“I made sure my phone was charged all day because the farmers will start calling at 4 p.m.,” said chef Andy Teixeira.
He was getting ready for one of the most important parts of his day. Teixeira would soon be menu planning for his new restaurant with the help of perhaps the most well-stocked pantries of any restaurant in New England and possibly the country – the farmers of Rhode Island.
Teixeira is the executive chef of the new Vineyard Café located at Newport Vineyards. The chef also took the helm of the on-site Brix restaurant, the winery’s “farm to glass” eatery that opened its doors a year ago.
On Vineyard Café’s opening day in early June, its philosophy came to the forefront. Just strolling the gently sloping, lush vineyards stretching from East Main Road down to the Indian River in Middletown does more to convey the mission of the Nunes family than any statement hanging on a wall or posted online.
The Nuneses have been stewards of more than 75 acres of agriculture for generations. Their farming modus operandi has been to cultivate hand-crafted wines. This provides a foundation for the food offered by the two restaurants and function facility.
The Vineyard Café itself is an idea born of necessity. Newport Vineyards has become such a destination for wine lovers looking for a Napa Valley-type experience that it has expanded over the last two decades, from a small tasting room where wine samples were served on barrels.
An expanded sampling bar and wine shop soon led to a tented function facility that quickly became a magnet for bachelorette parties and Boston bus excursions.
The winery’s annual holiday open houses were legendary, going on for entire weekends and attracting gift givers and wine aficionados from a 100-mile radius. The food had to keep up. John and Paul Nunes had a vision that was ambitious.
There had been a well-known, casual fine-dining restaurant on the premises already, along with a deli and bakery. The owners of the restaurant set sail for Newport and a very successful run as proprietors of one of the city’s best-known, fine-dining spots. This created the opportunity to make over the space adjacent to the vineyards.
At the same time, it was decided to transform the rustic winery into a more sophisticated facility with an expanded tasting bar, wine shop and visible winemaking operation.
The Middletown Farmers Market was a natural to become a year-round operation, moving indoors during the cold-weather months. But what was missing was how to give daytime visitors a taste of the “farm-to-glass” philosophy. Something else was needed. The Nunes brothers acquired the deli and bakery space. In the meantime, chef Teixeira posted his own job listing on social media and the Vineyard’s food and beverage director, Trisha Greene, spotted it. Both had established relationships with local farmers, so it was merely a matter of introductions to the farmers of southern Rhode Island.
Aquidneck Farms supplied meat, Simmons Farm dairy. Pat’s Pastured supplied eggs and pork. Baffoni’s provided chicken, local organic grower Jim Garman vegetables, along with Greenview Farms. And the Rhode Island Mushroom Co. is a purveyor.
The Vineyard Café menu uses the term “Farm Meets Vine.” Around the vineyard, the staff is fond of the expression, “Farm to Glass.” Both are somewhat redundant, since as Greene points out, the entire operation is, after all, a farm.
But late in the afternoon, as the chef’s phone starts to ring, the view from the outdoor tables rivals any in the Napa Valley. •
Bruce Newbury’s Dining Out radio show is heard on 1540 WADK-AM, wadk.com and the TuneIn mobile application. He can be reached by email at bruce@brucenewbury.com.
