Chef's Garden at Cedarbrook added to Highline tour this year

stevievanb — Sun, 05 Jun 2011 20:13:12 +0000

stevievanb Sun, 06/05/2011 - 1:13pm

Culinary Director Roy Breiman shows off mushrooms from the inoculation patch.

Photos by Eric Mathison

A unique stop has been added to this year's Highline Garden Tour on Saturday, June 11.

It's the Chef's Garden at Cedarbrook, a quintessential Northwest cedar lodge nestled somewhat incongruently behind a SeaTac residential neighborhood. The 18-acre site, including 10 acres of wetlands, is just off the airport strip, about five minutes from Sea-Tac International Airport.

The garden supplies vegetables, fruits and herbs for the Copperleaf Restaurant, located inside the lodge. These include fennel, mustard, strawberries, leeks, peas, shallots, squash and much more.

The growing season has been on the slow side but Culinary Director Roy Breiman promises tomatoes will be in the ground in time for the tour.

Tucked beyond the lodge's pathways, Breiman and Executive Chef Mark Bodinet also maintain a mushroom inoculation patch and practice composting for soil management in the garden.

Breiman admits the garden cannot produce enough ingredients for the 28-seat restaurant.

So he relies on small farms located within 125 miles of the restaurant.

For example, Copperleaf receives mushrooms from the Cascade foothills, seafood from all over Puget Sound, beef from Yelm, poultry from Ephrata and grains from the Palouse.

"By using small farms we are keeping the tradition of the family farm alive while getting the best products available," Breiman declared.

Copperleaf's farm-to-table cuisine and locally sourced ingredients has won it raves. The Gayot guide recognized it as a 2011 top 10 new restaurant in the country. It was also cited by Gayot on the hot 10 Seattle restaurant list and top 10 Seattle food ratings restaurant list.

In addition to the chef's garden, the Highline Garden Tour will showcase beautiful private gardens in Burien, Normandy Park and SeaTac.

As usual, the Highline-SeaTac Botanical Garden will be part of the tour. Plant sales and a talk by a gardening expert are also on tap.

Tour tickets are $15 in advance, with group rates of $12 per person if bought in groups of four or more. On the day of the tour, tickets will be $18.

Tickets are available at Herr Backyard Garden Center, 107 S.W. 160th St.; Burien Bark, 13258 1st Ave. S.; and Lavina Mays, 17824 1st Ave. S. Tickets can also be purchased by calling 206-241-5786.

The Highline Historical Society sponsors the tour. More tour information is available at www.highlinehistory.org.

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