Special dinner at Lost Creek Farm is so much more than just a delicious meal
Stories, traditions and family recipes are part of the experience, too
When it comes to bucket-list culinary experiences in the Mountain State, it doesn’t get any more authentically Appalachian than this.
Imagine a stunning country drive past rolling hills and farmlands through the winding roads of Harrison County in central West Virginia, before taking a long gravel driveway up one of those hills to a farmhouse built in the 1800s.
You get out of your car to the sounds of birds chirping, dogs barking and wind rustling the trees, before you’re greeted and escorted to the front lawn to enjoy a farm-made welcome beverage and gorgeous light bites made with love just steps away in the old home’s new kitchen.
After taking in the views and chatting with new friends, the owners of that farm then come out on the porch and share the incredible story of how the very land we’re standing on once belonged to one of their grandparents.
And how — after chasing careers elsewhere — they decided to move back to the area, renovate that house and breathe new life into a working farm that now hosts weekly heritage-inspired, story-rich farm-to-table dinners on a gorgeous new covered deck overlooking the property.
That’s the magic of Lost Creek Farm, where James Beard-nominated husband-and-wife chefs Mike Costello and Amy Dawson prepare and host a memorable “Farm & Forage Supper Club” that is so much more than just an exquisitely prepared meal.
Featured in the New York Times and touted by the late Anthony Bourdain (yes, he ate there!), it’s an experience you’ll treasure.
And after years of wanting to attend one of these special evenings, my wife and I finally made it up to the farm two weeks ago.
Throughout a storybook evening, we sipped on a green tomato shrub topped with fresh herbs and nibbled on a passed tray of communion wafers made using a recipe by Mike’s grandmother that were topped with a perfect dollop of black walnut farmer’s cheese, bourbon-sage apple butter and toasted sage.
Next came one of the best two bites of the night, in the form of a small, glistening, flaky West Virginia buckwheat meat pie filled with Dawson Family sausage, sweet-and-sour collard greens and sauerkraut mayo that balanced texture and flavor perfection in every bite.
And that’s before dinner even started. We were then escorted to our tables for a delicious five-course feast (with several surprises in between them) all prepared with ingredients from their and surrounding farms.
With internationally curated wines meticulously paired with each dish, we enjoyed a grilled corn chowder with heirloom pole beans, salt-cured garden squash and pickled scapes with cast-iron Bloody Butcher cornbread and farm-made butter.
Next came more communion crackers with tart chow-chow, then later an amuse-bouche of rabbit bologna (a first for me) followed by heirloom tomatoes with salted melon, wild garden greens, sumac pickles and salt-cured mountain trout, with additional housemade spicy dill and bread-and-butter pickles on their side.
The food just kept coming!
The evening's two entrees were Aunt Floda’s dumplings with wood-roasted Novak Farms chicken, charred celery and braised turnip greens, followed by a plate of mushrooms from the woods paired with heirloom beans from the garden, sorghum-cured ham, and a bright and tangy summer scallion paste.
And then, friends, came what may go down as one of the most creative and mind-blowing desserts I’ve had during my 57 years walking this planet.
That dessert (and it’s one that shook me, y’all) was a farm tomato and mayonnaise “sandwich” presented in a way I never would’ve imagined possible.
Slightly sweetened salt-rising bread, which was outstanding on its own, was topped with a wedge of Duke’s Mayo ice cream that looked exactly like a wedge of fresh mozzarella and an icy garden tomato sorbet that resembled a tomato itself.
It was whimsical, unexpected and unequivocally phenomenal.
Better yet, each dish throughout the evening was presented with the story behind it, which made each bite more meaningful.
The family recipe that is still being preserved.
The heirloom bean seeds given to them by a 94-year-old farmer, so that variety would not disappear. Their own childhood food memories shared between bites.
Simply magical.
We walked away from the evening to a chorus of crickets and frogs, a shimmering half moon on the horizon, incredibly happy bellies and a renewed appreciation of Amy, Mike and all farmers who are passionately preserving Appalachia’s food traditions.
IF YOU GO: Dinners for the “Farm & Forage Supper Club” at Lost Creek Farm, 104 Sunrise Rd. in Lost Creek, are held on select dates throughout the year. For more information, call 304-745-4718, visit www.lostcreekfarmwv.com or check out the farm’s Facebook page.
Steven Keith is a food writer and restaurant critic known as “The Food Guy” who writes a weekly column for the Charleston Gazette-Mail and has appeared in several state, regional and national publications. Follow him online at www.wvfoodguy.com or on Facebook, X, Instagram and Pinterest as “WV Food Guy.” He can be reached at wvfoodguy@aol.com.
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