FEATURING: Chef Bert Gill of Mildred's Big City Food & Chef Miles Burnett
Welcoming you to our very first dinner at the new farm, under the ancient mossy oaks. The Forest, a themed dinner benefitting Alachua Conservation Trust, and highlighting the beauties and delicacies of life under the canopy. Cheers!
COVID info:
The entire event will take place outdoors, including bar & restroom facilities. Masks are encouraged for restroom use and close proximity situations, such as the farm tour, however, masks are not required. Guests will be seated in tables of 8, and all plates and drinks will be individually served. All serving and bar staff will be masked during the event. All guests are more than welcome to bring and remain masked during any time at the event.
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Dinners are a set menu designed by our guest Chefs and excite flexible, adventurous eaters. If you or someone in your party has individual dietary needs, please email us at [email protected] upon purchasing tickets so that we can work to accommodate your request. While most dietary needs can be accommodated, please understand that heavy restrictions may be difficult to fulfill.
We proudly serve brew from our local craft breweries and certified organic/biodynamic wine from Montinore Estate. For the safety of our guests, we suggest that you either arrange for a designated driver within your party, or plan for a driving service to get you home safely.
This event is hosted on a working farm. Please dress according to the weather and wear proper footwear; we suggest flat shoes or boots.
Dinner Tickets include all non-alcoholic beverages, alcoholic beverages, a farm tour, dinner, and all gratuities. They make a perfect anniversary gift, birthday present, romantic date, familly or group occasion or destination dinner.
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Chefs Bert Gill & Miles Burnett
Chef Bert Gill has been working in restaurants since 1985. Chef Gill graduated from NECI (New England Culinary Institute) in 1994. He has been the Executive Chef of Mildred's Big City Food since June of 1999. Chef Gill spent years as a weekly staple on TV20 where he demonstrated cooking techniques and unique produce from local farmers.
Bert and his wife, Tara Gill, are now the owners of Mildred's Big City Food, The New Deal Café and Blue Gill Quality Foods.
Blue Gill opened in June 2011 and is gaining popularity for its fun atmosphere, fresh food and great cocktails. Florida Trend named Blue Gill “Gainesville’s Best New Restaurant 2012” in their “Best of Florida” issue.
Through their restaurants, the Gills are dedicated to supporting locally grown, sustainable agriculture. They have been a major supporter of local farmers in the North Central Florida community and in 2003 Bert co-founded a farm to table food organization, the North Florida Food Partnership. Bert also donates the majority of his free time volunteering within the North Central Florida community. It is not only his commitment to teach his patrons about sustainable agriculture, but also the community’s youth. Bert is involved with mentoring future chefs at Eastside High School and teaching them the importance of organic and local agriculture.
The Alachua County School Board honored Chef Gill with the Outstanding Volunteer of the Year in 2008. His dedication to supporting the North Central Florida community was also recognized in 2008 when he received the Adult Volunteer of the Year Award from the Alachua County School District. In addition, Bert was acknowledged by the Florida Restaurant Association when they presented him with the 2008 ProStart Pineapple Award for his lecturing/teaching within the restaurant industry and in 2009 they also named Chef Gill the Professional Mentor of the Year. More recently, Bert was honored as Citizen of the Year by the Greater Gainesville Commerce in 2020.
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Alachua Conservation Trust
This season we are thrilled to begin directly giving back to our community by humbly donating 10% of all ticket proceeds of each dinner to a local non-profit partner that is facilitating real and inspiring change in our community through land stewardship and preservation, waterway protection and restoration, environmental and climate awareness, social justice and equity, and more. We have an incredible amount of change-makers living amongst us all here in Alachua County.
For The Forest dinner, we are honored to partner with the Alachua Conservation Trust (ACT), whose mission is to protect the natural, historic, scenic and recreational resources in and around North Central Florida. ACT protects land through purchase, donation, and conservation easements in 16 counties. ACT will be in attendance at the dinner, and we will have the unique opportunity to hear about what they're currently doing in our community to make real change and keep Alachua County and surrounding lands beautiful and natural (and so much more!).
