The Winds Of Change Have Never Smelled So Good

Here at Riley’s Farm, we have amazing customers! Many have been coming to our Farm for over 5, 10, and some over 20 years! Over this time, we have received many suggestions about what you, our customers, would like to see from us. One suggestion that I have heard many times in my 4 1/2 years here is, “Why aren’t you open for dinner?! We would love to come up and have a Chicken Pot Pie by candle light and next to a fire!” If it was up to me, I would be open all the time. Unfortunately, the restaurant business is extremely difficult and one of our problems has been our location. Since we are nestled in beautiful apple country, at the base of the San Bernardino National Forest, most of our customers journey quite a way to get here. With this in mind, we have always erred on the side of caution, and offered “Dinner Events,” that are by reservation. This way we can properly prepare, and give you something worth driving out for! Well, we’re proud to announce that dinner service will be available on Saturdays…soon! And that’s not all. Oh no. We won’t stop there. While I love our current menu, we are creating a new one for our Dinner Service: Family-Style!

Now, if you’re like me, you hear the term, “Family-Style” and you’re not quite sure what it implies. I have gone to “Family-Style” restaurants before…and…it’s a normal restaurant. It simply tends to be more accepting of children. Well, not here. We are a family farm, that always strives to give a family friendly experience, that is appropriate for all ages. So, with that implied about our farm as a whole, when I say “Family Style,” I mean you will be served in Family Sized portions!To give you an example: For those of you who have been to our farm before, you know that we have two sizes for our Chicken Pot Pie. Individual and Family. During our Family Style dinner service, you will only be able to order a Family Sized Chicken Pot Pie!

There are many things on our lunch menu that we love, we also know that there are many areas that we can venture out. There has been a team of us that have been researching and experimenting with recipes from the 18th century and giving them a modern spin. There have been many recipes, but there was one recipe in particular that “stood” out as it called for a standing crust. To give you a little background on standing crusts, colonists would use this type of crust because it was easy to take with you…almost like an edible lunch box! So we attempted a Beef Pie with a standing crust. It was good….if….you had nothing else to eat. Very firm and dry, which the pie filling helped to make slightly more moist and eatable. Needless to say, taste buds and palatable textures have changed over the centuries. Our team knew that there was hope for this recipe. On round 2, we updated the recipe with the crust we use for our Mount Vernon Pie (served at Christmas in the Colonies). It. was. DELICIOUS. I cannot wait to serve it for our guests. If you don’t believe me, I’ll offer up this quote from Mrs. Riley herself.

Lizzy: “How do you like it? Do you think it’s ready to be approved for the menu?”

Mrs. Riley: “Are you kidding me? Don’t wait for Family Style; put it on the menu now. It’s perfect!”

Tags: Family Style, Food, Valentine's Day

Categorised in: Dinners

This post was written by Jim Riley