Daffan Nettle is Managing Director at UBS Private Wealth Management in Dallas, Texas. In the following article, Daffan Nettle reviews farm-to-table dining options throughout the Lone Star State.
Everything is bigger in Texas — even farm-to-table dining.
Texas conjures up images of smoky BBQ, vast herds of cattle, and unique Tex-Mex dishes. But at the Company Café in Dallas, one of the first farm-to-table specialists to open in the city, Texans have eaten fresh, local, natural fare for over 10 years.
In Austin, farm-to-table restaurants are among the city’s best, including Odd Duck, which got its start as a food truck, and Wu Chow, a unique concept with a Sichuan twist, reports Daffan Nettle.
In San Antonio, chef Steve McHugh opened Cured in 2013, influenced by his childhood on a Wisconsin Farm. His latest restaurant, Landrace and the Thompson San Antonio hotel focuses on heirloom and indigenous ingredients from the state.
Even in a state known for chicken-fried steak, huge sirloins, and chili con carne, farm-to-table is more popular than ever.
Daffan Nettle on Going Back to the Basics
While the farm-to-table concept was launched as far back as the 1960s, it became a full-blown movement over the past 10 years.
Farm to Table Texas, launched in 2008, works directly with over 100 local ranchers, food artisans, and farmers as a marketer and distributor. The wholesaler pinpoints customers to ethically, organically, and sustainably grown cheese, eggs milk, fruit, vegetables, and meats.
Daffan Nettle says that in Texas, farm-to-table food can be found not just in restaurants, but at local grocery stores, cafeterias, and schools.
Many of the farms and ranches in Texas are family owned. Organic lettuce comes from Crisp Farms in Smithville. Tomatoes and cucumbers are grown at Village Farms in Marfa. Sloan Dennis in Fredericksburg offers rabbit and other types of wild game. There’s even lemonade from Austin’s Me and the Bees Lemonade.
Daffan Nettle reports that other farm-to-table food is grown in a swath of urban farms, like Hatcher Station Training Farm in South Dallas. People in the underserved area no longer have to walk or drive miles to find local and fresh foods. They can head to this training farm in a vacant lot that’s open throughout the year.
Up a bit in the northern area, farms are more prevalent than ever and cater to hundreds of upscale eateries in the Dallas area. Sustainability is king in McKinney, where farms mainly specialize in meat and produce. In 2016, McKinney hosted the North Texas Farm-to-Table Food Symposium.
The McKinney Farmer’s Market is now considered one of the top 10 markets of its kind in not just in Texas but across the entire country.
Going DIY
Some of these local operations are conducted as close to restaurants as possible. But why simply purchase ingredients from local farms when a restaurant can grow it themselves asks Daffan Nettle.
A trend within the farm-to-table trend in Texas is a large number of eateries running their own farms, sometimes next to the restaurant property. The Four Seasons Resort and Club Dallas at Las Colinas has operated a garden over a half-acre behind its restaurant. There’s a 3,000-square-foot garden on the roof of the Fairmont Hotel in downtown Dallas.
Daffan Nettle notes that South Dallas’ Bonton Market Café is considered the pioneer of this sub-trend. It opened an urban farm in 2012 that was just 1 ¼ acres. Now it’s 40 acres with eggs honey, fruits, and vegetables sold on-site and added to its café dishes.
A Few Farm-to-Table Restaurants To Try in Texas
Visitors and residents can’t go wrong with these innovative and tasty spots specializing in local farm-to-table everything:
• Amelia Farm and Market
Situated right in the middle of a century-old pecan field, Amelia Farm and Market in Beaumont serves beef that is 100% grass-fed and partners with other farmers to obtain sustainable produce.
• 125 Prime Restaurant
Daffan Nettle says that Waco is having a culinary moment, with restaurants like 135 Prime offering crab cakes, freshly caught Chilean sea bass, and a Caesar Salad packed with greens they harvested the day they are served.
• Astor Farm to Table
For something different in the world of farm-to-table dining, try this Katy hotspot that specializes in Southern African and Latin American cuisine such as arepa and tostones, espetada, and Astor Asado.
• The Hoppy Monk
Daffan Nettle says that as its name suggests, there’s a lot of craft beer at this San Antonio joint, but the Hoppy Monk also has comprehensive lunch and dinner menus featuring an expansive list of locally sourced ingredients. There are also fantastic vegetarian and vegan options for dinner and a must-try Sunday brunch menu.
