A Nashville restaurant is truly implementing the farm-to-table concept. Kitchen Notes is on the first floor of the Omni Hotel, and it is run by a chef who not only talks the talk but walks the walk.
When Chef Jon Welch decided he wanted to do a farm-to-table menu it was not just a cliche. He walks the walk in his own backyard at home in middle Tennessee.
“At our home in Murfreesboro, I maintain about a 2,000 square foot vegetable garden. I grow mostly rare and hard to find varieties of things. We also maintain a flock of nine laying hens,” Welch states.
He takes his love of farm fresh ingredients to the office with him.
According to Welch, “Very much meant to be farm-to-table, modern, southern comfort food. So, we really want the experience to be like you are at your grandmother’s house.”
Those new ways come out on a plate everyday. Welch loves to utilize local farms. There is even a list just outside the kitchen so you too can know where your food comes from.
Kitchen Notes is famous for its buttermilk biscuit bar and about to be famous for their sourdough pancakes, but I discovered they offer one of my all time favorites-- deviled eggs on toast!
And, for the ultimate omelet experience, try the steak and eggs version with prime rib. Often, their meats and proteins come from Black Hawk Farms just across the border in the “Bluegrass State.” A farm known for its premium Wagyu beef.
While not everything on the plate can be sourced locally, much of it is, and for Welch it is a priority that the plate put before people at Kitchen Notes is something to sing about.
“To me food is all about memories. I want to invoke an emotional response and a memorable experience. I want you to be transported back to a time when you were at your grandmother’s house... That’s a very powerful thing about cooking,” he explains.
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