Fresh Picks: Virginia’s Farm to Table Restaurants

If you consider yourself a foodie, you've definitely heard the term farm to table. But this phrase has become more of a culinary buzzword and less of a defining characteristic for restaurants, losing a lot of real meaning within the food community along the way. 

However, Virginia has a number of restaurants that truly do justice to the farm to table movement. These delicious dining spots work with local farmers and artisanal food providers to ensure only the best Virginia ingredients go into their seasonal, regionally-inspired fare.

Check out these 10+ restaurants within the Commonwealth that consistently feature a full menu of locally-sourced flavors.

The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm—Lovettsville 

Located about an hour from Washington D.C. in Loudoun County, The Restaurant at Patowmack Farm gives takes "local" to the extreme. The farm was one of the first certified organic farms in Virginia. James Beard nominee and Executive Chef Tarver King creates his entire menu around what is grown, raised, and foraged from the grounds surrounding the restaurant.

For King, the fields are his well-stocked pantry, allowing him to build creative recipes from the ground up. Your meal will include ingredients that were picked just hours before they arrived on your plate, making it one of the most authentic farm-to-table dining experiences in all of Virginia. 

Adrift—White Stone

Opened in 2018 in a small town on the Northern Neck, Adrift’s ever-changing menu reflects the bounty of the Chesapeake Bay waters. From oysters and clams harvested only minutes away to locally-grown produce, the restaurant incorporates the best flavors of the coastal lowlands and the nearby waterways, blending land and sea for an unforgettable meal.

Owned by a husband and wife team that previously trained at the Michelin-Star Inn at Little Washington, Adrift has become a dining mainstay for the residents of White Stone and surrounding communities. 

Woodstock Cafe—Woodstock

The Shenandoah Valley region of Virginia is known for its rich soil, with much of the landscape being used for organic farming. Woodstock Cafe Owners Nikki Grant and Jose Arevalos take full advantage of the fertile grounds, sourcing almost every ingredient for their weekend dinner menu from nearby farms—most of them within a five-mile radius of the restaurant.

Many of their meats come from Autumn Olive Farms, known for providing quality products while also maintaining the highest standards of animal care, while produce is sourced from farms like Adams Apples & Herbs and Mowery Orchard. As with many farm-to-table restaurants, the Woodstock menu changes seasonally to reflect the current harvest.

Don’s Seafood Market & Restaurant—Chincoteague 

If you’re looking for fresh seafood on Virginia’s Eastern Shore, head to Don’s Seafood in Chincoteague. Crab, flounder, and other aquatic fare are sourced from the ocean waters just steps from the restaurant. Owner Tom Clark grows his own oysters and clams at Tom’s Cove Aquafarms, a local shellfish farm that harvests from sea beds beside Assateague Island National Seashore. 

Blue Wing Frog—Front Royal

On the northern border of Shenandoah National Park, Blue Wing Frog embraces the idea that homemade is best, making everything in-house and with no shortcuts or substitutes. Breads, cakes, cookies, soups, stocks, salad dressings, and condiments are all freshly crafted by hand. Plus, the restaurant gets nearly all their meats, eggs, and produce locally, and strives to find organic products whenever possible. 

Foode—Fredericksburg

Led by Founding Partner and Executive Chef Joy Crump, Foode has a philosophy of only using the freshest, cleanest ingredients in its dishes. Ingredients come from farms just outside of Fredericksburg, supporting the local community by highlighting the products grown and harvested in the region.

Heirloom vegetables grown at Ferry Farm and other farms in Spotsylvania county add vibrant flavors to the restaurant’s seasonally-changing dishes, and organic meats from Gladys, Virginia ensure that Crump’s high culinary standards are maintained. On any given day, Foode sources between 85-90% of their ingredients from local farms and merchants. 

Harper’s Table—Suffolk 

The food at Harper’s Table in Suffolk isn’t the only thing sourced locally. The restaurant utilized reclaim wood from the old Suffolk Peanut Company building to craft a vintage pine canopy above the booth seating. The restaurant’s Southern-inspired menu showcases local produce at peak freshness, as well as freshly caught seafood and the best cuts of meat from Coastal Virginia farms. When visiting, be sure to try the Pork Belly Biscuit, a favorite menu item for staff and regulars alike. 

Basic Necessities—Nellysford

A quaint eatery in the picturesque Blue Ridge Mountains, Basic Necessities blends thoughtful food preparation with a relaxed atmosphere that immediately makes you feel at home. You won’t feel rushed to finish your meal at this European-inspired restaurant. Instead, you're encouraged to spend a few hours enjoying fresh food and the company of your dining companions.

Basic Necessities is a bastion of the “Slow Food Movement,” using as many local, seasonal, and pesticide-free farm products as they can, sourcing from Blue Heron Farm, Little Hat Creek Farm, Twin Springs Farm, Whisper Hill Farm, and Edible Landscaping, among many other local farms. Additionally, they are committed to only using free-range, humanely-raised meats from farms like River Oak Farm and Double H Farm. 

Off the Grid—Sperryville

Located near the Thornton Gap entrance to Shenandoah National Park, Off the Grid does more than just the bare minimum when it comes to sustainable, farm-to-table dining practices. They constantly strive towards their goal of a zero-waste restaurant, and even provide their own solar-powered electricity. Kitchen scraps are either composted or fed to the chickens, and all packaging that cannot be composted is recycled.

The restaurant sources many of their ingredients from their own garden and small-scale farm area, raising chickens and ducks to provide fresh eggs for the restaurant. Meats come from nearby Whiffletree Farm and J&L Green Farm, where the farmers practice sustainable, humane pasture-raising.

The Savory Grain—Richmond

The Savory Grain is continuously reaching out to farms surrounding the metro Richmond area, searching for new partners that can provide delicious seasonal produce and locally-made products. The ever-changing menu focuses on new American cuisine, paired with local beers, wines, and ciders. There are 24 local beers on tap at any given time, highlighting the latest releases from breweries like Hardywood and Legend Brewery. The Savory Grain is also committed to environmentally-friendly practices, recycling and composting almost all the unused products that come through the restaurant. 

Esoteric—Virginia Beach

Virginia Beach's Esoteric is known for its diverse craft beer selection and carefully curated provisions, with much of their produce grown on-site in the garden space behind the restaurant. It shares this garden space with neighboring restaurant Commune, which also utilizes the fresh herbs, vegetables, and fruits in their seasonal menu. Esoteric also hosts dinner in the tranquil garden space.

Hungry for more? Keep reading about farm-to-table restaurants in Virginia to find your next local meal.