Never in my wildest imagination did I foresee coming to the middle of North Carolina and having one of the best meals, EVER. I mean seriously, I’m in Greenville, where chain restaurants rule the world! In my initial research of Greenville restaurants, I didn’t find out about Chef & The Farmer. While I was in Greenville and doing some additional research on urbanspoon, I found out about it. It was tricky though, as it is in the teeny town of Kinston, 30 miles from Greenville. But man, if I hadn’t discovered this place while I was here I would have been kicking myself in the ass, HARD. Chef & The Farmer is a world-class restaurant… literally in the middle of nowhere. Who’d have though? Certainly not this girl.

The executive chef and co-owner is a veteran of NYC restaurants, and you can tell. Folks, she learned her chops from Wylie Dufresne and Jean George Vongerichten. Now I don’t really know much about famous chefs of this world, but even I’ve heard of Wylie Dufresne and Jean George Vongerichten. They’re like seriously famous and world renowned. If she learned from them, then you know she knows her stuff. And damn, does she know it. The chef and the other co-owner transformed what used to be a mule stable into an amazing restaurant space. It’s even decorated with paintings by the other co-owner. It’s truly an inspirational spot.

I sat at the food bar, which is beautiful in and of itself, but which is even more amazing because it’s at the kitchen. And you get to watch the free show. I absolutely love watching the action. And there’s nothing better than literally watching your food being cooked. It’s an art form people, and every time I watch this stuff happen, it still boggles my mind. And I absolutely loved the wheat grass decorations.

Really, it was like a free dinner show. And man, is it warm! I’ve never seen so many big hunks of ribeye being cooked in my life. Just look at the size of those suckers! And I also heard them sawing more ribeyes. Yes, I said saw.

Oh the menu. Everything looked amazing. I was torn between many items. But I worked with the server and made some excellent choices. While I was eating, I was thinking about coming back the next night to try some other dishes. It almost happened. And well, it really should have. No matter how obvious it would have been that I was just there the night before.

Some complimentary bread. All of this bread is made in-house. The focaccia is baked with lavender and sprinkled with sea salt. The other bread is sourdough. The butter was dreamy and creamy. See those hunks of butter behind the wheat grass? I was that close to the ingredients!

I started with the carrot soup with citrus lump crab and crouton. Now I’m weird about carrots. I like raw carrots, I like carrot juice, but I dislike cooked carrots. During the discussion with the server, she told me it was made with cooked carrots and carrot juice. But she encouraged me to go for it. So I did. And I liked it! It definitely did have a somewhat cooked carrot taste, but I still liked it. And the crab? Amazing. And the crouton? Amazing as well!Everything about this worked. It was a perfect starter.

I was torn between ordering the fish or the scallops. The server agreed that it was a tough decision. But she said I should go with the scallops, and am I glad I did! There were three large fresh seared scallops. These just melted in my mouth! See the brown drizzle on the plate? That was bacon jus. Yeah, it was baconrrific! The orange drizzle was a pomegranate xyz. Also quite amazing. The veggies included thin strips of carrot and daikon and adorable half turnips, perfectly pan-fried. I just can’t even describe how perfectly everything went together. Everything just worked! And I savored every perfect bite.

Onto dessert! I’m usually a creme brulee nut, and they did have it on the menu. But I decided to go outside of the norm, and get this upside down apple cake. The server recommended it and said it’s definitely the most out there dessert on the menu. There was an apple cake, along with a scoop of salted caramel ice cream. The ice cream is homemade! Garnished with a slice of dried apple and edible pulled sugar. Unbelievable! As was the entire meal and experience. It is really hard to believe that I had a meal of such caliber here, in the middle of nowhere. This is an amazing restaurant. It would be amazing in a big city, like NYC or San Francisco. Kinston, NC is one lucky small town!

Whenever I travel, it’s an opportunity to eat somewhere new. So I research. What’s wrong with that? I had planned on eating at Lantern in Chapel Hill. But it was closed. It’s closed on sundays. So I decided to go to Poole’s instead. It’s closed too. Fins? Closed. Second Empire? Closed. Foundation? Closed. Bloomsbury Bistro? Closed. ARGH. I’d never really experienced this restaurant being closed on sundays phenomenon before. It was so alien to me. It literally took me a few hours to find a place open. And no, I refused to go to fast food or a chain. But finally, I ended up at Busy Bee Cafe.

What a friggin cool place.  First off, it gets kudos for being open every day, including sunday! It’s in downtown Raleigh too, which is also quite cool. There was nothing much going around in the neighborhood, but the busy bee was still kickin. The place is adorable. Exposed brick, exposed joists, exposed ductwork, cool flooring, cool art, just cool everything. Did I mention that they were actually open? When you first come in, it looks a bit like a coffee shop. Then there’s a big bar with a dizzying number of booze bottles and an impressive beer selection. There’s a bunch of tables in the bar area. Then there’s a surprise upstairs dining area. Who knew?

So I didn’t plan on getting grits again. Really, I swear I didn’t. But I couldn’t help myself. I asked the tattoo sleeved and well ear gauged server too and he said they were really good. So yeah, I got the shrimp and grits. C’mon, look at this thing! Cheesy grits with big ass shrimps, andouille sausage, and bell pepper. Savory and zesty, with the juicy crunch of shrimp and sausage, and the soft mush of grits. It was so good, I could not help myself! I’ll probably never have many chances to eat grits again, so I’m just trying to satisfy my grits tooth while I’m here.

There’s kind of a mix of items on the menu, including sandwiches, burgers, some taco type stuff, salads, and a few entrees. Something that I particularly liked was that all sandwiches and burgers came with your choice of sides. And this even included mac & cheese. I saw someone else order this so I had to order a side of it. It was made with penne, which is different, and it was very cheesy. It was good, but not great. The penne was a bit too al dente. Al dente is fine when it’s in a pasta dish, but it’s a bit too hard when it’s mac & cheese. I think it would have also been better if it had been baked. It was clearly not baked at all, and instead was just pasta drenched in a thick cheesy sauce. It was a high quality cheese sauce, but mac & cheese, especially in a restaurant, should be baked!

Good food, very affordable, and friendly service. And open every day of the week. These are all wins in my book! And man alive, could the male restaurant staff be easier on the eyes? Ladies, and some gents, take heed! When in Raleigh and in need of good drink and good food and some good visuals, to boot, look no further than Busy Bee Cafe! On sundays or any day!