Farm Fresh Fare

Daniel Orr made a name for himself serving haute cuisine at one of New York City’s top restaurants. But, in his latest venture, he’s heading back to the farm.\nThe Columbus, Ind., native will officially open FARMbloomington on Saturday in the historic Oddfellows Building at 108 E. Kirkwood Ave. \nThe highly-anticipated new restaurant will serve what Orr calls “real food” – food that is local, seasonal and simple, while still original. \n“Being a great chef is 90 percent being a good shopper and 10 percent not screwing up what you bought,” Orr said. “I think that’s kind of what ‘real food’ is. Going out and meeting the farmers ... seeing how the whole thing comes together and having enough respect for the ingredients to not overdo it.” \nIn the main restaurant, Orr will serve lunch and dinner Tuesday through Saturday, offering specialties such as sorghum-glazed pork chops, local Indiana elk loin and roasted tandoori salmon. Prices range from $4 for appetizers to around $30 for the most expensive entrée. \nThe restaurant also includes a café and retail store, called FARMmarket, a bar called FARMbar and a basement music venue called the Root Cellar. \nThe goal, Orr said, is to create a restaurant that will appeal to all types of people, with a variety of tastes and budgets. \nAt the café-style FARMmarket in the front of the restaurant, diners can grab baked goods, coffee and specialty drinks throughout the day, in addition to sandwiches, soups and salads for lunch. A retail store will offer wreathes, potpourri, crafts and Orr’s own sauces and spice blends. \n“It’s kind of like Cracker Barrel by Martha Stewart,” Orr said. \nFARMbar, open seven days a week, serves wood-oven, whole-grain pizzas and tapas, or small appetizers. \nThe Root Cellar, still under construction, should open in mid-February, Orr said. It will be open Thursday, Friday and Saturday nights with blues and bluegrass music from local and national musicians. \nOrr said he’s going to decorate the walls of the Root Cellar with 50-year-old license plates, an antique beer can collection, funky couches and other items to give it a lived-in look.\n“It’s going to look like a funky old blues bar,” he said. “I want it to look like it’s been here forever.” \nThat sentiment applies to the main restaurant space, too.\nOrr started renovating the building in June, and outfitted it with worn wooden floors, quilts with pictures of his family and plenty of old farm products, including rusted saws and plows from his family farm. \nA silo-shaped chefs table overlooking the kitchen even features a chandelier crafted out of a wooden chicken carrier. \n“I’m the grandchild of the original owner and I’ve come back to the family to turn the general store into a restaurant,” he said. “That’s kind of the picture I had in my mind.” \nScott Hutcheson, the author of the forthcoming book “Home Grown Indiana: A Food Lover’s Guide to Good Eating in the Hoosier State,” said the restaurant is generating plenty of buzz, largely due to Orr’s reputation.\n“I’m hearing lots of great things about the place,” he said. “I think he’s definitely there on the forefront of trying to incorporate the best of what we grow and produce in Indiana into his menu.” \nOrr graduated from culinary school at Johnson & Wales University in Providence, R.I., and later trained for two years at some of the top restaurants in France and Belgium. \nIn 1992, he took a job at New York City’s La Grenouille, a famous French restaurant that recently celebrated its 45-year anniversary. He later became executive chef of the restaurant and in 1997, he earned a coveted three-star review from Ruth Reichl, the New York Times’ dining critic at the time. \nHe moved back to Indiana in January 2007, and said he hopes FARMbloomington becomes a flagship restaurant that satisfies diners.