Taste a farm-to-table menu at The Farmer's Daughter

Wednesday, February 12, 2014

photo Potato soup, left, a recent soup-of-the-day option, is topped with kale-based pesto at The Farmer's Daughter cafe in Hixson. The order also included a chicken salad sandwich flavored with herbs, toasted pecans, carrots, lettuce, apples and mayonnaise and served on toasted sourdough.

IF YOU GO¦ Where: The Farmer's Daughter, 1121 Hixson Pike.¦ Phone: 423-355-5372.¦ Hours: 7 a.m.-2 p.m. Tuesday-Sunday.¦ Price range: $1.50 biscuit or egg to $9 Power Salad.

Stopping by The Farmer's Daughter on Hixson Pike last week gave me the opportunity to punch at least four boxes on my hipster card.

First, it's located in the old Riverview Exxon gas station, so there is the whole urban-renewal thing. I punched the second box after looking at the menu and discovering that the restaurant uses more than a few locally grown or harvested ingredients.

The third, and maybe the hipsterist of all the boxes, was for the kale pesto on top of my potato soup. Just knowing what kale is earns you a hipster card in some circles.

The fourth box was checked almost as an afterthought, but it was easily my favorite. The vegan cookie I had for dessert was pretty incredible.

Now, lest you think I am in some way slighting The Farmer's Daughter, I am not. The place was cool and the food was good, and honestly there were only two guys in skinny jeans in the place when I visited.

THE MENU

The Farmer's Daughter shares a space with Copacetic, a coffee shop. It serves breakfast from 7 to 11 a.m. and lunch from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The menu is relatively simple with a few items offered, but like I said, it is full of local goods.

The breakfast menu includes a Sausage Egg Biscuit ($4) with Sequatchie Cove Farm sausage and local eggs on a house-made buttermilk biscuit. The Quiche ($4, $7 with salad) is made from kale, shiitake mushrooms and Sweet Water Valley cheddar.

The Tokyo Breakfast ($7.50) is made with sticky rice, sauteed greens, shiitake mushrooms, an egg and a side of gingered chicken or veggie broth.

They also serve scones, muffins and house-made granola, yogurt, fruit and seasonal organically grown fruit.

The lunch menu has a few more items, including a half sandwich and cup of soup-of-the-day option. You can order rice or noodle bowls such as the Fried Rice With Peanut Sauce ($8) with brown rice or quinoa, veggies, greens and Twin Oaks tofu in a house-made peanut sauce.

The Udon in Broth ($6.50) features hot gingered chicken or vegetarian broth with wilted kale and sesame seeds.

There is also a Black Beans and Rice ($7) bowl with Riverview Farm black beans served with pickled green tomatoes, seasonal slaw, sour cream and Cumberland cheese.

You can also choose between a large Power Salad ($7) or chili made from Sequatchie Cove beef ($4) .

Sandwich options are Pimento Cheese ($7), Salami & Cheese ($8.25) or Chicken Salad ($8). All are made with local ingredients when possible.

THE ORDER

The soup of the day was potato, and I wanted that. I ordered a chicken salad sandwich to go with it.

The soup was really good, in large part due to the kale-based pesto, which gave an already good base even more bite and character. The sandwich featured roasted Fountain Springs Farm chicken with herbs, toasted pecans, Crabtree Farm carrots and lettuce, apples and mayo and was served on toasted Chattanooga sourdough from Niedlov's.

Normally, I don't like a lot of extras in my chicken salad because too much tends to overwhelm the chicken. Apples, or grapes, especially can be too strong, but this was just about right. I would have liked a little more chicken or perhaps a little more of everything on the sandwich, but it was good.

I had not considered a dessert until the waitress asked, but I am very glad she did. The vegan cookie was amazing. It had nuts, seeds, raisins and oatmeal, and it was fall-apart moist. The first bite was like biting into heaven. I got it to go and seriously almost turned around to go back and buy another one.

THE SERVICE

I was greeted at the door by a room full of smiling, cheery faces, and my waitress carried that attitude throughout my visit. She gets extra credit just for recommending the cookie.

THE SPACE

As I said, it's an old gas station, and the designers decided to keep it super simple. The floors are concrete, and the walls are a basic white. The countertops and shelving are all made of plywood. I sat at a bar top looking out at an outdoor seating area where the gas pumps used to be.

It was at those very pumps many years ago that I filled a diesel Mercedes with gasoline. It's a funny story for later.

The Farmer's Daughter hosts the occasional culinary workshop, pop-up art showcase and other community events, which all seem suited for the space.

THE VERDICT

Hipster or trendy or whatever, local is better, and it shows in the foods I ate at The Farmer's Daughter. I'd like to go back and try a few more items, and I will definitely get another vegan cookie.

Contact Barry Courter at bcourter@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6354.