Best Picnic Menus and Venues

Pastoral Outdoor Meals
A picnic is a picnic, but these communal locavore food experiences are actually set on the farms where much of the food was raised. Whether the menu is pizza or chef-driven fare, it’s about reconnecting with the land and its bounty. Expect a memorable evening.

A to Z Produce and Bakery
Every Tuesday evening, the family that runs this sustainable farm in the hills above Lake Pepin fires up two outdoor pizza ovens and serves a selection of large, slightly doughy pies to an adoring coterie of locals and, in nice weather, meal-trippers from Rochester, Red Wing, and the Twin Cities. You get a pizza and a box. Everything else is your responsibility, from plates to napkins to beverages to dessert. There’s an adjacent pasture dining room, so bring a blanket and some folding chairs. Farm animals entertain the kids while you wait. The pizza is pretty good, the ambience even better, and the totality of the experience sublime. Pizzas cost $23–$27. N2956 Anker Ln., Stockholm, Wisconsin, 715-448-4802

Vino in the Valley
The Rush River Valley may not be as popular as Napa Valley, but it makes a dulcet setting for an evening meal. Vino in the Valley is essentially an outdoor restaurant in the middle of a Midwestern vineyard. Every Thursday and Saturday night, as well as Sunday afternoons, the young vineyard opens its covered patio to diners. The menu is simple Italian, starring fresh pastas and pizzas hot from the outdoor brick ovens. Local wine is available, but the list samples from all over the world. It’s worth the trip for a long, leisurely summer evening that starts with dinner, continues with a stroll through the budding vines, and ends with a good bottle by a glowing bonfire. You might want to check out one of the local B & Bs before returning to real life. $8–$17. W3826 450th Ave., Maiden Rock, Wisconsin, 715-639-6677

Tour de Farm
A handful of local chefs who champion the farm-to-table movement donated their time and efforts to organize this celebration of local farmers and local food. Four different dinners, run by four different chefs (including Heartland’s Lenny Russo and The Strip Club’s JD Fratzke), will be crafted in the fields of area farms from which the menu’s inspiration will come. The dinners are limited to 75 seats, and the $85 cost is all-inclusive—a summer’s night with beautiful food, fine drink, and fellow locavores beneath a stunning Minnesota sky. Various locations and dates

Dinner on the Farm
The Strip Club’s JD Fratzke will kick off this series of locavore farm meals June 27 at Cedar Summit Farm in New Prague. It’s being billed as a more comprehensive evening’s entertainment than Tour de Farm, packaging transportation (if wanted), music, a farm tour, and an elaborate meal. Slow Food Minnesota is the event’s nonprofit beneficiary and, in keeping with its ethos, organizers hope to compost all waste on site. A second dinner with a different local chef is being planned for August, but details were not available at press time. Five-course meal with wine and bluegrass music, $150 per person. 651-210-1728

What constitutes a locally sourced picnic?
Fresh bread from the corner bakery, a bottle of wine from a nearby vintner, the most delicious delicacies from artisan purveyors in the area, and, of course, thou. Grab your basket and spread out the blanket. Paradise is now.

	1. Lucia’s Chicken Salad Made with free-range chicken from Lori Callister’s farm, this salad is lightly tossed with a cumin-lime vinaigrette (not mayonnaise) and travels beautifully. Buy it by the pint or quart. $6 per half pound (serves two) Lucia’s To Go, 1432 W. 31st St., Mpls., 612-825-1572
	2.Clancey’s Country Pâté Choose any of Clancey’s house-made pâtés, which vary weekly with a tempting array of flavors (pine nuts and apricot, dried cherries and pistachios, et cetera). You may want to try a little of each. $5 per 1/4 pound (serves two). Clancey’s Meats & Fish, 4307 Upton Ave. S., Mpls., 612-926-0222
	3. Golden Fig’s Smoked Trout Spread Made with Star Prairie trout, this spread goes great with bread. $8.95 per 8-oz. container (serves two to four people). Golden Fig, 790 Grand Ave., St. Paul, 651-602-0144
	4. Rustica Bakery Bread The toothy focaccia and fruit and nut bread make perfect picnic partners, pairing beautifully with the pâtés and some smoked fish and making a fine platform for the chicken salad. Focaccia, $2.50; fruit and nut bread, $4.25. Rustica Bakery, 816 W. 46th St. Mpls., 612-822-1119
	5. Cannon River Winery’s Lorraine’s White This semisweet German-style wine has hints of honey, peach, apricot, and citrus. It’s soft and delicate, the perfect summer picnic wine (serve it chilled). Available at most fine wine shops or direct from the winery, $13. Cannon River Winery, 421 W. Mill St., Cannon Falls, 507-263-7400
	6. Salty Tart’s Brownies Pack up a selection of darkly seductive brownies from this award-winning pastry shop at Midtown Global Market. $2.50 each. Salty Tart, 920 E. Lake St., Ste. 161, Mpls., 612-874-9206