Farmer's
Cabinet
1113 Walnut Street
Philadelphia, PA 19107
My girlfriend and I were supposed to go
out for my cousin's birthday during restaurant week, but her husband was sick,
and it wound up snowing, so my family decided not to drive into the city. My
girlfriend and I had to brainstorm and come up with somewhere else to go, so
she decided on the Farmer's Cabinet. I had heard some rumblings about this
place, in particular about how cool their bar was, but had never seen it first
hand. I got there about a half hour before my girlfriend, so I sat down and
grabbed myself a few drinks at the bar. The bartenders are dressed in old
school attire, which I always am a fan of. They boast the best European craft
beer selection in Philly, and after looking at the menu; they definitely should
be in the running. They have a really great selection. They have tons of taps,
tons of bottles, and even some on nitro. I loved sitting at that bar.
When my girlfriend arrived, we were seated
right away and she ordered herself up one of their fine beers. As we usually
do, we picked different things for every course so we could really taste the
dishes that they had to offer. For appetizers we decided on the tomato bisque
and the pretzels with beer mustard. Even before we got the pretzels, I knew
what my girlfriend's critique of them would be. Good, but just not amazing. She
says this every time we eat pretzels, and I guess since she is German, she
really does know better than me. As I predicted that was what she said, and I
had to agree with her. The pretzels were good, but they were too greasy and not
salty enough. The beer mustard though was very tasty.
I knew that we were going to order the
butternut squash ravioli even before we decided on it because my girlfriend is
obsessed with them. They sounded delicious anyway, and they really were. The
pasta was tender and the filling was creamy as can be. The sage cream that was
served with the ravioli was fantastic. Sage anything is a homerun in my book.
The oxtail ragout was the perfect complement to the ravioli because it was rich
and fatty. I have had oxtail a few times now and I have to say it is a very
tasty meat when prepared properly. We also ordered the braised short ribs with
white grape corn bread, beer braised cabbage and a whiskey demi-glaze. The
short ribs were spectacularly tender, as if they had been braised all day. They
were seasoned perfectly and the whiskey demi-glaze only made them tastier.
However, as good as the short ribs were, the white grape corn bread missed by
the same margin. It was tough, not fluffy, and clearly overcooked. I really
didn’t like how crusty it was, and I thought that the corn flavor was really
missing as well. It was a big disappointment.
I didn’t have high hopes for the dessert
round because the options didn’t really intrigue me very much. After receiving
our desserts, I realized my expectations were correct. I really don’t like
chocolate in bread pudding, so the chocolate chip bread pudding was a real miss
for me. Also the mixed fruit crumble was both a hit and a miss.. The fruit part
of it was great. It was reduced down enough to give you that crumble feel, but
the actual crumble itself was poorly executed. There wasn’t enough of it, and
what parts of it there were just didn’t taste great. If you are going to have a
crumble on your menu, you better make sure the crumble is the star and is on
point. This just wasn’t the case.
I wish I could give two separate ratings
for the bar and the restaurant at Farmer's Cabinet. The bar really nailed it,
but the food had some problems. For now a one and a half pint rating is all I
can muster. There were definitely some highlights in the short ribs and the
butternut squash ravioli, but there were some huge missteps in terms of dessert
and the cornbread. I’d have to say you should definitely check out the bar… but
you can skip the food. I know I will be back there, and maybe the food will be
better on a night outside of restaurant week, but I can’t guarantee it. If you
know better than me let me know! Cheers!
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