The Bachelor Farmer

I've been wanting to try The Bachelor Farmer since it opened last year.  But clearly, everyone else in the metro area had the same idea because we ended up making our reservations a good three weeks in advance.  But the anticipation greatly added to the joy of the evening, so I won't fuss about the wait.  I spent the few days before our dinner peeking at the menu here and there, googling the words I didn't know (I'm always excited by menus that expand my vocabulary).  My date purposefully avoided the menu posted online in a desire to fully appreciate the breadth of creativity at 6:15pm of Thursday, Sept. 20.  I really think these are just two versions of the same passion for tasting new things.

We stopped first at Marvel Bar, a fantastic way to kick off the evening with stunning, unique libations. We followed those up when seated at TBF with a Hemingway (for me), which was a wonder of icy lemony goodness. We started the meal at TBF with a plate of radishes, salt, and butter accompanied by a pile of crisp toasted-cheese flavored crackers. This boded well for the rest of the meal because I've recently been slicing radishes into everything, even dishes that really don't make sense, just going through a bit of a radish obsession at the moment.

We decided to start by splitting an appetizer and a toast.  I don't know that I've ever seen a collection of toasts before, five or six choices all perfectly crafted to spread on a warm piece of bread, said bread to be arranged in a nifty silver tower that I clearly need in my dream kitchen. We chose a collection of heirloom tomatoes drizzled with anchovy aioli as our appetizer and the duck liver pate with pickled cauliflower for our toast. As proven by the picture, I was sopping up the oil on the tomatoes with everything in reaching distance (bread? fingertips?). As delicious as the tomatoes were, it was the pate that we both raved about.  The sweet, chutney-ish prune marmalade and the accompanying stone ground mustard were perfect complements to the flavor and texture of the pate.  I could have happily made a meal off a loaf of those toasts and a plate or two of the pate.

But where would the fun be in stopping after pate? I opted for the fish du jour, a beautiful cod partnered with clams and my date opted for the grilled pork leg with pole beans, which I mistook for duck at first nibble, likely a result of a couple strong drinks and the melt-in-your-mouth quality of the pork, a feeling that I usually associated with a well-done duck.  The cod, though perfect, was outshone by the clams.  I had to force myself to keep up some semblance of conversation despite really just wanting to squirrel away in a corner and suck every ounce of YUM! out of each wee little clam. I don't know that TBF supports squirreling away in corners, and my date probably would have arched an eyebrow at that behavior, so I maintained a modicum of decorum and just exclaimed, often, how deeply I appreciated the clams. As much as we each raved about our individual choices, the side we chose to share, caramelized fingerling potatoes, was the dish we both were struck a bit dumb by. In a perfect world, someone would be waiting at home with a bowl of these babies after every bad day.  Days later, my date mentioned that he could still taste those caramelized potatoes.

To polish off the night we knew we wanted dessert. I think initially we'd thought we'd split something, but then they brought out the damn menu and we were torn between too many options.  We felt it important to try at least two desserts, so splitting just really became irrational. I immediately committed to the blue cheese Napoleon with maple-glazed figs and my date sided, after much debate, with the smoked white chocolate ice cream concoction.

I'm not one to ignore chocolate, typically. I would be suspicious of anyone who turned down a plate of drippy, decadent ganache. But I would take one of the blue cheese napoleons over the chocolate creation every single time. The combination of figs and Big Woods blue cheese (a variety I insist on "trying" in every cheese shop, just to make sure I still love it as much as did the first time I tasted it) and the sweet addition of brandy ice cream just make for a dessert unique enough to displace even, gasp, smoked chocolate.

While the food was certainly the star, I can't say enough great things about the service, too. Our waitress was warm and helpful (fixed a shaky table) without being overly attentive, and she seemed genuinely invested in making sure our evening was a happy one. I was a waitress long enough to know that you can't fake that type of hospitality, you either care about your guests' experience or you don't, and the waitstaff at TBF simply shone with warmth.

I don't normally do this, but as my date and I discussed the meal in these terms, I'll offer the following as a sort of ranking of importance for anyone headed to TBF for this menu (still the summer menu, I imagine the fall menu will debut very soon, given the days' chill recently):

Heirloom tomatoes with torn bread: delicious, especially if you're a big tomato fan, but not the most memorable dish

Duck liver pate: you'll regret not eating this

Grilled pork leg: my date raved, I was more impressed by my cod with clams (the market fish choice for the day)

Caramelized potatoes: I will judge you if you do not order these.

Smoked white chocolate ice cream with chocolate shortbread: wonderful, especially if you're in need of a chocolate fix

Blue cheese napoleon: One of the best desserts of my life. Period.

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