A Farmer Chic Lunch

We left the DC area in a bit of a fog this morning, literally…

Doesn’t it look like we are about to drive out into an unknown void?  Crazy! But, thankfully, it was not a “void.”  We had a very specific destination today. Well, two actually.  Ultimately we were headed for Colchester, CT to spend some time with dear friends.  But from the moment I awoke this morning my mind was focused on one thing and one thing only – LUNCH!

How is that different from any other day, you may ask?  Truthfully, not much.  The difference today was that I was fixated on WHERE I was going to eat lunch, not WHAT I was going to eat.  We routed our trip through Westport, CT specifically so we could have lunch here

I saw the chef, Bill Taibe, on The Martha Stewart Show months ago and have been plotting this lunch ever since.  This is me being SUPER EXCITED about our lunch plans…

Le Farm is what I like to call “Farmer Chic”… and this is one of my FAVORITE vibes!  BG asked me to define exactly what I mean when I say “Farmer Chic” and I had a hard time doing so.  I may not be able to articulate it, but I know it when I see it.  This was it and I LOVED it!

The first thing that I loved about Le Farm, a point that was discussed in depth on The Martha Stewart Show and one of the main reasons I wanted visit, is the philosophy behind it.  As listed on it’s website the restaurant’s goal is

“to support our local farmers here in Connecticut as much as possible, but sometimes we may have to cross state lines to find what we need.  One thing we can promise is that your dinner with us will be meticulously sourced and simply prepared.”

It is a farm-to-table restaurant, which www.wisegeek.com defines as

“a restaurant where the ingredients are sourced as locally as possible, which means that they tend to be very fresh, and they have been through a minimal series of middlemen, if any, literally going directly from the farm to the table. The farm-to-table restaurant trend is part of a larger movement to eat as locally as possible, taking advantage of seasonally available fruits and vegetables and focusing on the environmental and cultural impacts of farming.”

The restaurant is tiny. It only had 12 tables in the whole place.  Upon stepping inside my first thought was “This is perfect!”  No detail was over looked.  The interior and provisions were all a distinct farmhouse style, but elegant.  So very, very elegant.  You know… “Farmer Chic.”

The gorgeous neutral grays color palate (neutral, but not boring), the rustic tables and chairs, the cheesecloth table runners, the dishtowel napkins, the utensils situated in a jar of dried beans, the table water in old fashioned milk bottles… Perfect!  Just take a look.

Sorry for the weird angles on the pics. We were trying not to be complete tourist dorks.  I mean, this lunch was “Martha Approved.”  I needed to be cool about it.  Plus, in such a tiny place, we were bound to draw some attention whipping out the D90.

Dorkiness or not, it all made me so very happy.  See…

But more important than the ambience was the menu!

It was hard to choose.  Ultimately I went with the Pork Shoulder Braised in Milk

and BG had the Stommington Scallops

We shared, of course, and washed them down with these…

also shared.  I love that they served the beer in stemless wine glasses.  Lunch was SUPERB on both sides of the table, but it didn’t hold a candle to dessert…at least for me.

The dessert menu.

Any guesses as to which one I chose?

If you guessed the Warm Cornbread, you were right.  I ordered it because, as I told the waitress, how often do you get to have BACON in your DESSERT?  It sounds so weird, but it was so good. I’m really not a “sweets” eater, but I will almost never turn down cornbread… or bacon for that matter.  This had just enough sweetness to call it dessert, but just enough saltiness that it totally hit the spot.  It was such an interesting combination of flavors.

BG had the Vanilla-Lavender Pannacotta

You’ll have to ask him about that.

I have to say that lunch at Le Farm was, hands down, the best lunch experience I have ever had. What else would I expect from a lunch that is “Martha Approved?”  Nothing less than “Farmer Chic,” of course!

Cheers y’all!