REVIVING THE FARM TABLE

By DOMENIC POLI | Staff Writer | Published: 5/4/2023 11:30:12 AM

BERNARDSTON — The Farm Table restaurant on the Kringle Candle Co. property is set to reopen under new management at the end of May.

Restaurateur Ashley Evans, who grew up in Turners Falls, was home from Florida visiting family last year when she thought to approach Kringle Candle owner Michael J. “Mick” Kittredge III about getting the establishment up and running again.

“I’ve been gone for 19 years, came back and this opportunity just kind of fell in my hands. Now I’m here to open it,” Evans said about moving back in January. “I used to come here when I would come to visit my family and … it was an experience.”

The restaurant at 219 South St. seats 160, including 70 in the Carriage House room in the back. Evans said she is bringing back some of the community’s favorite dishes, including fried oysters, charcuterie boards and brick oven pizzas. There is also a full liquor license.

Kitchen manager Scott Brown, who had previously worked for the restaurant, said The Farm Table was known as a high-end eatery, but management is now committed to making it a place that working people can visit regularly, while maintaining its high standards.

Kittredge said the restaurant opened and closed three times during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“To be in the restaurant industry you have to love what you’re doing every day, because it’s a labor of love,” he explained. “We think the placed is primed to have a really successful relaunch.”

Kittredge met Evans, as well as her former husband and current business partner, through mutual friends, and said he looks forward to working with them.

“It’s almost like we finish each other’s sentences and ideas,” he said.

Evans and Brown said the community is buzzing about the restaurant reopening. Brown said people have expressed desire for a hub or gathering point in town.

“There’s definitely a void for that in Bernardston,” bar manager Ethan Bray chimed in. “We want to fill it.”

Bray worked at a high-end restaurant in Amherst and has created a signature cocktail list for The Farm Table.

Evans said she is looking to hire 50 people. Applications are available at farmtable.com. The restaurant, which maintains Facebook and Instagram accounts, also held a job fair.

The Farm Table will be open from 4 to 9 p.m. on weekdays and from 4 to 10 p.m. on weekends.