Farm to Table

FARM TABLE to

Immersive Kansas Dining Destinations

BY KIM GRONNIGER // PHOTOGRAPHY BY TRENTON BUSH

Add a farm-to-table dining destination to your summer fun must-do list. Gather your family and friends for restorative opportunities to relish and

respect the season’s bounty and beauty in an immersive way. With scenic drives and

sustainable settings, these area options fuse nature and nourishment for memorable

dining experiences designed to satisfy your palate and delight your senses.

BURNING BARREL

Kristin Werner and Brian Strecker fi rst met in 2001 at the former Lawrence restaurant Pachamama’s, where she was a server and he was a chef. In the intervening years, Werner decided to forego the teaching career she’d trained for to work at a farm-to-table restaurant and sheep dairy in Weston, Mo., and later at a raw milk dairy in the Pacifi c Northwest.

She and Strecker reconnected as life and business partners a few years ago and started transforming their Lecompton farm into the Burning Barrel enterprise, an inviting space for dinners, weddings, concerts, private events and workshops.

All of the main ingredients for the meals that Strecker, a classically trained chef, prepares are grown and harvested on the farm or foraged on 30 acres of native prairie, yielding edible fl owers, wild roots and herbs. In addition to overseeing the upbringing of their daughter, Opal, the couple pasture-raise and process their animals as a licensed facility inspected by the Kansas Department of Agriculture.

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Kristin Werner

“Our customers may have memories like I do of eating at my grandmother’s table. For me, it’s all about making them feel happy and satisfied so they keep

coming back.” – Kristin Werner

Raised in rural Kansas communities, Strecker, a skilled craftsman, not only builds meals from scratch but also the ground’s amenities such as tables fashioned from an elm tree he felled and pathway borders placed with limestone he sourced.

Although Werner grew up in Shawnee, farming is in her roots too. Her grandmother lived on a farm and grew/raised everything for family meals, going to town only to buy coffee and sugar.

“A lot of people today may not want to farm themselves, but they see the value of experiencing great food creatively prepared in ways that celebrate its origins,” Werner says. “Our customers may have memories like I do of eating at my grandmother’s table. For me, it’s all about making them feel happy and satisfied so they keep coming back.”

Beginning in June 2022, the agri-tourism business will complement its previous catering and private event business with the Origin Dinners Restaurant open on Friday and Saturday nights through mid-December. Eventually the couple would like to offer Sunday brunch, educational workshops and retreats.

Werner says, “We never dreamed it would take us seven years to get to this point, and we can’t wait to share what we’ve been up to.”

“ The visual aspect of everything we serve at the table is as important as the quality of our food while we share the table.” – Katharine Elder

ELDERSLIE FARM

In 2010, George Elder and his sister, Alexis, planted seeds not only for blackberries on their family’s land but also for a sustainable, scalable entrepreneurial attraction.

Katharine Elder, a Wichita native, married George in 2011 and helped open the couple’s fi rst business, The Bramble Café, which serves breakfast and lunch. The couple began off ering fi ne dining soon after. Two years ago, they opened Elderslie Creamery in Kechi (a suburb of Wichita) through which George crafts goat milk cheeses used not only in the farm’s recipes but also in dishes prepared by other area restaurateurs. Customers can pick their own blackberries in season or purchase them. The Elderslie Woodworks and Specialty Sawmill off ers an expansive array of hardwoods and options for transforming planks for furnishings or other functions.

“Our customers are incredible and have grown along with us as we’ve expanded,” says Elder who oversees all aspects of hospitality, an affi nity honed by extensive family travel and culinary adventures.

“We often went to Italy, and I was struck by the cultural assumption there about the importance of supporting local vendors and slowing down, especially around the table. That really resonates with our commitment here to invite others to rest and be together and have a whole experience that honors their bodies and souls.”

Unlike most people making a living off the land, Elder doesn’t have an agrarian background. Hers is an eclectic combination of chemistry and art. She enjoys developing menus using local ingredients from area purveyors to create fresh combinations and fl avorful sauces and stocks that complement the farm’s root-toleaf commitment to avoid waste.

Elder’s artistic fl air is evident in the presentation of the curated charcuterie boards available for sale at the creamery and the meals served.

“With a background in opera performance, sometimes my artistic itch must be scratched,” she says, laughing. “The visual aspect of everything we serve at the table is as important as the quality of our food while we share the table.”

Katharine Elder

“Creating a sustainable restaurant made sense for environmental reasons but also economic ones.”

– Shantel Grace

Saltwell Farm Kitchen

SALTWELL FARM KITCHEN

Lawrence restaurateurs Shantel Grace and Rozz Petrozz seized an opportunity in 2021 to create expansive space for safe dining and lingering conversations over cocktails and locally sourced specialties in rural Overbrook.

Collaborators on Ramen Bowls and Luckyberry, they purchased and refurbished a historic 1856 farmstead that serves not only as their restaurant but their residence too.

“Creating a sustainable restaurant made sense for environmental reasons but also economic ones,” Grace says. “So many people in this industry pay rent for years, and when their restaurant closes at the end of three years or 30 years, they’ve put all their resources into it and don’t have anything to show for it.”

Grace and Petrozz moved from a table-turning service model to an all-in experiential one that features eight curated courses served over three hours. Weekly rotating menus comprise meat, poultry and seasonal produce purchased from area farmers and fruits and vegetables the couple has planted or foraged for on the property, including cherries, mushrooms, wild herbs, cattails, onions, and wildflowers.

To bring their dream to fruition as frugally as possible, the duo scavenged for mismatched china and glassware and displayed quirky finds next to family heirlooms to create a comfortable “come as you are” environment.

soulFOR THE food

“It captures the heart and soul of Saltwell,” Grace says. “We’ve had guests arrive in limos all dressed up and in trucks wearing overalls. Everyone coexists.”

In summer months, Saltwell’s guests typically dine outdoors in a well-lit walnut grove. Hospitality begins upon arrival with a charcuterie board and a Spanish Cava.

Each table is attended to by waitstaff handpicked for “their generosity in serving others and their love for the work,” Grace says. “We spend so much time pressing the linens, polishing the silverware, washing the wine glasses and making the meal. When you arrive, we want you to have something to eat and drink immediately so you can relax into the experience we’ve worked so hard to create for you.”

This fall, Grace and Petrozz will feature wine and small plate pairings in a courtyard replete with roaming goats. Plans are also underway to open a restored barn to accommodate larger gatherings and offer an assortment of classes on foraging, butchering and seeds.

Grace, a sixth-generation rancher’s daughter from Sylvan Grove, says, “Everything we do is 100 percent inspired by the land around us.” n