Thursday, March 28, 2024

Tickets Still Available for Swank Farm Experiences

If you’ve been to any good restaurant from Palm Beach County down through Miami, chances are extremely high that you’ve seen a Swank Farms product on the menu. Several, probably.

Since 1996, Swank Farms has been known for hydroponic produce and is a favorite among chefs. They also offer boxes of their produce for retail, known as Swank Sacks. Several years ago, they started sponsoring dinners that donated part of the proceeds to charities, inviting local chefs to participate. Word spread, the dinners were sold out, and a seasonal highlight was born. Now chefs from all over the U.S. come to participate in these dinners.

Dinner guests in their ’70s attire. (Photo by Lynn Kalber)

Today, Swank sponsors almost two dozen events: dinners, brunches, tours, holiday meals. While well into the season, there are still tickets left for a number of the meals and after visiting last weekend (the Throwback to the ‘70s dinner), I highly recommend attending any event there.

On 20 acres in Loxahatchee Groves, we gathered in various ‘70s outfits, danced to disco and ate a seemingly never-ending meal. No complaints here!

Chef Joe Bonavita’s appetizer: chicken liver pâté and beet gelée

The appetizers alone were noteworthy:

  • Chef Jimmy Everett of Driftwood brought his spectacular smoked deviled eggs (Boca magazine readers will remember these won our Boca Challenge): Swank green tomato relish, crispy chicken skin, Swank micro chives.
  • Chef David Schroeder of Brick & Barrel, Lake Park, with Swanky beet tartare: Swank veggie garniture, roasted turnip chip, orange gelée “yolk.”
  • Chef Joe Bonavita of Trophy Room: chicken liver pâté, Local sea grape honey, pickled Swank watermelon radish, everything spiced sourdough.
  • Chef Blake Malatesta (formerly of 50 Ocean and MIA) created a 1973 cheese log revisited: smoked chicken & oyster, Swank crudité, sunflower crisps.
Chef Blake Malatesta with his popular appetizer of the 1973 cheese log revisited (Photo by Lynn Kalber)

These chefs then put together a dinner with grilled pork belly, smoked lamb belly with goat cheese gnocchi, Wagyu short rib Wellington, and finished with a Swank strawberry almond cream tart from Loic Autret of the Loic Bakery café Bar in West Palm Beach. Also on-site was mixologist Justin Himmelbaum with a welcome cocktail (iced tea, Tito’s and melon juice), bread from Aioli, and Sommelier Mariya Kovacheva with Campo Viego Rosé Brut, Kenwood Chardonnay and Campo Viego Tempranillo Rioja.

From this list, you can see you will eat your ticket’s worth of wonderful food and drinks and then some. Plus music, dancing, a tour of the farm from Darrin Swank, a visit with the pigs and chickens (kid alert!) and more.

Here are the tickets still available:

  • Feb 24 – Brunch
  • March 10 – Swank Table “Veg Love”
  • March 16 – Master Chef Louisville
  • March 23 – Master Chef Boston
  • March 31 – 3030 Reunion dinner
  • April 13 – 32 East Reunion Dinner
  • April 21 – Easter Sunday brunch
  • April 27 – Swank Table Three Little Pigs
  • May  04 – Master Chef Sean Brassel
  • May 12 – Last event of the season – Mothers Day Brunch
Darrin Swank, in hat, in the hydroponic grow area with microgreens, giving a tour about how they farm. (Photo by Lynn Kalber)

To buy tickets, which range from tickets from $99 per person for brunches to $160 for dinners (events happen rain or shine under the big, covered Pole Barn), visit swankspecialtyproduce.com.


Hungry for more food news? Visit our food page, and subscribe to the magazine for the most delicious coverage of Boca and beyond.

Lynn Kalber
Lynn Kalber
Lynn Kalber was raised in Boca Raton and has always worked in Palm Beach and Broward counties. She is a career journalist, with 26 years at The Palm Beach Post alone, where she wrote feature and food articles, edited the food section and wrote about wine as part of the Swirl Girls.

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