Farmhouse Corner Market Has All the Good Taste
Photos by Kendra Aronson
The buzzy restaurant is here, and delivering
Restaurants are proliferating across the Central Coast, but all anyone seems to want to talk about is Farmhouse Corner Market. For good reason. Walk inside this sun soaked, very “Santa Monica” in design, massive space, and find a rainbow of color in warm, citrusy hues. Greenery brings even more of a lively and refreshing breath of fresh air to the place. In our Instagram-dominated world, it is hard to keep the mind from noticing how many photo opportunities the space presents in every nook. Look one way and find a refurbished yellow truck for the kids to climb in, and look another to find a rainbow of bleacher seating to take a break and snack on some ice cream from the scoop shop. There is a mind-boggling attention to detail in the design, done by Farmhouse partner Leanne Harris and Thomas Shorey of Shorey Architecture Design + Build.
Farmhouse is divided into a walk-up coffee bar, full-service restaurant, market (complete with that scoop shop) and gathering space, under the direction of Co-founders Chef Will and Kari Torres and Ryan and Leanne Harris. Together they’ve created not just a surprising venue design, but an inventive menu to back it up. The culinary team is led by Chef Will, California School of Culinary Arts graduate and winner of Food & Wine’s“The Best Winery Restaurants in America” for The Restaurant at JUSTIN.
The mornings are especially busy. With breakfast selections like the Breakfast Fried Rice, the menu is not a standard rundown of eggs, bacon and pancakes. This dish is a twist on a Filipino plate that Chef learned to make with his mom’s best friend (whom he affectionately calls his “Aunt Nancy”). It features pork adobo, longaniza sausage and soft-boiled eggs.
And it is not the only Filipino callback dish, other gems are spotted: Adobo Pork Tenderloin, braised pork served with Kandarian Organic Farms rice and vegetables; and Ahi Kinilaw, fish spiced with Fresno chili, coconut, cilantro, Thai basil, shallots and crispy garlic. It’s an ambitious menu for this area, where ethnic cuisine is a bit lacking in availability and, when a restaurant tries it, often doesn’t end up sticking around. But it seems as if Chef Will and his culinary team have worked hard to make the menu accessible, easing in these dishes with California cuisine ingredients and flavor profiles that are familiarly loved by diners, such as tartare sourced from Farmhouse’s exclusive farm, Edna Valley Ranch. Ingredients for dishes come from more local purveyors and farms including Peacock Farms, ETTO, Anson Mills, Okui Farms and Rancho Gordo.
The menu is nicely presented by the service team members, who are worth mentioning because, well, they’re pretty darn sharp wearing their matching denim shirts, Hedley & Bennett aprons and checkered Vans sneakers. They also know their stuff. Each staff member sits down with Chef Will to review the menu, and they’re quick to share the unique details of the space, or where the inspiration of each dish comes from. For many of the team, this is their first foray into the restaurant world, which seems to work in everyone’s favor — there is an enthusiasm behind the service.
On a personal level, I love the feeling that a corner market evokes. It brings me back to growing up in New York and running down to the store to pick up a few items for sustenance, and better yet, running into some neighbors and taking a pause to chitchat about life. If Farmhouse can be that to this community, then mission accomplished. And it looks like it’s on its way. After only a few months of being open, it’s already beloved.
