I headed upstairs to the old hayloft, where I was the first to arrive at the "chef's table" recently launched by Northbrook's new owners. The massive table, a 22-seat behemoth hewn on-site from pine and oak trees struck down by lightning, was prettily set with flowers for the nine-course BYOB feast. But who, I wondered, would be joining me this Friday night?
Unlike the wildly popular Talula's Table, another daytime market with nightly chef's tastings in nearby Kennett Square, where the private meals are reserved by whole smaller parties, Northbrook's fledgling dinners (and much larger table) can be a hodgepodge affair cobbled together from assorted groups.
They've catered to as few as two, as they did on a slow weekday night when a friend and I were outnumbered by the staff - one charming server plus co-owner/chefs Guillermo Tellez and Rob Boone, who personally presented each seasonally inspired dish. From the bite-size cubes of Gallia melon wrapped in prosciutto and topped with a brulee crisp of smoked sugar to seared scallops over Israeli couscous studded with pomegranate and pumpkin to a tender duo of venison and pork over purees of gingered collard greens and dried plums, it was a memorably decadent meal, the height of intimate fine-dining in the rustic heart of farm-country chic.
Or, your small party could find itself appended to a much larger one, as we did on this particular Friday, when a group of 19 horse-country aristocrats arrived for a birthday party to unexpectedly find three interlopers from the big city at their table.
"And you are . . . ?" was the tepid reply I received when greeting my perplexed new dining companions. Most of whom, I learned, dabbled with horse farms nearby.
