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Greene's Farmhouse Foods is sort of hard to explain, which isn't necessarily a bad thing.
It's like a classic meat-and-three/country cooking cafeteria, but it's also like something from a gentrified Atlanta hipster neighborhood. In other words, there's pulled pork and collard greens, but there's also kale and quinoa.
For the first time in documented Baldwin County history, collard greens and quinoa are pictured together.
Call it what you want, but one thing is for certain – the food is really good.
Like, really good.
"Chef-inspired" would probably be a reasonable way to describe it. There's a lot of "reducing" and "sous viding" and "infusing" and "soufleing" happening back in the kitchen. The Greene's Rice, for example, is a white rice with a pesto made from collard greens, kale, parsley, olive oil and whole-cloved garlic. Baldwin2k recently sampled everything available on the menu that day, with the exception of the Roasted Beet Salad, because all beets are nasty, and God made a mistake. On the menu that day were:
• Edamane Succotash – hipster-ish
• Chopped Kale Salad – super hipster-ish
• Pimento Cheese Mac & Cheese – really creamy and really cheesy
• Roasted Beet Salad – N/A
• Sweet Potato Soufflé – roasted sweet potatoes, maple syrup, pecans and marshmallows
• Nashville Hash – a "loaded baked potato in casserole form"
• Greene's Rice – white rice blended with a very unique homemade pesto
• Bean Fritters – relatively hearty with good crunch
• Crispy Red Potatoes – baked and then flash-fried for crispiness
• Pulled Pork – some of the best barbecue anywhere (definitely dip it in the Alabama White Sauce)
• Collard Greens – bought in whole bushels, stripped thin and cooked down with smoked onions and smoked tomatoes
• Smoked Vegetable Quinoa – most hipster-ish thing ever
• Smoked Chicken Wings – beautiful color on the inside
• Crispy Brussel Sprouts – very tasty (could've used some pork grease, however)
• Buttermilk Biscuits – flakey and heavenly
Ordering is buffet-style, from right to left. Frank Pendergast may even make your plate.
The owners are the Pendergast brothers – Frank and Doug. Frank is the patriarch of downtown Milledgeville's comeback, the one that started more than 30 years ago when the local downtown was on life support and malls were still all the rage. Doug, meanwhile, also spent his career in the restaurant business, but he worked on the corporate side. Doug Pendergast previously was the CEO of both Krystal and Quizno's.
"I moved down here several years ago to be closer to family. Frank and I had been talking about a business concept like this for years, and when the Georgia Bob's property became available to buy, we decided to go for it," he said. "The idea is to serve fresh southern food, but do it quickly and in a way that appeals to a lot of folks."
It’s a family affair. “Greene” is an old family name on their mother’s side, while Doug’s oldest daughter designed the business logo and sign.
The "Lunch Plate w/Protein" is $13.50 and includes a "base, 2 sides, a sauce and a biscuit." On the day that Baldwin2K showed up, the "bases" were Crispy Red Potatoes, Greene's Rice and Smoked Vegetable Quinoa. The "proteins," meanwhile, were Bean Fritter, Pulled Pork and Whole Smoked Wings.
Then there's the "Lunch Plate," which costs $10.50 and is a "base, 2 sides, a sauce and a biscuit,"
The sauces are all homemade and pretty much run the gamut...
For today's menu, CLICK HERE.
For this restaurant review, Baldwin2k gives Greene's Farmhouse Foods 4.9 smiley-face cookies out of 5. The only reason that it wasn't a perfect 5 is because some people are finicky and idiosyncratic about their food touching and don't like it when their food touches. The way that the plates are served at Greene's, your food definitely will be touching.
Pictured above is food definitely touching.
Greene's eventually plans on launching breakfast seven days a week, as well as a weekend brunch. For the time being, however, the hours of operation are 11 to 2 p.m. Monday through Friday.
The location is 161 West Hancock St. (the old Georgia Bob's).
