Growing Gourmet

Escape to Appalachian Virginia for a dining experience to savor

- HANNAH LEE LEIDY

ABOUT 50 MILES from Washington, DC’s bustling metropolis, the interstates turn into rural highways and the shopping plazas shift into rolling hills of farmland. The remote locales of western Virginia are rugged and wild—roads peek out between thickets of forest and the Potomac River snakes through the rocky terroir. It’s here in Lovettesville, Virginia —where the collection of gas station fried chicken and IGA grocers feels a world away from omakase experiences, Michelin-starred restaurants, and Saturday morning markets—that fine dining strips down to its literal roots.

To reach the Restaurant at Patowmack Farm, take a hairpin turn off of Highway US-15 and climb the gravel driveway to a greenhouse perched midway up a hill. Trees bearing olives, almonds, and apples surround the greenhouse, and from this lofty overlook, the Potomac River flows through the ravine below. Farther up the hill is a farmhouse and smaller greenhouses and gardens where peppers, tomatoes, squashes, and berry patches grow in abundance, all of which get reimagined into the dishes on the restaurant's nine-course tasting menu.