New York Times, James Beard...And Now Farm Club.

The owners of new Leelanau County eatery Farm Club have landed Michigan chef and The New York Times- and James Beard Foundation-heralded author Abra Berens as its new chef.

Berens splits her time between Farm Club and Granor Farm in Three Oaks, where she runs experiential farm dinners, and will soon become the executive chef at Farm Club. In expanding to northern Michigan, she returns to a region that is already dear to her heart: Berens co-founded Bare Knuckle Farm in Northport in 2009, where she farmed and cooked for eight years.

Gary and Allison Jonas of The Little Fleet and Sara and Nic Theisen of Loma Farm partnered to open Farm Club this summer as a 4,500 square-foot restaurant, brewery, marketplace and agricultural destination on 35 acres. Allison Jonas says Berens came on initially prior to the July opening to help develop Farm Club's grab-and-go menu, bar snacks, and farm boards; Berens will now take on a larger role.

In humble Midwestern fashion, Berens, who grew up on pickle farm twenty miles south of Holland, says she doesn’t consider herself a celebrity chef, though Sara Theisen and Allison Jonas use the words “wiz” and “rock star” to describe her farming knowledge and cooking style. Berens now has more than 11,000 followers on Instagram, was nominated for the "Best Chef" award in the Great Lakes Region by the James Beard Foundation, and her first cookbook, Ruffage: A Practical Guide to Vegetables, was named one of the “12 Best Cookbooks of Spring 2019” by The New York Times.

With the goal to launch the full menu by mid-September, Theisen says “we are getting close to having the staff we need and the infrastructure in place.” She adds that all Farm Club employees have a shift once a week on the farm — “everybody gets out and gets their hands dirty.”

And in true farmer style, the partners are already preparing for winter by preserving garden foods and stocking their on-site marketplace. Theisen says what’s intended as a quick stop on the way home for produce, provisions, and beer and wine to go has resonated with locals. “Leelanau County has represented,” she says of their foot traffic this past month.

Berens says the menu she is developing for Farm Club is ingredient-driven, based on “what Nic and Sara are growing [on-site at Farm Club and on their nearby five acres] and also what other producers in the region are creating. We want it to hit a lot of marks for a lot of people: everything from snacky things to go with the beers — like homemade Cheez-Its and corn nuts, made with really good ingredients — or the farm board which is really meant to showcase the farm at a particular moment in time."

In addition to garden-forward small plates, Berens says full plates might be fresh takes on eggplant Parmesan; roasted chicken; beer-poached sausages; or, “beans and broth, which is a dish that I learned from Nic and Sara. The beans come from Sheridan Acres over in the Thumb — beautiful heirloom beans that get cooked very simply with garlic, thyme and olive oil.”

Her passion for those beans encapsulates her mission at Farm Club: “Sheridan Acres is a next generation of grower who grew up on conventional farms like I did. They are trying to evolve their business, by starting to try all these heirloom dry beans and having a specialty product that works in conjunction with their traditional row crops. Being able to tell their story through Farm Club feels like the reason I want to cook.”  

Says Jonas of the new menu: “All along we wanted to feed our neighbors and our community, but with the quality, amazing ingredients that are usually only found in fine dining. We wanted this project to be that kind of food, and quality, and care but at a spot that feels picnic-y and casual, and really accessible.”

She adds that as the weather cools, Farm Club will serve on covered patios with heaters “as long as possible” and the partners are planning to invest in firepits.

And though a partnership with SEEDS, Farm Club has built a boardwalk spur off the TART Trail leading directly up to the building for walkers, bikers and soon skiers, offering both bike and ski parking on-site. 

Pictured: Abra Berens, Sara Theisen, and Allison Jonas of Farm Club