JBH employees give Farmer and his kitchen staff a royal welcome. We tour the greenhouse where we'll be dining tonight and the beautifully lit garden courtyard, where Beard's famous metal pig lives, restored and spouting water for a small pool. There are also upstairs dining rooms and a library with the nation's Cookbook Hall of Fame, including winners of the James Beard awards. Back in the kitchen, the beat goes on. Suddenly it's Show Time.
Servers pass flower-bedecked trays with the hors d'oeuvres.
Farmer is not a gimmicky, faddish chef. But not so. A tentative bite and then the hook took. There are pleased and downright smug expressions on the faces of everyone at our table, and I began to breathe. The delicate char with its morel sauce is happily devoured.