Sunday, approximately 75 hungry guests took over Grange Restaurant for Slow Food Sacramento's Celebration of Summer event.

The luncheon was organized around a fruit whose flavors reach a peak in the summer season: the tomato.

Event organizer and member of Slow Food Sacramento chapter member Jim Mills told the group that "a tomato is not always a tomato," and that the fruit should really only be enjoyed fresh during its season, which ranges from about June 15 through the end of October.

Grange Restaurant's head chef Michael Tuohy reinforced that tomatoes are best consumed during those four and a half months.

"You'll see tomatoes in the stores in January," Tuohy said, "and it's like 'Why?' They're pointless."

Eating seasonally plays a part in the Slow Food philosophy of protecting the joyous nature of food from "the homogenization of modern fast food and life," according to Slow Food Sacramento's website. Another way this tenet is accomplished is when restaurants buy local, organic produce, and according to Mills, that farm-to-table process was exemplified during Sunday's meal.

"Celebration of Summer" came to fruition when Slow Food Sacramento and Grange Restaurant teamed up to educate about and feed people locally grown produce. Tuohy, a veteran of the Slow Food movement, has done events honoring the versatility of seasonal tomatoes in the past. He created the menu, and Suzanne Peabody Ashworth's farm, Del Rio Botanical, provided the produce.

Del Rio Botanical, located 20030 Old River Road in west Sacramento, provides produce to Sacramento restaurants such as Mulvaney's Building & Loan,1215 19th Street, and The Waterboy, 2000 Capitol Ave.

"We aim to encourage people to frequent restaurants that use locally grown produce as well as raise chef awareness," Ashworth said. "They have a lot on their plate with menu budgets and keeping everything affordable, so our job is to bring awareness to the difference in local food's taste and experience."

The afternoon began with heirloom tomato tasting featuring nine different Del Rio Farm tomatoes such as Japanese Truffle, Green Zebra and Brandywine. The fruits were accompanied by local artisan extra virgin olive oils and sea salts. Slices of crusty bread were stacked around platters to mop up all the juices and oils.

Following the tasting was the first of three courses: a smoked heirloom tomato gazpacho with roasted almonds and extra virgin olive oil. The main course featured an Early Girl tomato stuffed with house fennel sausage, zucchini and farro. The last course, a dessert, consisted of sweet corn ice cream with a balsamic caramel sauce, candied corn, peaches and a rosemary shortbread cookie.

The food seemed to resonate with the group of diners. One participant held up his empty soup bowl and jokingly said "Excuse me sir, there's no more food."

After the meal, satiated participants were free to discuss tomatoes with Tuohy and Ashworth. Questions such as what was in the dessert to how the tomatoes were smoked for the gazpacho were fielded by a smiling Tuohy. Guests also took home a packet of heirloom seeds from Ashworth’s collection.

Tuohy and Ashworth were the masterminds behind the evening's success, but the star was clearly still the tomato.

"They are so flavorful and versatile," Tuohy said. "Anything from soup to dessert, as was seen today."