Farm to Table Tour arrives in Walnut Creek

Celebrity chefs and Toyota officials turned the downtown Walnut Creek Farmers Market into Sunday's hot spot for tasting local bounty and collecting free booty.

Toyota’s “Farm to Table Tour," making one of 12 national stops, invited local chefs who use locally produced food in their restaurants to prepare 500 bite-sized portions of a dish incorporating market ingredients.

“I’ve been cooking for 17 years, but this is something I make for my family,” said Alison Barakat, of Oakland’s Bakesale Betty. “I wanted to make something people could make up at home.”

Susan Penna-Falaschi and Maria Falaschi stopped chewing just long enough to offer their review of Bakesale Betty's Roasted Winter Vegetable Lasagna.

“It’s delicious—fresh!” Falaschi moaned.

“These noodles are beautiful: they’re floating like pillows!” exclaimed Penna-Falaschi.

Linda Bochte and John Slosser were rushing to test drive a new Prius, but paused to confirm the Bakesale Betty lasagna was “fabulous” and to recommend the restaurant’s Portobello Mushroom Soup.

Tour Manager Peter Soto was everywhere; handing out free potted herbs, answering questions about the new Prius V on display, and looking forward to lunch.

“You want to know where you’re buying your food. Farmer’s markets are local. California is Prius land, so it’s local too,” he said, munching on a piece of fruit from the market.

Toyota has had a challenging few years, with a spate of brake recalls affecting many models and the recent earthquake and tsunami impacting automotive parts and production. The tour is part marketing effort and part company philosophy that the planet’s dwindling resources point to a green future.

Walnut Creek shoppers were all for it, circling the new cars and queuing up in lines 20 to 30 people deep to taste Sasa of Walnut Creek’s Dungeness Crab and Asparagus Sushi Rolls.

“It’s great,” said John G., agreeing to a picture but declining to provide his full last name.

Down at tent No. 3, Pat English served Gnocchi with Asparagus Cream whipped up by chef Francesco Torre of Haute Stuff Bistro in Martinez. 

“It’s spring time,” she explained, “so we thought, How do you showcase asparagus and fava?”

In the  background, Torre patiently explained how to oven-dry the dish’s ricotta topping as four women listened, transfixed.

Just 50 feet away, Michelle Livingston of Rainbow Orchards poured cider and greeted customers as if they were her long-lost relatives.

“You get to know the farmers when you shop the market,” she said, then excused herself to share a dried pear recipe and supply updates on her young son.

Colleen Johnston was accompanied by her niece Hannah--at age 16 months she is already a market veteran, her aunt says. Every week, Johnston and her family try to eat meals prepared almost entirely with food bought at the market.

“My mom took us to the market for as long as I can remember,” she said. “Now, I come with my whole family.”

From the crowds on Locust Street,it appeared Johnston wasn’t the only one to travel in numbers: making Walnut Creek’s Farmers Market the place to be on Sunday mornings.