9 Of The Best Restaurants That Have Their Own Farms
At Nectar Farm Kitchen, we take pride in our sustainable, health-conscious, locally-sourced cuisine. Our high-quality, farm-fresh, seasonally-changing menu offers a wide range of dining options at Bluffton, South Carolina locations. But what about the times you aren’t in the area? Maybe you’re away on business, or on vacation, or you’re taking a road trip. That’s why we decided to compile a list of other farm-to-table restaurants that we admire. And as an added twist, each restaurant is located on a working farm.
Primo Restaurant
James Beard Award-winning chef Melissa Kelly had a vision for the four and a half acres that surround her acclaimed Primo Restaurant. She began with a greenhouse, two acres of organic gardens, and two pigs. Today the farm produces broiler and layer chickens, ducks, guinea hens, and boasts nine pigs. At peak growing season, about 80% of the ingredients used in the Primo kitchen to prepare their Mediterranean- and Italian-inspired dishes are sourced from the restaurant’s farm.
Primo Restaurant
2 Main Street
Rockland, ME 04842
(207) 596-0770
https://www.primorestaurant.com
The Barn at Blackberry Farms
Farm-to-table dining doesn’t get more authentic than eating in a barn. Not that you’ll have to worry about getting horsehair in your food; The Barn at Blackberry Farm has a gorgeous, rustic-meets-upscale setting. It’s casual elegance all the way.
Blackberry Farm sits on 4,200 lush acres in the Appalachian foothills, where its farmers carefully tend the crops and livestock that define the James Beard Award-winning restaurant’s vibrant cuisine.
Executive chef Cassidee Dabney transforms the bounty into seasonal menu items, such as brown butter fluke, hearth fried eggs, and bee balm custard. It’s what Blackberry Farm calls foothills cuisine, and if you are a guest at one of the on-site suites or cottages, you can have it for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.
The Barn at Blackberry Farm
1471 West Millers Cove Road
Townsend, TN 37882
(865) 380-2260
https://www.blackberryfarm.com
Blue Hill at Stone Barns
Situated just 30 miles north of New York City, Blue Hills has been a guiding light in the farm-to-table scene since its founding in 2004.
Blue Hill at Stone Barns is more than just a place to eat and relax, though. Celebrity chef Dan Barber, the dynamo behind Stone Barns, has made it an educational center that offers programs on sustainable food systems for farmers, teachers, students, and the general public. The farm hosts regular tours and events for guests of all ages.
But, of course, most guests come for the food and when you do come to dine, it’s time to leave the farm clothes at home. Jackets and ties are more the style at this site nestled in the rolling hills above the Hudson River.
Blue Hill has no menus. Instead, multi-coursed “farmer’s feasts” are offered with complex dishes like purple potato and ricotta gnocchi with pig’s belly zucchini and shiitake mushrooms. Named one of Food and Wine’s Top 10 Life Changing Restaurants, it’s decidedly not cheap but it is, well….life changing.
Blue Hill at Stone Barns
630 Bedford Road
Tarrytown, NY 10591
(914) 366-9600
https://www.bluehillfarm.com/
The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm
One of the first farm restaurants in the U.S., The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm also sits on one of the first certified organic farms in Virginia. Since 1986, the farm has used biodynamic methods to nurture the land and promote healthy plants. The restaurant has been cooking up farm-to-table meals since 1997, long before the concept spread in the U.S.
The menu at the Lovettsville, Virginia, farm changes constantly, but you can bet that whatever comes out of chef Vincent Badiee’s kitchen will be delicious.
The atmosphere doesn’t disappoint, either. From inside a glass conservatory, on a gazebo, or in an open-air tent, diners take in spectacular views of the Potomac River.
You might get a special kick out of Patowmack’s Feast in the Forest dinner, where you’ll learn about forage food items as you dine beneath the trees. Reservations are required for all meals, as the staff picks just enough food, and no more.
The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm
42461 Lovettsville Road
Lovettsville, VA 20180
(540) 822-9017
https://www.patowmackfarm.com
Campo at Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm
If thoughts of sublime Southwest cooking makes your tongue tingle, then get a taste of the Rio Grande Valley Cuisine at Campo in Albuquerque, New Mexico.
Campo is part of the Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm, where you can spend the night, volunteer on the farm, and take part in any of the activities or the events calendar, which offers lavender-cultivation workshops, architecture tours, and more.
Executive chef Jonathan Perno, a New Mexican native and James Beard Award-finalist, leads the super creative kitchen here. Perno and his crew serve up dishes like chapa-seared trout, blue corn hushpuppies, and lavender chocolate pudding. Lavender makes frequent menu appearances, thanks to the fragrant on-site lavender fields.
Campo at Los Poblanos Historic Inn and Organic Farm
4803 Rio Grande Blvd. NW.
Los Ranchos De Albuquerque, NM 87107
(505) 338-1615
https://lospoblanos.com/dining
Mustards Grill
Mustards is named after the mustard flowers that revitalize the vineyards of the Napa Valley every spring. This restaurant calls Napa Valley home, and has been a must stop for locals and visitors to wine country for more than 30 years. Chef Cindy Pawlcyn has been nurturing a kitchen garden long before they came into vogue. Today, the two acre garden provides 20 percent of the restaurant’s produce throughout the year, using compost and natural fertilizers. Diners are welcome to stroll the grounds; be sure to do so either before or after your well-crafted meal. You’ll find abundant marigolds and zinnias snuggled between restaurant destined beets, purple potatoes, French melons, tomatillos, and more.
For dinner at this wine country gem, you’ll enjoy dishes as exotic as herb-marinated rabbit from a wood burning oven with garden succotash, or as everyday as a half-pound hamburger.
Mustards Grill
7399 St. Helena Highway
Napa, CA 94558
(707) 944-2424
http://mustardsgrill.com/
Farm House at Fair Oaks Farm
Fair Oaks Farm is one of the Midwest’s leading agritourism programs boasting a dairy, pig farm, and apple orchard, plus dozens of immersive and educational experiences. Public awareness about sustainability and animal welfare are huge priorities, so the farm hosts school tours and workshops all year long making Fair Oaks a family-friendly stop.
A meal at the on-site restaurant is the perfect way to end a day at the farm. Dishes are made with ingredients grown and harvested on site and from other farms nearby, including artisan cheeses, seven different cuts of steak, and salads with orchard apples.
Farm House at Fair Oaks Farm
856 N 600 E
Fair Oaks, IN 47943
(219) 394-3663
https://fofarms.com/dining/farmhouse-restaurant/
Ronin
Ronin is located in a renovated, historic, downtown building located near Texas A&M University. The restaurant’s sustainable, family-owned farm is just seven miles up the road where the owners, Brian and Amanda Light, regularly host full moon dinners, private events, and family farm days.
The farm grows much of the food that is served at Ronin’s, in addition to raising chicken and pigs. Updated daily, the menu highlights the week’s harvest, which in summer means watermelon and goat feta salad with pickled peppers, fried farm chicken with grilled vegetables, and cocktails crafted with pea flower-infused vodka and herb bitters.
Ronin
800 North Main Street
Bryan, TX 77803
(979) 704-3294
https://ronintx.com
Chez Panisse
Chez Panisse is a legend in the farm-to-table concept and the slow food movement. Opened by Alice Waters, in 1971, in San Francisco, this French-style restaurant has won countless accolades and inspired many cooks. Their dishes are incredible, and totally embrace local and sustainable food and farming. However, the farm Chez Panisse operates is not for the restaurant. Instead, it’s for the Martin Luther King Junior Middle School, where students are taught how to grow, harvest, and prepare seasonal local produce. Superior food and responsibility to the community is what the local food movement is all about, which is why Chez Panisse is an ideal way to round out our list of the 9 best restaurants with farms.
Chez Panisse
1517 Shattuck Ave,
Berkeley, CA 94709, United States
(510) 548-5525
https://www.chezpanisse.com/1/
