I apologize for the unexpected silence and lack of blogworthy thoughts, but I was out of town all last week in Athens, Georgia for the code4lib 2007 conference. The week was truly mind-blowing and enjoyable in many ways that extended well beyond the 9 to 5 conference day. Although something edged it out for the top spot, I have no qualms in saying that by far the second best part of the overall conference experience was the meal that I had at a restaurant called Farm 255 with a group of ten other conference attendees. Sylvar, one of the fellow diners, wrote about his experience, which, while also wonderful, was slightly different from mine as he was at the other end of the table and had gotten to try more than a few things that I missed out on.
Although I’d never been there before, I was initially really excited about going to Athens because someone suggested it was a good town for foodies. After being there for three or four days and being mostly unimpressed and eventually entirely grossed out by one meal at a certain Italian restaurant that’ll remain nameless, I was hoping for something better. I wasn’t sure if my “big city ways” were interfering with my ability to find something amazing.
To ensure I wasn’t being a total snob, I fell back on Chowhound, that venerable repository of foodie wisdom, to guide my decision for my final big meal before I skipped town on Friday afternoon. After searching a little bit, I stumbled across a passing mention about Farm 255, and then somewhere else (but I forget where) I mentioned it in glowing praise. “Hungry Ghost,” I said to myself, “I think we’ve just figured out where to go.” I got the word out in person and electronically, but I only think I had spoken to about five people about it directly. By the time I got to the hotel lobby, I realized that there were nearly 12 people ready to go along for the trip. I panicked slightly, and shouted out for everyone to gather together if they were interested in going. The hotel’s concierge heard my creaky voice attempting to herd people together, and he offered to both call ahead to the restaurant and arrange for a shuttle to take us all down together. My responsibility had thus diminished, and I sighed with relief.
They were ready to seat us as soon as we got there, and I worried a little bit about the Hell I know large groups can inflict on restaurants. Our server, Lily, was extremely competent, totally friendly, and made the experience all the better. In fact, I was surprised we didn’t cause her any grief once we started getting rowdy. She seemed to really get a kick out of us, particularly when we told her that we were a bunch of librarians and programmers. Here’s a picture of the group that she ended up taking, as the rest of us were seemingly too incompetent to do so.
So, onto the food – where to begin? We drank our fair share of a wine special they had, a 2004 Rioja, but I’d be hard-pressed to remember the vineyard that produced it. (For those that are eagle-eyed, it’s the bottle that I’m holding.) For starters, house-marinated kalamata olives, spiced pecans, and pickled eggs made their way around the table. These small plates were definitely small, but everyone who wanted some had their crack at them. By far, I was most blown away by the pickled eggs, which are not the type of thing one usually thinks of as being the height of culinary sophistication.
The table also split all the charcuterie (all house-made, if I remember correctly) and cheese options that they had on the menu. The standouts were the finocchiona (salami seasoned with fennel and dressed with cured orange and balsamic vinegar), the Genovese salami (fairly spicy, but tempered by a topping of sunflower seeds and coriander oil), a sottocenere al tartufo served with locally produced honey, and the chevre served with lambrusco jelly.
For our larger plates, fellow code4libertine Wendy and I chose to split some dishes as we’d already had eaten quite a bit. To cleanse our palate, we chose the insalata tartufo, with shaved fennel and celery, Grana Padano (a robust, hard Italian cheese), and assorted lettuces, and for our entrée, we chose shrimp and grits, a Southern standby that was executed absolutely beautifully. The grits were decisively not at all like any other grits I’d had before, save for some overpriced ones I had once upon a time at Zingerman’s Roadhouse whilst still living in Michigan.
To finish off the meal, we chose to split a large French press full of some sort of heavenly fair trade coffee and enjoyed our respective halves of a serving of cocoa bread pudding, topped with chocolate and caramel sauce. When we split the bill as a group, it seemed to be pretty reasonable (and remember, I’m used to DC prices), and Lily was willing to shift things around from person to person to even things out if need be.
All in all, the experience was flawless, even though the weather was terrible and I wasn’t sure if they could even accept a groups as large as ours. If you ever find yourself in Athens, steer clear of some of the other places and go to Farm 255 instead. With any luck, Lily will be your server as well, and if you show her you really appreciate what she and the restaurant are doing, I expect that your experience will be quite similar to mine.
Farm 255
255 W. Washington St., Athens, GA
706-549-4660
