The Farm Cafe

We went to a restaurant we hadn't been to tonight, and it was a winner! It was enjoyed by all of us. It's called The Farm Cafe, on SE 10th Ave, just south of Burnside. It focuses on fresh, local, organic foods.

When we first drove up, Paul was quite reserved about it. He said, well, we'll look at the menu. It looked like just a big old house with a placard out front. It looked quite dead, actually. But when we opened the door it was like entering one of those tents in Harry Potter--it was completely different inside, a bustling, busy, happy place.

The Farm Cafe isn't a vegetarian restaurant, but it does cater to vegetarians and vegans. There were two entrees for Hibi, our resident vegan, to choose from, which may not sound like many but she had a hard time choosing because both sounded so good. She chose a tofu and herbed mashed potato offering. She enjoyed it greatly and I enjoyed the one bite I had of it. I ordered goat cheese ravioli and it was also stellar. It came with fresh cherry tomatoes that were *so* flavorful and fresh basil on top. Zac ordered the Farmhouse Veggie Burger, which he grudgingly allowed me to have a bite of, and it was very tasty, though a bit messy. He didn't eat his salad, though, so Paul and I split it. Paul ordered just an appetizer, with a mind to share mine and thinking that entrees are usually quite large. It was a delicious three figs stuffed with gorgonzola cheese dressed in a balsamic vinegar reduction. *So* good!

The only problem we had with it is that the portions were probably more suited to how we usually eat, so Paul wasn't left a whole lot to eat. The ravioli was only about 5 squares and the other two dishes weren't really enough to share, either. We had expected more figs than just three. Still, when you think about the fact that it's all organic it really wasn't overpriced. So, we decided to sate our remaining hunger by ordering a cheese plate. There were four different kinds of cheese, paired with tasty crusty cheesy bread, some fruit, and a quince paste of sorts. (I didn't catch the actual name of it.) It was very tasty, and a nice finish to the meal. After that we weren't hungry anymore. We all sent it to the top of our favorite restaurant list!

We came home and made mojitos....we're diligently using up all that excess mint. ;-) The kids enjoyed them without rum, of course.