Vivian Howard’s Chef & the Farmer Is Back This November | Eater Carolinas

"After Howard closed her flagship in Kinston in June 2022, she promised the return of Chef & the Farmer would be different — operated on her own terms and less tied to the fine-dining model that had become unsustainable for her. She announced on Instagram that the restaurant will reopen first with ticketed dinners on three weekends over the next two months, serving a seven-course tasting menu to 16 guests per seating; the initial dinners are scheduled for November 24–25 (with Casey Atwater) and December 1–2 (with John May). Troubled that many people traveled hoping to see her and often didn’t, and that the experience hadn’t matched her intentions, Howard says the new dinners will be very warm and personal and will allow her to cook for everyone. The space has been altered so the kitchen pass is now a table where guests dine in front of a wood-burning oven, the glass window into the kitchen has been removed so she can interact directly with diners, and familiar collaborators like Atwater and May have been invited back. The full restaurant will reopen eventually (date TBD) with a much more casual menu and service style while the chef’s dinners continue as a manageable way to offer fine dining; menus will change monthly, with the first menu riffing on Chef & the Farmer classics and treating meat more as a condiment. Howard is also converting the upstairs event space into four guest rooms to add the possibility of overnight stays, and Viv’s Fridge, her popular vending-machine meal service, will continue." - Matt Lardie