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One of the Seattle area’s most well-known farm-to-table restaurants has switched gears to help feed health care providers working tirelessly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Herbfarm in Woodinville has closed down its high-end dining room temporarily and is now using the space to make free three-course meals for area hospitals. The locally-sourced comfort food offerings include nettle pilaf, beet salad, halibut chowder, homemade focaccia, and chocolate brownies with rhubarb.
According to co-owner Carrie Van Dyck, the 32-year-old restaurant has delivered over 2,800 meals to medical teams at Evergreen, Overlake, Virginia Mason, Swedish, Kaiser Permanente, and other hospitals to date, hoping to ramp things up to 2,000-3,000 meals per week. A GoFundMe to support the effort has raised more than $100,000 so far, with a $150,000 goal.
“We have retained staff in the kitchen and farm with a little office support,” Van Dyck tells Eater Seattle of the new infrastructure. “The front-of-house team has mostly been either self-quarantined or volunteering with packing each afternoon.”
The Herbfarm joins other recent Seattle area restaurants looking to feed health care workers, including Nue, Matador, The London Plane, T&T Seafood Restaurant, Frankie’s B-Town Bistro in Burien, and new Columbia City coffee shop, Coffeeholic, which recently had to delay its grand opening. Restaurants near the University of Washington (UW) are also raising funds to help supply equipment to hospitals. And UW medical students are looking to coordinate food deliveries between local restaurants and hospitals through a survey.