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August,
2006 UPDATE: The
Herbfarm restaurant moved to Woodinville, Washington,
after the original restaurant burned in a fire in 1997.
The Herbfarm is located about twenty minutes from downtown
Seattle, [Map]
next to the Sammamish River on state Route 202. In addition
to the fabulous restaurant, there is an 80-room lodge
on the property. Gardens on the property (and more just
down the road) still supply much of the organic produce
used to prepare the legendary nine-course meals served
to guests each night. The Herbfarm restaurant has earned
the prestigious AAA Five-Diamond Award for the past
four years. The story that follows is about RoadTrip
America's visit to the Herbfarm when it was located
in nearby Fall City in 1996.
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FALL
CITY, WASHINGTON—
If any place
could convince us to stop exploring and put down roots, it's The Herbfarm
in Fall City, Washington. Wandering through the rows of medicinal, aromatic
and culinary herbs would tempt even the most dedicated nomad to put spade
to soil and start a garden. We had to be content, however, to just stop
for a moment and smell the flowers. Fortunately for us this is lavender
season, and The Herbfarm's twenty different varieties are all in bloom,
just in time for "Lavender Weekend," a special festival The
Herbfarm holds every year in honor of this versatile aromatic plant.
The
Herbfarm, however, is far more than a nursery. With more than three hundred
classes a year to choose from, visitors learn herbal cooking and crafts
as well as gardening and the medicinal uses of herbs. We walked by a group
learning how to make lavender soap.
And there's
more! At the internationally acclaimed restaurant, you can enjoy a remarkable
6-course luncheon or a 9-course dinner including such delights as King
Salmon in Squash Blossoms with Begonia Confetti or Wild Bigleaf Maple
Blossom Ice Cream with Roasted Dandelion Sauce. We wish we could report
from personal experience, but reservations are booked months in advance!
The Herbfarm
also has a delightful shop filled with herb-related gifts. For those unable
to make the trip to Fall City, a mail order catalog is available, and
a Web site is in the works.
The Herbfarm
had its beginnings in a wheelbarrow full of potted herbs that Lola Zimmerman
parked under a walnut tree with a sign reading "Herb plants
for sale." Now, twenty-two years later, Lola's son Ron Zimmerman
is The Herbfarm's President, and Ron's wife Carrie Van Dyck is The Big
Cheese, "because you can't have two presidents," she says. Graphic
designer Bob Hise has been with the company for over a decade.
The Herbfarm
is one of those rare and wonderful blends of nature, imagination, serendipity
and tradition. If you ever get there, you'll want to sit down under a
walnut tree and stay a while.
www.theherbfarm.com
The
Herbfarm
