoked chicken and charred sweet pepper macaroni and cheese, as well as a fall vegetable casserole with local feta.

Not all restaurants participating this year are veterans. For Angelina’s Kitchen, a farm-to-table Greek and New Mexican-inspired restaurant in Pittsboro, the harvest dinner will be a new experience.  

Chef Angelina Kay said she is making a dish originating from a region that is modern-day Istanbul called Tourlou.  She said Tourlou contains sweet potatoes, tomatoes, Tromboncino squash, Hungarian peppers, garlic, onion, olive oil and fresh parsley.  

Kay said she decided to tweak the dish to incorporate many different cultures, including olive oil from her home city of Crete, but substituted white potatoes for sweet potatoes to give the dish a North Carolina flare.  

Kay said all of the produce in the dish was grown locally within Chatham County. 

Smith said the hosts of the harvest dinner decorate the Town Commons with lights and candles to create a stunning ambiance for guests at the dinner. 

“The event itself is probably one of the most beautiful dinners I’ve ever attended," Janet Elbetri said. "It’s just this incredible coming together of the community."

@meganroyer

city@dailytarheel.com