Oklahoma City chef John Bennett wrote about the experience of planning a birthday party for famed artist, LeRoy Neiman, best known for his paintings of sports events and leisure activities, in the Sept. 11 issue of The Oklahoman/NewsOK.

Featured on the menu? Produce from Bedford Hills’ own Amba Farms, operated by Liz Taggart.

Bennett, who first met Neiman on a wine-buying trip in Bordeaux in the 1960s, enlisted the help of friends and fellow Oklahoma City natives Quint Smith, who is executive chef of the Stamford, CT, Yacht Club, and his wife Jackie Smith.

According to the story, the Smiths visited Amba Farms the morning of the event, held in June, and brought it to The Studio, Neiman’s home and work space on Manhattan’s West side. 

They selected “fresh unusual radishes, baby carrots in three colors, micro flowering herbs, arugula, fresh-picked asparagus and strawberries,” according to Bennett.

The menu, which featured smoked cod dressed with Taggart’s vegetables, included “rare vintage Amuse Bouche reds, three other reds and two white wines as well as flower bottles of Perrier Jouet Champagne.”

Read Bennett’s full story here.

To read more about Amba Farms, read our story on the farm chef tour held there last fall, and about Taggart’s involvement in the garden planted at Rippowam Cisqua School last spring.

Editor’s note: Neiman’s name was originally spelled incorrectly. We’ve fixed the copy.