Fresno’s The Painted Table has won a national award for catering a dinner at the Forestiere Underground Gardens as part of Fresno’s Underground Suppers series.

The Painted Table was the recipient of the coveted “Catie Award” for the 2017 Signature Caterer for Best Event category as part of the 25th annual Catersource Convention in New Orleans a couple of weeks ago, said Wayne Picard of The Painted Table.

The California State Landmark in Fresno near Highway 99 and Shaw Avenue was built by Sicilian immigrant Baldassarre Forestiere starting in the early 1900s. Forestiere was inspired by the Valley’s wearing summer heat to dig underground, and diners were able to escape 100-degree-plus temperatures during the July 2016 dinner to enjoy a Sicilian-style meal.

The Painted Table created an authentic Sicilian dinner setting including “family style seating, chairs and tableware where nothing matched, flower sack towels for napkins, live mandolin music, all while indulging themselves in a menu inspired by the Garden’s surroundings: earth, nature, citrus and stone…with courses like, ‘Volcano Style’ lamb shanks and ‘lava’ like spicy a jus served in cast iron skillets — just like the ones Baldassare would have used himself,” according to a news release.