Farmstead 303 Opens in Decatur Depot; Menu Online
Decatur Metro | June 4, 2010 | 10:28 amAfter a pre-opening party for friends and fam on May 29th and 30th, Farmstead 303 opened up this Tuesday, June 1st in the Decatur Depot.
While parts of Farmstead’s website are still under construction, the first seasonal menu is up, kicking and awaiting your perusal.
Of particular interest, Farmstead is utilizing its excess land along the train tracks to install 13 raised garden beds around the property to grow and serve ULTRA-local food. The video below gives a brief tour of what’s currently planted around the property.
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Looks delicious! I think those collard greens, fried blue cheese grits & that banana split creme brulee are gonna be screaming my name come tomorrow evening.
Ugh, they misspelled “Caesar” on their menu!
must of had a spelling “ceizure”
My call for a healthier kids menu has been answered!
Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!
Kind of reminds me of the menu at Parish in Old Fourth Ward — only more selection.
yummmm… It makes my pb and j for lunch today look so sad… now I’m really hungry
Last year, eating at Zazu in CA, we sat by the kitchen and watched as the chef kept sending her workers into the garden for various herbs and vegetables.
The chef is a genius, but that kind of fresh will make any cook look great.
We ate at Zazu last week while in Sonoma! The house cured meats and locally caught wild boar were outstanding.
I had their daily special, which was pork loin wrapped in belly and herbs and slow roasted. The thought of it makes me want to buy a plane ticket.
Having a garden on the property is a great idea! I wonder if particles from trains buzzing by will damage the food at all?
Another concern is contamination from railroad cross ties. There’s unfriendly stuff that leaches into soil from those ties and can be absorbed by plants growing nearby. Wonder if they had their soil tested?
Thought of this when planning the garden. We purposely did not use rr ties for this reason. Also planted “raised” beds so as not to have to worry about the soil.
But you use Round-Up insecticides? Tsk tsk. I don’t want to eat anything from your toxic gardens.
Well, for the record, RoundUp is an herbicide (weedkiller), not a pesticide. So, the only plants that would be treated wouldn’t be those being eaten. Whether there are more “organic” ways to kill weeds is another debate, and one I’m not knowledgeable enough to talk about.
Spraying/squirting Round-Up to kill weeds in or near a vegetable garden is a no-no. Read the MSDS information on Round-Up. There are still people who pull up or dig up “weeds”. Just sayin…
Actually, we used an “organic” weed killer. Since this is my first attempt at a real garden (other than herb ones), I hope that everyone can find it to be a very positive use of the space. I could certainly use constructive feedback. I am always there so anyone that is interested, please stop by and give me your advice for I am always looking to better my concept.
It is great that you have a garden for the restaurant ! Fresh garden vegetables will enhance your wonderful menu items.
Gardening in a way that is truly organic is often more complicated than people realize.You may want to contact Georgia Organics http://www.georgiaorganics.org/join/ . They provide information and offer classes about organic farming and gardening.
Went to the soft opening last weekend and the samples we had were very tasty.
Had the pleasure of dining there on opening night. Farmstead made great use of the Depot space and the food was wonderful. We split the ‘Southern Sampler’ and duck dish–still dreaming of the hush puppies.
Can’t wait to get back and try more.
they misspelled tartar as well.
and they misspelled peasant in teri’s bio! over and over and over again.
And you started a sentence with a conjunction. Followed by a sentence fragment.
This poor “proofreading” is more annoying than the Decatur Diner’s detractors. What a pitch-perfect example of those living in glass grammar books throwing stones.
Will proofread for food!
And forgot to swap out the placeholder text on the Our Team page. Will web design for hush puppies!
We stopped by Farmstead 303 this weekend. Went to look at the garden beds. No one was around but there was a big bottle of Round-Up sitting by the beds. There also seemed to be granular fertilizer on all beds – could be organic but given the presence of the Round Up , I am skeptical about the “organic-ness” of this garden.
Be careful of your words here, For The Birds. Unless you can back up these claims of Farmstead 303’s use of herbicides and pesticides, you shouldn’t be posting them here.
Saw the bottle with my own eyes. Never said I saw anyone spray it on the veggie plants. Still , anyone truly focused on organic gardening/farming would not be using that type substance to kill weeds even near their plants. I stand by my comments that I am skeptical about a true commitment to organic gardening.
I am fine with calling this fresh local produce – whatever the growing methods it is better than trucking in veggies from far away places. On the other hand, I thought it took time – months maybe years – to be certified organic. I don’t think using herbicide on the area around the raised beds would be OK for that certification.
Someone from the restaurant has posted other comments here. I’d love to hear more details about just what organic means in term of their garden beds.
Wow! Some severe Spelling Critics out there!
However, despite the frightening lapse in correct spelling on the menu, we had a really wonderful meal at Farmstead 303. The Blue Cheese Grits, Chicken cordon Bleu and Chocolate Lava Cake, delicious! Also tried the Salmon which was wonderful. Great outside patio.
(Hope I didn’t misspel anything)
We hit the bar for a couple drinkslast night, and loved it. Our bartender Garland is a mixologist who threw together a couple killer cocktails. My wife had a Honeydew Cooler, which has cucumber vodka, honeydew melon, blueberries, and spritzer. It was a very fitting, ” garden fresh” drink, and great on a hot evening. Definately recommend the bar.
I’m a teacher. Correct spelling is an indicator of……nothing. I encounter wonderfully bright and creative students, and in the general population, who simply do not spell well.
Looking forward to experiencing Farmstead in the near future.
Sorry! Guess I typed the menu in a hurry to get open. Have already gone through “three” versions since Tuesday. Suppose I will retype another one for tonight. It is a work in progress.
Free hushpuppies today at 4:00 for all proof readers!
Sounds like you should be pleased that people hung on every word in your menu! Best of luck with the restaurant, which I’m looking forward to trying in the near future…..
Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, was once told by his mother that his mispelling was caused by his mind being one step ahead of his hands. Hmm.
Flannery O’Connor, certainly the best writer ever to come out of Georgia, used to refer to herself as “a very innocent speller”.
People who can spell are such conformists. Free your mind man!
Actually, Flannery O’Connor never did “come out”. Her Catholicism wouldn’t let her 😉
Jack Welch’s Mommy was right! I kno it too be tru.
The LG and I had a very nice meal Friday evening on the patio. I think Garland was a bit overwhelmed by the crowd and the delay in getting our drinks was really the only real service glitch of our dining experience. The vinegar sauce for the barbeque sandwich is terrific. The LG went for the grilled shrimp figuring it may not be around much longer thanks to our friends at BP and was well rewarded. Looking forward to Kessler’s comments.
LG? Love Gangsta?
The Lovely Ginger.
The concept of the local garden is wonderful and a great use of the sunny space. I recently designed a raised bed garden for a friend and did some research about materials.When I saw the gardens at Farmstead, I did wonder if the wood used at to create the raised beds is pressure treated wood (it looks like it is the same profile) which would be a problem for the soil in the garden.
Our first dinner there tonight was “meh”. It seems they were having some problems with item shortages, anything baked and desserts. I will definitely give it another try in a couple of weeks. It’s only been open less than a week so hopefully tonight was an anomaly.
Had some friends say the same thing…some had the fried chicken and said the food was pretty bland, and just so-so. I had the same experience at Farm Burger when they just opened…the food was just “meh”. But we gave it a second chance and went there again yesterday, hoping they had time to work out the “kinks” and it was much improved. I hope the same for Farmstead 303, it’s a great concept that seems to be going mainstream in Decatur!
People in this town are really insane.
Round-up was NOT used! The pelletized fertilizer is organic, at least that’s what the bag said. I installed the gardens with organic soil. We put worms in the soil last week and nematodes, ladybugs, and green lacewings are to be used when the plants get a little bigger (to hold the bugs there). This is truly an organic garden (except maybe the rubber soaker hoses installed in the beds, but rubber is organic, right?). If you see a bottle of Round-up anywhere near my gardens, throw it in the dumpster, PLEASE! I hope everyone that walks by will pull the stray weeds…thanks for your help and admiration!
Glad to hear from you on this subject. I’m the one who saw the Round Up. Perhaps someone not really involved with the garden was tidying up the yard for the opening weekend and accidentally left the bottle close to the garden. Happy to know it is not in regular use at Farmstead.
Totally agree that produce from an on site kitchen garden is the best way to go . I look forward to watching your veggies grow .
Oh, and the timbers are pressure treated but lined so the soil does not touch the timbers. This was a matter of cost, longevity, and soundness. I did some research regarding using pressure treated lumber and there are people on both sides of the issue. Personally, I have a raised bed garden that was constructed on railroad ties and I haven’t grown a second head or anything. I’d rather know where the food comes from…who knows what could be done on some of those commercial farms in South America.
I also hope my spelling passes muster…
As promised, I ate at Farmstead 303. Food was good, not great. We really liked the blue cheese grit cake appetizer and the beet cake served with the trout. The banana chocolate bread pudding was scrumptious (hubby scarfed it). That patio is wonderful, and there was a very good sized crowd on hand by the time we left. I think there are high hopes for this place because many of us know Terri’s track record, Give it some time, and it will likely go from good to great. Btw, Danny, our waiter was terrific, and we enjoyed talking with Spencer, the manager. Kessler (AJC food reveiwer) was there, so it will be interesting to see what, if anything, he has to say.
I think everyone should be required to work with someone that is opening a restaurant before being allowed to write a critique. Just the government regulations alone and lack of support from these agencies would be enough to make most people throw in the towel. Restaurateurs often work long hours 7 days a week, invest their life’s savings and risk everything because the passion they have to create a wonderful environment for their community. It’s unfortunate that even after all this hard work, stress and planning that some folks in the community can only come up with “They misspelled this or that” rather than appreciate what something like this seemingly wonderful restaurant has to offer the community. Let’s not treat these folks like politicians and drag their name through the dirt. They work hard. Without our support they will leave and be replaced by less desirable ventures or even…dare I say….CHAINS!!!! Can’t wait to try Farmstead!
Thank you Patrick! Well said. I get tired of reading all the negative comments on this page. Can we just be happy with the fact that something took that beautiful building over and it’s not another empty space? We ate at Farmstead on Saturday and it was great. The service was excellent and both of the managers came by our table to check on us.
There are very few restaurants on the planet that don’t have hiccups during the first month of business. Just getting the doors open is miraculous these days, and the rest is part of the process. Give them a month to get a groove going!
Tomatoes are always present as garden vegetables because they are easy to grow.;,’