Farmstead Inc. - A Little Bit About a Lot of Things A Little Bit About a Lot of Things

May 2, 2014 Farmstead Inc.

Matt Jennings is a two-time finalist for the prestigious James Beard Foundation’s “Best Chef Northeast” award, has been named one of America’s “Most Sustainable Chefs”. He was selected as one of Food & Wine Magazine’s “Big thinkers, changing the way Americans eat.” He was recently the keynote speaker at the Taste Trekkers convention that took place in Providence in September. He’s in the kitchen while his wife Kate tackles the pastry and baking. My old boss was good friends with Matt, I used to hear about Matt frequently – Matt even did the charcuterie at his son’s wedding (*note to self – I need to find a friend that gives charcuterie as a gift). So it’s been years since I left that job, it only took me how many years to check out this place?

Jennings is a native Bostonian – he worked as a cheese buyer at Formaggio Kitchen, and it was there where he met his wife Kate. On the first Sunday of every month, Farmstead hosts a “Biggie and Brunch” event. We were there at 10:15 and the place was already jammed! I love the decor here – so charming!

It combines two of my favorite things, the music of Biggie Smalls and good food. They have a great DJ spinning in the corner – the music is turned up, so if you’re looking for a quiet morning, you should look elsewhere. But you can’t help dancing in your seat here – and trust me, there were people who were doing just that!

It’s a good idea to make a reservation well in advance, as when we were waiting for our table, we overheard the wait time to be estimated at 2 hours!! There are about 40 seats and I would say that the table turnover isn’t quick, we were there for about 2 hours!

They have some great cocktails to start off the morning.

Check out their website for potential menu items (things change from month to month).

The menu is divided into “biggie” and “smalls” plates. Everything looked so good, we wanted to get one of everything. Check out my Favecast video: http://favecast.com/37EHJKMPzB

Sweet potato latkes ($9), served with short rib, smoked apple butter, and curried sour cream. The short rib was tender and complimented the sweet potato nicely. The latkes were so crisp!

Chocolate cream donuts ($6) I think they speak for themselves. I wish that they had come out warm, and that there was more chocolate filling inside, but they were delicious!

Barley porridge ($7.50), served with pear butter, honey, and pecans. A really nice dish, a little hint of sweetness with some good texture, this really filled you up!

Our baked cheesemonger’s mac n’ cheese ($12), molten center & a golden crusty top. Ok, so how do you go to a cheese monger’s paradise and NOT order the mac and cheese? Right? This was the best dish of them all – the golden crusty top was delicious – a really nice alternative to the breadcrumb topping – although there were a few breadcrumbs sprinkled on top. The blend of cheese was really delightful and the sauce had a good consistency. My biggest pet peeve is over sauced mac and cheese, and this dish blew my mind – just the right amount of sauce! Good thing there was a delicious glass of orange juice to wash it down! We walked out satisfied, our bellies were full for the rest of the day. I highly recommend a trip down to Providence for brunch, you won’t be disappointed.