La Laiterie at Farmstead

If I were ever to open my own restaurant, I would imagine it to be like La Laiterie at Farmstead in the Wayland neighborhood of Providence. It is a small, warm space with simple, yet strongly executed menu items, most of which are on the to-be-shared scale of things, and a well rounded wine list.

The bistro-style restaurant is adjacent to Chef/owner Matt Jennings’ first gift to New England foodies, Farmstead, a specialty food store featuring domestic and international artisan cheeses and accompaniments. The restaurant is a narrow room, contemporary in design, made cozy by the prevalent use of wood and hanging paper lights, which give off a slight golden hue to the dim lit room. With regular and high, bar-style tables, and a bar at the back of the restaurant, the place has a low-key vibe.

Like the locale’s ambience, the food is straightforward, unpretentious, verging on rustic. The menu, which is printed in what I would assume to be recycled paper, is divided into clear sections showcasing the Chef’s passion for seasonal, fresh, well-sourced ingredients. The cheeses are selected daily. They are categorized by their general characteristic ranging from “bloomy, sweet and salty” to “veined, blue and robust”. A board of five includes one from each group, and is served with seasonal accompaniments. We got a sweet, cherry marmalade, herbed, candied nuts (I distinguished thyme and rosemary), and honeycomb. As a cheese lover, I was in heaven.

The charcuterie is “carefully procured” or made in house, which we solely ordered since Chef Jennings’ has an award-winning reputation of pork master. Among our board of five were pig ear terrine, pork belly roulade, and bresaola. While all were proof of the chef’s mastery of the craft of charcuterie, their flavor was slightly under whelmed by the house made breads- foccacia and pretzel bread, which were generously finished with coarse salt.

For treats and starters, which were all single portions, the smoked beef tongue bruschetta with beer-braised onions, and blue cheese is a definite must try. The onions were soft and sweet, and the blue cheese was not overpowering like it tends to be. The roasted beet salad, beautifully composed on the plate, had marinated feta which was unique- creamier than the average Greek-style feta. From the small plates, the baked cheesemonger’s mac and cheese had a nice golden, crispy crust with a rich center. The seared Vermont chicken livers with beer battered onion rings was not my favorite. The menu also has large plates, which featured on the evening of my visit mussels, all-natural burger, roasted duck breast, lamb, and a grilled cheese with Virginia smoky ham.

Matt Jennings knows what he’s doing.