The Farmers’ Cabinet

June 16, 2011

52089929

On a blustery, sunny spring day, I happened upon The Farmers’ Cabinet, a new restaurant on Walnut Street. I walked into the dark entranceway and was smacked in the face by a heavy, dark curtain. I pushed it aside and stepped into the front room where it was so dark, my night blindness and vertigo kicked in. In the wise words of a friend who is a judge, “it’s an accident waiting to happen.”

Edward and I decided on dinner at The Farmers’ Cabinet. Unlike my first experience, the front windows were open so the entranceway was not as dark. I held Edward’s hand as the hostess led us into the dark dining room and seated us at a long wooden table with hard wood benches. The jazz on the sound system was so loud I could not hear a word she said.

I whipped out my flashlight and looked over the large and confusing menu. Our server spoke softly so we could not hear him as well. He commenced with the spiel about the menu and brought us Schuylkill punch.

I liked the Prohibition-era cocktails glasses used for our martinis ($11). It took Edward and me 20 minutes to navigate the menu. On the flip side, there was a list of breads at different price points. In Europe, it is not unusual to pay for bread and butter. Our server said he would bring us complimentary apricot bread along with three small jars of butter, raspberry jam and fig jam and the manager lowered the blast on the sound system.

A pea tendrils salad ($8), which had a nice combination of crisp, salt and acid, was topped with salted ricotta and crispy shallots and tossed in a preserved lemon vinaigrette. Three small pan-fried oysters ($12) came with sweet and sour cucumbers on a pool of curry aioli and was topped with trout roe. I like fried oysters crisp. These were soggy from sitting in curried mayonnaise.

Sweetbreads are among my favorite ingredients. These were crispy with a crudo of tuna sitting on small rounds of pickled turnips ($12) and were enhanced by a caper aioli and radish sprouts. There was no “wow” factor, especially at these prices. They were just satisfactory.

Beer is the star here. The list is several pages long and difficult to read. We went for a glass of Cotes du Rhone ($9), which was hearty, rich and reasonably-priced.

Next up was pan-roasted trout ($26) served closed, which means it is skin-side up, with wilted greens doused in a bacon-sherry dressing on a bed of cauliflower puree. Nothing to write home about, folks. I prepared pan-fried trout at home last week and topped it with wild Carolina shrimp and served it with Jersey asparagus. I associate wilted greens with wintertime.

The chefs redeemed themselves a bit with duck breast ($28) and duck leg sausage with sautéed escarole and radicchio. As a Jewish comedian would say, “again with the cold-weather vegetables.” Spring peas and asparagus are in season, why not serve them? To be fair, the hunk of duck breast was OK — a little salty in spots — and the sausage fared OK as well. My dinner was bathed in a black grape reduction, which was not too sweet, but there was nothing visually appealing about my expensive entrée.

Local blueberries and strawberries are in the market now, so why would two desserts feature bananas? I ordered an ice cream sandwich ($7) made with rhubarb and strawberry ice cream. Like my flashlight, I needed to forage for a miniature microscope, if one exists. There was a small dollop of ice cream hidden under layers and layers of phyllo sheets.

Edward sampled the bananas and waffles ($7). The waffles were under-cooked and imparted an unpleasant sour flavor.

The Farmers’ Cabinet is not meant for dinner for two. We shared our table with two couples from Blue Bell and Cherry Hill. Our bill with tax and gratuity came to $179. Enough said.

One-half tip of the toque to The Farmers’ Cabinet. SPR