Along with two other couples, my dinner date and I headed a few miles down Highway 11 toward the one-time capital of North Carolina, Kinston.  That's right.  Kinston was the state capital for a short period of time during the late 1700's when the State's first Governor, Richard Caswell, resided there. 

Another interesting part of Kinston's history is the building that currently houses Chef & The Farmer.  A former mule stable, Chef & The Farmer provides a modern, casual dining experience with dark, art covered walls, exposed ceiling's and an open kitchen where you can watch chefs preparing your food.  There's also an ample and inviting bar area.  On Chef & the Farmer's website when referencing their location they tell you to "go to nowhere and turn left".  That's basically a correct statement.  Who would ever expect to find this extraordinary restaurant when off the beaten path?

Another one of the things that makes Chef & The Farmer different from other restaurants in the area is its menu.  Its selections sometime fluctuate with what's fresh at the local farmer's market.  This is because Chef & The Farmer uses a lot of locally grown foods to create their dishes.

For my dinner entree I chose the soft shell crab scampi served in Tomato & Summer Vegetable Risotto.  It was the first time I had soft shell crab that was not breaded and fried and I loved it.  The crab was large and both the shell and meat were tender and tasty.  The risotto had a zesty tomato flavor that worked well with the crab. 

My dinner date had a salad before his entree.  He chose the Brother's Farm Mixed Lettuces which included blueberries, Romano cheese, spiced pecans, and was topped with basil balsamic vinaigrette dressing. He had great things to say about the dressing but was most taken by the spiced pecans.  I managed to sneak one of them, as well as a blueberry, and they were both fresh and tasty.  I'm going to get this salad next time.  For his entree, my date had the Grilled Hanger Steak which came with red, white & blue duck fat roasted potatoes, horseradish and caramelized onion aioli.  While this particular cut of meat was not as tender as he would have preferred, the flavor was good and the horseradish was a great compliment to the steak.

Along with our dinner we decided to order two glasses of Osso Anna Merlot.  We liked it so much, we found ourselves wishing that we had bought a bottle, but didn't want to buy a new one when we'd already had a glass each.  Our server, Betsy, brought us what was left in the bottle she had already opened and prorated the price for the amount that was left.  How many other places would do that for you?  It's that type of personal customer service that keeps folks coming back, and creates good word of mouth.  I wish more locally owned businesses would catch on to that way of thinking.

As for dessert, I have a rule.  If a restaurant serves creme brule, I'm ordering it.  So I did.  Unfortunately, there appeared to be a kitchen emergency that kept my creme brule sitting on the counter well past the time that it had been torched, so it was room temperature, cooler than I prefer.  Still, the taste was rich and sweet so I still managed to clean the trivet :o).

The two other couples that were with us all thoroughly enjoyed their meals as well.  The friend who sat beside me had the shrimp and grits and devoured it before I could blink!  I think I'll try it the next time I make my way down Highway 11 to that old mule barn Chef & The Farmer.

If you've visited the Chef & The Farmer, please add your comments to this review so others can learn more about this local restaurant.

For more information and driving directions to Chef & The Farmer, visit their website at http://www.chefandthefarmer.com.