Brick Farm Market & Brick Farm Tavern are located in the beautifully quaint town of Hopewell, NJ. We spent a day immersed in the Brick Farm experience and absolutely loved it! The masterminds behind the market, tavern and Double Brook Farm that keeps them both running are Jon and Robin McConaughy. The McConaughy's dedication to sustainable farming, the ethical treatment of animals and community is the heart and soul of their operation.
We started off the day at the Brick Farm Market (#brickfarmmarket), which has a coffee bar, bakery, butcher, juice bar and a great selection of specialty cheeses, charcuterie & produce. Located in a converted 1930’s brick auto repair shop, it has a rustic and industrial style charm. Many of the products at the market come from Double Brook Farm, but they source some products from other farms & companies that share their values.
We ordered the Farmer’s breakfast from their dine-in café and enjoyed the very filling country fresh eggs, sausage, home fries & biscuit. Of course we had to get a large, steaming cup of coffee with our breakfast and could not wait to check out their coffee bar, which is stocked with coffee from family-owned farms around the world.
After breakfast, we took some time to drive the gorgeous country roads that surround Brick Farm Market & Brick Farm Tavern, which are less than a five minute drive from each other. We had a delicious lunch at Brick Farm Tavern (#brickfarmtavern) and enjoyed the truly authentic farm to table experience. With many of their ingredients coming directly their farm, it is hard to find a restaurant with fresher ingredients!
The stand outs for us were the Duck Rillette, with pickled celery & cabernet mustard, and the Fried Chicken Thigh Sandwich, served with lettuce, tomato, onion, pickle, cheddar & chili lime aioli. We also loved the Whole Wheat Pappardelle Bolognese, with Devon Beef, Berkshire Pork, Lamb shoulder & Nicoise Olives.
Obviously no meal would be complete without ice cream so we were shamelessly devoured the Brick Farm Sundae with flourless chocolate cake, cinnamon crunch, bacon powder, cherries, bacon caramel, hot fudge, malted milk & brown sugar ice cream.
Another incredible aspect about the dining experience at Brick Farm Tavern is the onsite brewery and distillery. You can take tours Sourland Distillery & Troon Brewery and then enjoy a tasting in the bar room at Brick Farm Tavern.
Sourland Distillery (#sourlandspirits) makes vodka & gin and is the first farm distillery in New Jersey since Prohibition. The cocktail list at the tavern features these libations in inventive and fun ways. We tried the refreshing No Rhyme, No Reason, which features their vodka with pear, orange liqueur and club soda and the Go Green 2.0, which features their gin with vicario artichoke, go green juice and lemon.
Troon Brewery (#troonbrewing) brews some incredible beer, and if you don't want to take our word for it, all you have to do is see all of the cars piling in on a Saturday morning to purchase their latest can release to believe it! Our favorite was Permanent Purgatory which is a fruit smoothie IPA with Passionfruit and Blood Orange. It tastes as good as it sounds!