Farm Restaurants, Farm to table restaurants

Farm Restaurants, Enjoying the fresh dish is its own flavor to the food lovers. Food made from fresh ingredients is certainly more enjoyable. You can enjoy it at the farm restaurants. You can enjoy dishes made ​​from fresh vegetables and juice made from fresh fruit picked straight from the farm.

Here's a list of farm restaurants that you can consider.

A.R. Valentien
When you sit down to A.R. Valentien's Artisan Table dinner, you'll understand why executive chef Jeff Jackson buys most of his ingredients from nearby small farms or specialty food purveyors. The meal is served in a casual setting, with 10 to 16 people at a communal table, and the menu changes every week as the best local producers supply their seasonal foodstuffs.

"I get fresh produce for the menu from the Santa Monica farmers' market," Jackson says. Local clams and scallops from Baja are on the Artisan Table menu when available, along with half-hog porchetta seasoned with garlic and chiles. Chef Jackson is also filling his regular menu with juicy local strawberries (served with shortcake and also in a frozen soufflé), baby artichokes, fresh halibut, and tender early fava beans. (The Lodge at Torrey Pines, 11480 N. Torrey Pines Rd., La Jolla, CA; 858-777-6635)

Manresa
Cynthia Sandberg of Love Apple Farm in Ben Lomond, California, says the support of local restaurant Manresa is crucial to her business's survival. Perhaps the most stunning edible example of the grower/chef partnership here is a dish titled "Into the Vegetable Garden," which includes the leaf, root, flower, and shoot of some 30 vegetables and herbs. It's served with "edible dirt" 'made from potato, parsnip, and roasted chicory root. (320 Village Lane, Los Gatos, CA; 408-354-4330)

Montagna at the Little Nell
Chef Ryan Hardy is a master cheesemaker as well as a chef, and when he moved to the Rockies he was delighted to find great suppliers. "This part of the country is just unbelievably rich in great raw ingredients," he says. "We are working with several local farmers and purveyors, including one local [source] I met with to procure goat's milk for my cheese."

Beef comes from local grass-fed cattle, and the organic bacon from Niman Ranch.

The meat is spotlighted throughout the menu, as in the fresh rigatoni and Rendezvous Farm lamb sausage. Other local choices include homemade goat cheese and farm green salad, or seared sea scallops with farm potatoes, apples, celery, and warm orange vinaigrette.

Woodfire Grill
Chef Michael Tuohy has long been a supporter of organic growing, and helped launch Georgia's Organics, a nonprofit group that promotes healthy, local, sustainable food in the diet of people across the state. While he uses local produce to create dishes, his cooking shows North Californian influences, hinting at his San Francisco roots.

His commitment to adapting his menu with the seasons is clear: The day's fresh, local ingredients take center stage on the homepage. In many cases, the menu pays homage to the farms that provided the fare: There's a Wood-Oven-Roasted Bramlett Farm Trout with Anson Mills Grits, Steel-Pan Greens, and Herb Butter; and a Chilled French White Asparagus with Sauce Gribiche (an aïoli sauce with chopped herbs, capers, lemon juice, and spices) and Ashland Farm Micro Celery. (1782 Cheshire Bridge Rd., Atlanta, GA; 404-347-9055)

North Pond
Chef Bruce Sherman can sound preachy but ultimately he believes farm-to-table dishes just taste better than others. Sherman supports local farmers and artisans by using recently harvested products and highlighting the special character of those ingredients. Recent sample entrées include cream mushroom-stuffed maple crêpes, Parmesan flan, royal trumpet mushrooms, shaved vegetables, and pecans; and grass-fed rib eye à la plancha, crisp artisanal polenta sticks, glazed radishes, garlic parsley coulis, and red wine glace.

Cinque Terre
Chef Lee Skawinski, who co-owns Cinque Terre and Vignola in Portland with Dan Kary and Michelle Mazur-Kary, sees the Slow Food and farm-to-table movements as two related trends, complementary ways to de-emphasize industrialized food systems. The Karys' Grandview Farm in Greene, Maine, supplies nearly 40 percent of the ingredients for both restaurants. "Everyone at the restaurants pitches in with planting and harvesting at the farm. It's wonderful that we can plan in advance specific ingredients and menu items, and have the freedom to experiment with new varietals and seasonal offerings," says Skawinski. "In addition, we've been longtime supporters of over a dozen local produce farms, artisan cheesemakers and fishermen, and livestock businesses."

Chester Creek Cafe
Times sure have changed for environmentally aware chefs. Nowadays, there are distributors that focus exclusively on farm-to-chef and farm-to-grocery customers. Blumberg and her co-owner, Barb Neubert — and staff — support local farmers and promote ecological balance through their food. Whiskey-soy-glazed free-range organic roast chicken is served with black barley zushi and gingered green-top carrots.

Tupelo Honey Cafe
There was only one way for executive chef Brian T. Sonoskus and owner Sharon Schott to guarantee they'd have the freshest organic ingredients at their restaurant. "We also grow Brandywine tomatoes, lettuce, and herbs for our salads, as well as berries."

They aim to provide as much food for the business as possible, supplementing with items from other local producers and businesses. Whenever possible, they buy organic and support local farmers, artisans, and businesses. "We serve all organic free-range chicken and eggs, " Sonoskus and Schott explain. A local bakery supplies the bread, and nearby breweries deliver their best beers. The final local touch: Artists from the community hang artwork and photographs in the café.

Poppy Hill Tuscan Cafe
It doesn't get any more mutually beneficial than this: Co-owner and chef Scott Mahar works hand in hand with nearby farmer Jane Van Zalhah at Friendly Cottage Farms to decide what's planted and how it's nurtured. Serving local fare also gives chefs more control over their ingredients: "Why should I buy my eggs from Lincoln, Nebraska," he wonders, "when I can buy great-quality eggs from someone just up the road from my restaurant?

Trellis
Time is literally of the essence at executive chef Brian Scheehser's Trellis restaurant. Scheehser can manage this feat because he plants his own three-acre garden with a seasonal menu in mind.

Scheehser pairs the produce he grows with meat, fish, and fowl from local artisan producers, and the seasonality is stressed on his menu—for example, the restaurant doesn't guarantee ahead of time exactly which ingredients will be served. (220 Kirkland Ave., Kirkland, WA; 425-284-5900)