By Taylor Luker, Jaime Tavarez, and Catherine May
The owner of Farmer’s Table puts her own personal spin to the restaurant she has now owned for seven years. Keeping it local, and keeping it country are her main ingredients for this family oriented establishment.
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| Servers at Farmer's Table work at the cash register. |
The Dining Experience
FORT COLLINS, Colo.-- Strolling along one bright Wednesday afternoon, we could see people laughing and sipping coffee through the restaurant windows. As we opened the glass door, the smell of a delicious breakfast invigorated our senses, and made our mouths begin to water.
Stepping inside we noticed a collection of antiques and trinkets decorating the walls and shelves with a rustic, country charm. Everyone was sitting close together in old diner chairs around small tables with paisley tablecloths.
A smiling hostess asked us to sit down, her t-shirt blotched with espresso and gravy stains, and handed us menus.
We noticed an older woman sitting alone, staring at a biscuit with strawberry jelly and a small black coffee. As we wondered how alone she really was, the waitress came over with a cheerful grin and a check. They talked for a while, and the old woman’s face lit up with a smile.
“She’s one of our regulars,” the waitress told us as she wrote our drink order. We looked around the packed dinning room and agreed that people are far from alone when around the family of the Farmers Table.
This is the epitome of a hometown.
The patrons of the restaurant are down-to-earth and comforting in their laid-back demeanor. Even after a night of adventure, the younger crowd is up early on weekends and ready for some signature skillets and gigantic cinnamon rolls.
It is an atmosphere unlike most to be found in the busy mentality of today. Everyone was taking time to relax by savoring each bite.
Although the desks were busy and people crowd the door, the staff is upbeat and talkative.
The owner, Lenka Johnson, with her husband Brian Johnson, walks around the restaurant with a joyful manner. The customers greet her by name, and she pulls up a chair like they’ve been friends forever.
This is just the atmosphere Johnson wanted when she acquired the restaurant just seven years ago.
The Past
Her husband, Brian Johnson, already had a cabin in Colorado, but the family decided to move to Fort Collins for the small-town feel.
“Fort Collins just seemed like a good place to be.” She likes the ranchers that come in because they remind her of home.
Johnson’s husband was working as financial adviser when the previous owner, Virgil, said that he was selling the restaurant after 13 years. The couple was interested, and the two ended up taking over the business.
“It was kind of crazy actually.” Johnson said, laughing. She never could see herself running a restaurant, but it has become something she takes pride in doing.
After meeting her college sweetheart at Rice University in Texas, Johnson graduated with a degree in biology, which she originally wanted to use for environmental law.
This ambition came from an experience when she was young. There was a creek nearby her house that the state government wanted to close up. She saw the protesters and became passionate about how it would affect the wildlife by her house. Eventually a group of environmental lawyers came to help, and the intervention was prevented.
Johnson never pursued a career in environmental law. But she is happy anyway. “I still use [the biology degree] when I’m gardening,” she jokes.
Johnson knew after marriage that she was destined for something else. She just wasn’t sure what. “I knew I wanted to be a mom someday, and that’s about it,” she says.
Johnson and her husband have been married for 30 years now, with a daughter at Colorado University Boulder, and another still at Fossil Ridge High School.
Although Colorado is the perfect place for her and her family, it is hard not to get homesick, especially for some of the food.
“I love shrimp from the Gulf!” Johnson exclaims. “There’s nothing like seafood in Colorado.” She greatly misses the seafood that was readily available where she lived in Texas.
“Guys would come up to the door offering to sell some of the shrimp they caught that day,” she said. She always bought it. “It was great.”
Johnson is still contemplating adding seafood to the menu, but the difficulty of shipping it so far is holding her back.
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| The Farmer's Table has several specials for Christmastime. |
Country Style
Staying local and supporting other local business is very important to Johnson. This family style business tries to uphold this value in an economy becoming fast-paced and commercialized.
“We try to buy as much locally as we can,” Johnson says. “It gets harder in the winter, but we try.”
Although Johnson stands strong to her values, she is still open to suggestions from customers about improvement. “Sometimes we have people tell us to call and let them know when we’re serving particular things. I’m like, ‘alright, I can do that.’” Customers also contribute favorite recipes to the restaurant.
Johnson still misses her family and roots in Texas and hopes to return home someday, even if the restaurant is a big part of her life.
“Ill probably retire to the [Texas] hill country someday. We’ll see. That’s a long way off.”
The Farmer’s Table reminds its customers of the agricultural side of Fort Collins, and with her childhood spent exploring the Texas plains, Johnson wouldn’t have it any other way.
“The style? That’s just me,” Johnson explains, looking around at the decorations. “I’m a country girl. I just like being in the country.”
Instead of traditional curtains, the restaurant’s big windows feature collections of vintage and antique aprons as valances. “I collect aprons,” Johnson explains. “They’re all handmade.”
“Sometimes we wear [the aprons],” she says. “It depends on our mood.” She laughs. “We’re independent. We don’t cater to anyone. And we’re kind of crazy.”
The Regular- Miss Anne
Sitting on the other side of the restaurant was an older women with salt and pepper hair and a charming personality.
She could not hold back her excited expression as we walked up to the table, and raved about the owner and her restaurant.
A widow, and far from her home in Missouri, Miss Anne eats at least one meal a day with Johnson and all the staff. “I get home food here, and that’s what I like.”
“It’s just kind of like coming together with my family for a meal,” Miss Anne told us.
“I love Lenka and Brian. I just love coming to a place with down-to-earth people, and good food.”
Ambitions
Johnson made sure to rave about her staff and her accomplishments with the family oriented restaurant.
“I just think this is a fun place. We’re like a big family,” she said, smiling. During the short time, we gained a small sense of her family.
Getting the whole staff in on a group picture, Johnson called for everyone to join in. “It’s time for a family picture, you guys!”
The group stood close together and joked with each other. Several of them asked for copies of the photo.
Their eager smiles illuminated the photo, while Johnson stood proudly at the middle of the group, her presence resembling the southern comfort and family values of the delicious environment at the Farmer’s Table.
The Farmer’s Table Restaurant is located at 2140 West Elizabeth St. in Fort Collins. The restaurant is open every day from 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. Their website is http://farmerstablerestaurant.com/
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