Restaurant review: Washington DC's Founding Farmers

Founding Farmers in Washington DC is a Farm-to Table restaurant that deserves some attention for its food and its sustainable practices.

Mon, Dec 01 2008 at 12:33 PM

A couple of weekends ago my husband and I had the opportunity to get away alone. Since our boys were staying with friends who live just outside Washington DC, we decided to stay close by.

I had read about a farm-to-table restaurant, Founding Farmers, just three blocks from the White House. From their website:

The American family farmer is at the heart of Founding Farmers.

We believe it is the right of all diners and lovers of a green "meal away from home" to enjoy an exquisite, fulfilling and honest meal. At Founding Farmers you can trust that everything we serve is sourced from fine, high quality family farms, and will be prepared with the utmost care and attention by our own very talented and dedicated Chef Graham Duncan.

I was eager to check out Founding Farmers and my husband was open to humoring me. Neither of us was disappointed with our breakfast. We had 11:15 am reservations. Even though we arrived a little early, we were seated immediately.

We ordered coffee – responsible coffee as their menu puts it. It was good coffee. Nothing fancy. Just a cup that makes you say, “MMMM. Good coffee.” You know what I’m talking about.

I ordered the Pan Scrambled Eggs ($9). Just take a look at this picture.

Everything on my plate was fresh and delicious. There was a lot of food for $9, and I finished every last bite. I was especially impressed with their house made English muffin.

My husband ordered Traditional Eggs Benedict ($9) and was really pleased. He’s a big eggs benedict fan, and these did not disappoint. The ham was thick and flavorful, and his potatoes were moist and seasoned just right. He had ordered a side of hollandaise sauce to pour over the potatoes like he usually does, but they were so good, he left the sauce off.

The staff was friendly and very helpful with all of the questions I asked. As the morning went on, the restaurant got very busy. Our waiter was serving double duty as a bartender and as he got busier, we had two women who seemed to be management stopping by periodically to make sure we were doing okay.

Founding Farmers isn’t just impressive because of its food. The entire restaurant was built to meet LEED Gold Standard criteria and according to their website uses a variety of sustainable practices.

Beyond the physical structure, Founding Farmers is a Certified Green Restaurant™, recognized by the Green Restaurant Association for eco-friendly operational measures. These measures include front-of-house and back-of-house recycling, high-efficiency water and energy usage and using recycled paper products whenever possible. For our guests, it means the menus are printed on recycled paper with soy-based inks, and that guests are offered the option of fresh filtered still or sparkling Natura water, served in reusable glass carafes rather than waste-producing glass or plastic bottles.

Next time I visit DC, I plan on going back and giving their dinner menu a chance.

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