Check Out the Menu For CUESA's Summer Celebration

The scene at last year's event. [Photo: CUESA]

CUESA, the brains behind the Ferry Plaza Farmers Market, holds a lot of great parties each year, but the Summer Celebration is arguably their biggest, taking over the entire Ferry Building with chefs, winemakers, and bartenders serving their best creations. This year is an extra-special edition thanks to the market's 20th anniversary, and for the first time, they're asking chefs to serve up dishes based on "families" of what'll be in season during the event: alliums, berries, grains and legumes, leaves and flowers, nightshades, and stone fruit. To whet your appetite, we've secured a list of what everyone will be serving, featuring the creations of Hog & Rocks, Tacolicious, Abbot's Cellar, Central Kitchen, Ichi Sushi, Maven, and many other top restaurants. With summer produce in full swing, it'll definitely make you hungry.

Alliums

Alicia Jenish, Grand Cafe: Savory leek and garlic gougeres
Robin Song, Hog & Rocks: Sweet onion corn cake, onion curd, cipollini confit, peach, basil
Lauren Kiino, Il Cane Rosso: Crispy new-potato skins with roasted shallot vinaigrette, smoked bacon, and chive cream
Michael Rotondo, Parallel 37: Liver and onions
Chad Blunston, The Fairmont: Leek tart with guanciale
Jay Abrams, Presidio Social Club: "Fig Newtons" with sweet onion and chilled potato-leek panna cotta with sorrel and chives

Berries

Meg Ray, Miette: Strawberry macarons
Francis Hogan, Bluestem Brasserie: Juniper-braised lamb shoulder, blueberry agrodolce, pine-scented Himalayan red rice
Telmo Faria, Tacolicious: Strawberry-tomato "coctel de camarones"
Jen Musty, Batter Bakery: Three cookie and ice cream sandwiches: buckwheat-cardamom with raspberry, poppyseed graham with blackberry-sour cream, oatmeal-balsamic with strawberry
Ben DeVries, Luella: Pork confit with a blackberry-habanero salsa and queso fresco
Michelle Pusateri, Nana Joe's Granola: Gluten-free blondie with blueberries and basil ice cream
Deepak Kaul/Matt Paul, Serpentine/Slow Club: Spiced wheat berries with summer vegetables and berries

Grains and Legumes

Staffan Terje, Perbacco/Barbacco: Romano beans braised with 'nduja and tomato and topped with marinated burrata
Adam Dulye, Abbot's Cellar: Guinea-hen galantine with farro, toasted rye berries, marinated fennel, and nectarines
Ruggero Gadaldi, Beretta/Delarosa/Pesce: Pearl farro salad with fruit and ricotta salata
Michael Bilger, Georges: Octopus and beans
Thomas Odermatt, RoliRoti: Rabbit two ways: loin stuffed with brandied peaches; lovage-rabbit sausage with cannellini beans and tomato sauce
Vincent Russo, MarketBar: Brown-rice arancini with mushrooms and roasted-garlic aioli

Leaves and Flowers

Ryan Pollnow, Central Kitchen: Peach-leaf yogurt with chamomile-oil jam
Tim Archuleta, Ichi Sushi: Seared albacore tataki, shiso shallot susdachi vin, microgreens and flowers
Matthew Dolan, Twenty Five Lusk: Shiso leaf-wrapped braised octopus, white peach gastrique, marigold/pink pepper powder

Nightshades

Ryan Farr, 4505 Meats: BLT
Kory Stewart, Americano: Smoked mackerel escabeche with eggplant caponata
Brett Emerson, Contigo: Corn and padron pepper montadito with shaved manchego
Isaac Miller, Maven: Eggplant baklava with tomato honey
Larry Finn, Scala's Bistro: Summer nightshade crostini, lemon thyme, basils
Charles Phan, Slanted Door Group: Almonds, corn, charred scallions, sweet 100 tomatoes
Pablo Estrada, Rose Pistola: Heirloom tomatoes with stracciatella cheese, salted cucumber, fino basil, and kaffir-lime salt

Stone Fruit

Jake Des Voignes, Local: Mission Eatery: Squid salad with white nectarine, roasted onions, noyaux aioli, and basil
Daniel Capra, Paula LeDuc Fine Catering: Cherries, ricotta, peach, grains of paradise
Tu David Phu, Precita Park Cafe: Bruschetta with burrata, apricots, and bee pollen
Luisa Alberto and Derek Castro, Sow: Seasonal juice with stone-fruit slices
Alison Mountford, Square Meals: Grilled ginger-tamari peach salad with soba noodles in a little-gem lettuce cup
Sean Thomas, Blue Plate: Pork terrine, stone fruit panna cotta, violet-beet mustard, crispy farro, fines herbes
Evan Bloom & Leo Beckerman, Wise Sons Deli: Trio of rugelach: plum-almond, peaches and cream, cinnamon-apricot
Alexander Ong & Mario Tolentino, Betelnut: Smoked duck prosciutto, stone fruit and umeshu gastrique, black-tea salt, puffed rice, purple shiso

Other participating restaurants with TBD dishes: Starbelly, Lazy Bear, Black Jet Baking, El Porteno, Lolinda, Pressed Juicery, Les Elements Patisserie, Jasper's Corner Tap & Kitchen.

If your mouth is watering after reading that lineup, tickets are $125 ($85 is tax-deductible), and available here. All proceeds benefit CUESA.