The Farmhouse at Veritas Blog

My first post is up on the Farmhouse at Veritas blog (here)!

Summer is perhaps my favorite time of year.  From a culinary perspective, it is the season that most embodies simplicity.  There are few things in life that give greater satisfaction than the ability to pick something fresh and perfectly ripe from one’s own garden, prepare it in a simple way in order to maintain that ingredient’s flavor and integrity, and eat it immediately – perhaps al fresco, with friends.

At The Farmhouse, our own garden has begun to produce more than we know what to do with, from tomatoes to sweet corn to okra to freshly dug potatoes. In the summer and early autumn, it’s a privilege to have so much homegrown produce right at our fingertips and to be able to work with such extraordinarily fresh ingredients. And as a guest, it’s a truly unique experience to be able to dine in the Garden House during the warm summer months, overlooking the Farmhouse garden where so many elements of the meal are grown.

The incredible thing about Virginia, and in particular this area of Virginia, is the amazing abundance and variety of products that are available locally. Agriculture is the state’s largest single industry, and due to its relatively temperate climate and long growing season, Virginia is a state capable of accommodating an array of different fruits and vegetables.  In addition, Virginia boasts incredible wineries and breweries, cheese producers, artisanal butchers, bakeries, and innumerable other extraordinary local manufacturers.

What I love most about being a chef here is how passionate Virginia’s food, wine, and agricultural community is about what it does.  There is an inherent sense of responsibility among producers to create products of the highest quality, and in turn, consumers are particularly conscious of where their food comes from and treat it with corresponding respect.  Ours is an area defined by a rich culinary heritage, and a community with an ardent desire to remain true to its roots.  I think it is this sense of integrity, not to mention all of the incredible goods that are produced as a result of this attitude, which so draws people to this area.

Chef Andy and I fully embrace this philosophy at The Farmhouse at Veritas.  Emphasizing the concept of farm-to-table cooking, we strive year-round to create menus that showcase ingredients seasonally available in our area and products that are cultivated by local purveyors.  It is an exciting and extremely rewarding challenge, and one that we very much hope you can share with us!

Paris

At the beginning of July, I flew to Paris to visit my boyfriend, Julien.  I’d been to Paris once before while studying abroad during college, but I was excited to return and see the more local side of the city.

Jour 1

J lives in the 9ème arrondissement, in an incredibly trendy up-and-coming little neighborhood called South of Pigalle (also known as SoPi, in true hipster fashion) that, with its many contemporary restaurants, bars, and cafés, is often compared to New York’s Williamsburg. We stopped on our way from the airport – much to my complete and unabashed delight to be doing something so quintessentially “Parisian” – to buy a baguette from the boulangerie across the street from J’s apartment.

After dropping off my luggage, we headed back out to explore the neighborhood.  My favorite way to travel and to get to know a city is to taste its cuisine. Food is so evocative of emotion and tradition, and tasting another culture’s cuisine can somehow viscerally convey the raw essence of that culture far more compellingly than nearly any other medium.  In keeping with this philosophy, we stopped for a quick apéro at a little café near J’s apartment, then meandered around the neighborhood for a bit, pausing to make a dinner reservation for later that evening. We popped into a wine shop for a bottle of rosé and made our way back to the apartment to watch the sun set over Paris from J’s rooftop.

The view from his roof is incredible. I think I could have spent all of my time in Paris on that roof and never have grown tired of the view; you can see the Eiffel tower to the south, Sacré-Cœur in the north, and nearly all the rest of Paris in between. The sun doesn’t set in Paris until nearly 10pm in the summer, so the afternoon light lingered in the evening sky, casting a beautiful glow over the city.

  

For dinner our first night, we ate at Le Pantruche, a modern French bistro very near J’s apartment on rue Victor Massé.  The menu changes daily, and is written on a chalkboard propped up in the dining room.  The interior of the restaurant is almost entirely wood and mirrors, and has a definite charm to it.