Nashville Food Friday: The Farm House

If you are like me, you are getting a little bit sick of the Nashville obsession with "farm-to-table." Nowadays it seems like every restaurant feels compelled to throw up a chalkboard and list their providers. While I do support this movement (I love knowing where my food comes from and that it's supporting local growers), every restaurant of this variety seems to have similar menus, decor designs, and outfits for the wait staff. And while I wish these places were a tad bit more creative and separated themselves from their brethren, I'm constantly taken in with southern-inspired home cooked fare. Despite my apprehension, I was thoroughly impressed with The Farm House. Their food options were just different enough from competitors to keep my interest, and they were darn good.

The inside of The Farm House, you guessed it, looks like a barn. Lots of exposed unfinished/refurbished barn wood and warm colors abound. Even the private dining rooms had an actual sliding barn door. There was a smattering of farm animal knickknacks and photos. I have to say the decor didn't really do it for me. While it was clean and nice, something about it seemed a tad bit cheap. When entrees are nearly $30, you want a little more city luxury and less rural barn.

The service was prompt and friendly. Our waiter was talkative, but really nice and was totally willing to go back to the kitchen to answer a ton of my silly questions- so a big thank you goes out to him!

For cocktails I had the Matt's Staycation, which had Pear moonshine, pineapple and sparkling wine. The drink was sweet and strong and totally trouble. This is the type of cocktail that sneaks up on you and if you drink too many, you won't notice the alcohol until it's too late. Thank goodness I only had one! Steve had their version of a Manhattan, which was made with bourbon, root liquor and bitters. The taste was atypical of a Manhattan but really good! The lack of sweet vermouth made this drink really smooth. 

For the appetizer we went with the pork belly. The pork belly was brined, smoked  and then charred on the grill for the nice crispy top. I really tasted the smoke in the meat, plus it was tender and fatty just the way I like it. The Farm House really impressed me with the egg. When this dish was brought out, the waiter had the egg still in its shell and dumped it onto the plate. Talk about showmanship! The egg was gooey just the way I like it. We smeared the yolk all over the scallion pancake which was just fantastic! And I can't forget about the cracklings on top, which always make any pork dish better.

Steve went with the Hot chicken, after making sure that it wasn't Prince's-level hot- because eating something like that takes mental and psychical preparation. The chicken was cooked with a wet sauce that was mild compared to true Nashville hot chicken, but still had the flavor you expect. The cut looked to be white meat (snooze) but the chicken was moist and really soaked up the flavor. The hot chicken was served on top of a biscuit puree that was was just traditional biscuits and cream in a blender. This was a really great way to mimic the traditional white bread served with hot chicken. The warm potato salad was a nice touch and even their chow-chow was great! But the best part was the candied chicken skin served on top. The skin was sweet, savory and crispy and if they sold these to-go I would leave with a giant bag and eat them all in one sitting.

For my entree I chose the lamb loin with peas, morel and oyster mushrooms, lamb bacon and ricotta gnocchi. The first thing I did was eat the beautiful flower served on top- it had a very light herbal taste. The lamb itself was perfect, very red on the inside and super tender. The peas were cooked well and still had a nice bite to them, and the mushrooms + lamb are a match made in heaven. I really enjoyed the ricotta gnocchi as they appeared to be flash fried or pan seared in order to make them stiffer to hold up to the pan sauce. The lamb bacon was the star of this dish. It was really salty, fatty and pretty amazing. Apparently it's made by curing the cuttings off the lamb loin, and was good enough to have Steve declare that he would like to eat lamb bacon for the rest of his life. 

For dessert we had the butterscotch pots du creme with a vanilla creme, chocolate crumbs and a chocolate macaron. The pudding was creamy and smooth and could have used a hair bit more of that signature butterscotch flavor in order to stand up against the chocolate crumbs and creme. The chocolate crumbs were really crunchy, very flavorful and created a nice texture juxtaposition with the smooth creme and pudding. The fresh macaron was tasty, and the chocolate filling was the best part. This was a good dessert!

Overall, I really liked the The Farm House. And while it's just another farm-to-table in Nashville, they make really good food. Fact.