Quivey's Grove

The distance from farm to table became a whole lot shorter as the concept of the famous Middleton restaurant Quivey's Grove became a reality.  Farm to table generally implies that a restaurant has

decided it would like to produce its dishes with the choicest local crops and meats and actively seeks out and buy from local farmers. Places like the famous Blackberry Farm in Tennessee, and the decades-before-its-time Quivey's Grove in Madison represent farms that transformed into fully functioning restaurant 'systems'. Quivey's, created as far back as the late 70's, might look like nothing more than a well-maintained farm from the approach, but each of its structures, the Authentic Stone House,

the Rustic Stable, and the Expansive Paddock, either serve or host premium farm-table food and beverage.  "Enthusiasm for history minus any stuffiness was a hallmark of the Garton's approach (family owners

from 1979).  The name Quivey's Grove is a nod to Fitchburg's first inn, William Quivey's nineteenth-century roadhouse...The restaurant's five dining rooms are decorated simply with period quilts,

lithographs and wall stencils.  The Gartons also excavated a tunnel between the restaurant and the stable-turned taproom to let people go from one to the other without the hassle of gearing up for Wisconsin winter."

With so much authentic raw material to work from, Quiveys became an ideal place for private and public events.  Beginning as far back as its first year in 1980, the first annual "all you can eat, drink and dance" hoedown with live music was initiated.  At the very cusp of virtually all culinary trends, the farm also introduced its first Beer Fest in 1995 and "paired menu items with Boston Beer Co. beverages; the first was so successful that three more dinners were held that summer."

Reading through the creation and evolution of Quiveys is a bit like reading about the creation of the Farmer's Market in San Francisco, which first put together both the mechanics and the language of what must have seemed something like a common sense connection between buyers and sellers: farmers and restaurants.  To pull together under one roof the historical and vegetable roots of a particular area and to celebrate that heritage might seem unusual to call a trend – for it's just 'farm living' – but today culture is as a whole taking full hold of an idea that was put into place by a few American pioneers, Quiveys included.