Outstanding in the Field

Jim Denevan, Founder

A self-taught chef and artist, Jim Denevan draws inspiration from the earth to create sensual works of fleeting beauty—culinary installations in sunny farmlands across America and large-scale art pieces on the wave-swept sands of coastal beaches.

Jim was most recently the Executive Chef at Gabriella Café, an intimate eatery in the laid-back surf town of Santa Cruz, California, where he has cooked since 1993. With a menu that changes nightly, dictated by the whims of the season, Gabriella Café garnered a four-star reputation for its farm-fresh, seasonal food.

Born in San Jose, Jim started cooking in Santa Cruz restaurants when he was 17, working at night so he could ride the waves during the day. Jim still spends many mornings surfing in the company of seals at Pleasure Point. His culinary résumé includes stints at Balzac Bistro, Pearl Alley Bistro, and Primizia, and he has consulted for Blue Plate in San Francisco. In 1996, Jim participated on a Chefs Collaborative panel, discussing sustainable food choices with fellow chefs Evan Kleiman of Angeli Caffe in Los Angeles and Rick Bayless of Chicago's Frontera Grill.

And Jim has spent time getting his fingernails dirty. Inspired by brother Bill Denevan, one of California's earliest organic farmers, renowned for his dry-farmed Happy Valley apples and pears grown in the hills above Santa Cruz, Jim took a six-month break from cooking to work on Dirty Girl Farm (then Santa Cruz Organic Farm), a thriving operation within the Santa Cruz city limits.

Outstanding in the Field: A Farm to Table Cookbook is now complete. Published by Clarkson Potter, the book contains more than 100 of Jim's recipes and is illustrated throughout with photos from past seasons. Now available, click here for more information.

Jim is an artist whose work has generated considerable international interest. With a length of driftwood he creates panoramic freehand drawings on wide stretches of beach. His pieces take hours to complete, and will disappear in the time it takes the tide to rise and slowly wash them away.

Jim made his museum debut in January 2005 at San Francisco's Yerba Buena Center for the Arts.In the summer of 2007 Jim's work was honored with a show at PS1/MOMA in New York.

To view images of Jim's art, visit his website at jimdenevan.com

Katy Oursler, Special Events Director

What does it take to stage a white-tablecloth dinner for 100 people in the middle of an open field? If you can catch her, ask Katy Oursler. The calm eye in the center of the storm, Katy is the woman who for five years and counting, has helped to keep Outstanding in the Field humming along.

Raised in upstate New York near Ithaca, home to the original Moosewood Restaurant, Katy grew up with an appreciation for fresh food and down-to-earth values. Her family owned 30-acres and both Mom and Dad were avid gardeners. "I remember when my Dad put up flood lights so my Mom could work out in the garden after dark. I'd yell out that we were hungry for dinner, and she'd laugh and yell back, 'Well, come on out and have a bite to eat!'"

Katy's childhood memories are full of family gatherings in the kitchen and on the back deck. With five younger siblings, 17 cousins and a close network of family friends, there was never a shortage of hands to clean, chop and prepare ingredients for the meal. "My life of bringing food from its source to the table started at a very young age," she says with a smile.

In 1997, Katy moved to Santa Cruz to explore the West Coast, and like so many before her, she never left. While pursuing a degree in community studies at University of California, Santa Cruz, she also managed restaurants and worked as a food server at first-class events like the Masters of Food & Wine at the Highlands Inn in Carmel.

After graduation, she began gaining notice for her aptitude as a serene yet thorough event planner, and one day in 2003, she got a call to help out with a dinner at a local organic farm. That dinner, at Jim Denevan's brother's Happy Valley orchard, was her first Outstanding in the Field experience. She was hooked.

"I just loved it. The passion of the farmers and sense of community was so inspiring. When Jim asked me to help organize upcoming dinners, I jumped at the chance." A year later, she organized Outstanding in the Field's entire 2004 season, including the group's first National Tour, helping Jim line up farmers, chefs and winemakers for six stops across the country and handling the thousands of details necessary to pull it all off, from buying a bus to soothing local health inspectors.

Katy is always willing to take on the biggest challenges with good humor. When others would say, "Are you crazy?", Katy says, "Let's do it!".