A Delicious Lesson in Humility
When you think about culinary hot spots
in North Carolina, what comes to mind? People in the know will
immediately think of Asheville, one of the rapidly rising stars in
the food firmament. Others may choose urban centers like Charlotte or
Greensboro. I can't think of anybody who would give even a second
thought to the town of Cary. And yet......
Located near the Research Triangle
comprised of Raleigh, Durham, and Chapel Hill, Cary is quite the up
and coming place. It's actually the second most populous
unincorporated town in the United States and was cited as the fifth
fastest growing municipality in the country between September 1, 2006
and September 1, 2007. (I love census data.) It's also home to a
phenomenal bakery and cafe called La Farm.
La Farm bills itself as a modern day
boulangerie and cafe. Just how modern day it is is evidenced by the fact that it is wedged into a strip mall out in what passes for the suburbs in an unincorporated town. But don't let that fool you. Everything else about the place is as Old World as owner/Master Baker Lionel Vatinet can make it. A member of France’s prestigious artisans’ guild, Les Compagnons du Devoir since
age 16, Lionel (and that's pronounced “lee-oh-NEL,” by the way)
apprenticed with European bakers and traveled the world honing his
craft before opening La Farm in 1999.
I
discovered La Farm as the result of running across “Flavor NC,” a
program produced by North Carolina Public Television. The show
highlights locally produced foods and spotlights local restaurants
that utilize them. The host is....... an......enthusiastic woman.
Just don't listen to her try to pronounce foreign words in her thick
Southern accent. Or some English words either. Anyway, the episode I
found online was about Carter Farms Wheat in Pinehurst, NC and it
featured La Farm Bakery and Cafe. You can view it for yourself here:
http://flavornc.com/2014/10/carter-farms-wheat-lafarm-bakery.
So we were heading for a little
vacation time on the North Carolina coast and I remembered La Farm. I
discovered that Cary was pretty much on our way and we decided to
make a detour, stopping in for breakfast and for some bread to
accompany us on our trip. (You know, hotels use awful cheap white
bread for their “continental breakfast” offerings.) The GPS
guided us smoothly from I-40 to the front door at La Farm.
Wow. That's it. My review can be summed
up in that word. “Wow.” But let me add a few others;
overwhelming, astounding, incredible, amazing, delicious. Hyperbolic
as it sounds, I might go so far as to say “profound” in that La
Farm will challenge your perception of a bakery and forever make the
“bakery” at the local supermarket or discount center look
woefully pale by comparison. It's that good. I remember real bakeries
from back in the '50s and '60s and this one hearkens back to those
days with a decided Old World French twist.
I consider myself a decent bread baker.
I haven't bought gummy white store bread in years and I've even sold
my breads and baked goods at local markets with favorable results.
But after sampling the wares at La Farm and leaving with an amazing
rustic Italian loaf and a splendid focaccia, I told my wife that the
experience had been an exercise in humility. In addition to the
awe-inspiring breads, we also came away with marvelously light and
luscious chocolate macarons – the first authentic ones my wife had
ever had – and the kind of decadent chocolate chip cookies that
common Toll House cookies can only dream of being when they grow up.
And let's not forget the cafe. We were
there for breakfast, so I had the deluxe breakfast sandwich. Usually
served on a signature hard roll, it is also offered on a fresh baked
croissant, the option I chose. Topped with locally-sourced
applewood-smoked bacon and ham, farm fresh eggs and cheddar cheese,
it was worlds away from the pretenders that fast-food outlets peddle.
And my wife's croque madame, made with local ham, gruyere, and
mozzarella on toasted La Farm fresh bread and topped with mornay
sauce and two perfectly fried eggs left her absolutely speechless.
Actually, that's not true; she couldn't stop talking about it for
days. The lunch menu features a mouth-watering array of soups,
salads, and sandwiches, all crafted fresh from premium quality
ingredients, many of them locally produced. Although not cheap by any
means, the prices are certainly reasonable for the quality of the
products in both the bakery and the cafe.
La Farm Bakery branches out to the
community at large through a bread truck – a rolling bakery that
travels the Triangle area on a daily basis serving delicious,
fresh-baked artisan breads, pastries, and sandwiches to those lucky
enough to encounter it.
Everything else you need to know about
La Farm can be found here: https://www.lafarmbakery.com.
The bakery and restaurant itself can be found at 4248 NW Cary Parkway
in the Preston Corners Shopping Center in Cary, NC. Open daily from 7
a.m. to 8 p.m., you can call them at 919-657-0657. And, yes, they
cater.
Lionel Vatinet sums it up thus: “When
you make bread, it becomes a reflection of who you are. If you have a
passion for it, it will come through." If you're anywhere
within....oh, say.....a hundred miles of Cary, stop in and let the
master baker's passion come through for you. I'll probably see you
there.
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