It seems like it may be the most buzzed-about new restaurant in 2021 and I was lucky enough to try Farmhouse Tap + Tavern for myself.
Farmhouse Tap + Tavern, well the building it’s currently in, has such an interesting history. First, being a dry goods store. Then, after 70 years, it was rented to the Atlantic & Pacific Tea Company until 1960s. After going through a bunch of other iterations, it more recently became Mio Vino, and finally, Farmhouse Tap + Tavern. The origins of the style and name, they describe best on their website, “Farmhouse Tap + Tavern originates from a long line of my family farmers based on Long Island. The Schmitt’s have been farming there since 1853 with their main crops being potatoes and cabbage. The other side of the family, the Schneider’s, also focused mostly on potato farming. The name, Farmhouse Tap + Tavern, comes not only from my roots, but also from our community. The Helderbergs are home to an amazing population of farmers, ranchers, gardeners and growers who provide much of the food that we serve here at the Farmhouse.”
Before my boyfriend and I went, we checked out the menu online to have an idea of what we’re ordering. The only problem is that everything sounded amazing and we changed our mind like 30 times. To start, we ordered the Ahi Tuna Nachos (that I don’t seem to see on the menu anymore) and Korean Crispy Brussels ($10). I had my heart set on the Burrata but my boyfriend led me to the direction we went in- next time. I love Brussels sprouts and loved the crispiness and the Korean-style flavor. My opinion is you can never go wrong with sprouts (unless there’s too much bacon), here, they were really delicious and I couldn’t stop eating them. The nachos were equally tasty. The fish was fresh, the avocado made for a great pairing. The only thing I would stay is maybe less onions but since they’re nachos, you have the option to put onions on your bite or not.
For dinner, my boyfriend ordered the Crispy Chicken ($16) and I ordered the Filet Mignon ($45). His sandwich was delicious. He deemed the fried chicken perfectly crispy and loved the amount of spice with the sriracha. My filet was a perfect medium rare. I originally wanted the steak frites but apparently, they’re popular because they were out the night we went. I loved the bone marrow crust. I’m not well-experienced in bone marrow but it added a little something to the flavor that was fantastic. For the sides, I’m not a huge asparagus fan but they were good and the fingerlings were very well seasoned, I loved it all together.
Last, we got dessert ($9). My boyfriend ordered the beautiful Berries Sabayon (which, I’ll be honest, we had zero clue what that meant). I ordered the creme brûlée. They assured us that the desserts were made in-house and you could tell. Neither of us wanted to share our desserts with the other, they were so good. If I could’ve fit another creme brûlée in my stomach I may have ordered another to experience it again.
Overall, we had an amazing experience, our waitress was fantastic and Jackie, the owner, was incredibly accommodating. So happy to see such a new restaurant with such success during the pandemic, especially one with delicious food like this.
*Note: though I wasn’t monetarily compensated, I was gifted this meal in exchange for an honest review
