Daily dispatches on the Washington, DC area's food, restaurant and dining scene.

An Early Look at Founding Farmers

Photographs by Jasmine Touton

Independent restaurants usually have multiple owners. But 40,000? That’s how many people are behind downtown DC’s new Founding Farmers. The owners are all members of the North Dakota Farmer’s Union, the same group that opened Agraria in Georgetown two years ago.

The union spent $6 million on the space to create a “modern farmhouse” feel, complete with “silo-shaped” booths. But the two-story, 8,500 square-foot restaurant feels more like a Philippe Starck interpretation of a cavernous barn: Those sleek, circular booths feel more isolated than homespun, especially when set next to cold concrete pillars. Decorative jars of pickled vegetables are lit eerily from below and sit on minimalist steel-and-glass shelving. Sure, doors and ladders from an old West Virginia barn decorate the first floor, but the contemporary slickness overwhelms the rustic details.

The union charged veteran Atlanta chef Graham Duncan with turning their farm-sourced products into modern-rustic dishes, and his lengthy menu promises familiar comfort food—chicken pot pie, meatloaf, chips and dip—and more whimsical offerings like kettle-corn and bacon lollipops. But on our early visit, the menu descriptions sounded better than what was on the plate. Those bacon “lollies” turned out to be rectangle-cut strips threaded on toothpicks, and the “classic filling” in the deviled eggs was a finely diced egg salad, without the traditional mustard or paprika. Portions are as colossal as the space: Our carrot cake could have fed a small family.

The restaurant does deliver when it comes to environmental friendliness. It’s the first restaurant in DC to meet the LEED Gold Standard design criteria, and the Green Restaurant Association deemed it a Certified Green Restaurant. According to Dan Simons, one of the union’s local representatives, fryer grease is converted into bio-fuel, half of the energy comes from alternative sources like wind power, and the floorboards are made from salvaged wood. Unlike most restaurants, the kitchen staff separates recyclable waste from compostable waste.

“Our principles continue to raise the bar,” says Simons of the restaurant’s commitment to the environment. Let’s hope the food follows suit.

Founding Farmers, 1924 Pennsylvania Ave., NW; 202-822-8783; wearefoundingfarmers.com. Open Monday through Friday for breakfast, and daily for lunch and dinner. Appetizers, $2 to $20; entrees, $12 to $45.

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Comments

Hello,
M
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So,if you are interested in it, you can have a look.
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Posted by: FE, Oct 07, 2010 05:46:43 AM

AWFUL service - went for a birthday dinner and had reservations. We were seated late and at a table at the bar where the noise level was so loud we could not hear. food was bland and heavy. I will never eat here again.

Posted by: mm, Aug 02, 2009 03:59:04 PM

The service staff has a serious chip on their shoulder at this place. For a place that’s so revered for its LEED certification, owned-by-farmers mission, local/organic ingredients, etc, it’s disturbingly snooty.

Posted by: MB, Nov 24, 2008 11:59:25 AM

I’ve been to Founding Farmers twice. The first time was for breakfast-our party of four walked out after an hour of waiting. The second time I returned, based only on the invite of a manager, and once again, we received terrible service. Once you wait for your food, it’s good (read: not great) but the wait is so long, it’s really not worth it. Spend a little more and go to Kinkead’s instead.

Posted by: Katie, Nov 24, 2008 11:55:52 AM

My husband I went to celebrate my birthday last week. The bartender was great - very professional in an easygoing way. There was a snafu with the credit card machine uplink and he was very apologetic about the inconvenience, even offering a post-prandial round on him, but unfortunately we were too full to take him up on it. The drinks themselves were lovely. My cocktail was the most well-balanced I’ve had outside of New York, and this includes the overrated ones at Restaurant Eve and PX. The food was delicious and the variety on the menu much appreciated. The only downside to the evening was our waiter, who did not take me seriously when I told him my wine was corked (it smelled like a mildewy wet sock and tasted worse). He offered to replace it with a different one featuring the same grape, but he did so while implying - twice, over my insistence otherwise - that this was being done because I did not "like" the wine. I’d like to go back, but maybe next time we’ll stick to the bar...or hope not to get the same waiter again.

Posted by: KT, Oct 20, 2008 12:40:17 PM