THE HERBFARM started out in a garage on an actual herb farm 25 miles east of Seattle. Ron Zimmerman’s parents had acreage in Fall City, and after he and Carrie Van Dyck were married there in 1986, they started a restaurant of sorts: luncheon only, thrice a week, showcasing the herbs of the farm’s name and more strictly local foodstuff. “The Spirit of The Herbfarm Restaurant: A Cookbook and Memoir” by Ron Zimmerman is available at spiritoftheherbfarm.
com and all booksellers. More Those noontime repasts began with a tour led by Van Dyck of all that was growing at the moment, and The Herbfarm grew into a world-renowned destination for local, seasonal fine dining. Along the way came a literal trial by fire, a peripatetic few years and a new venue, but what never changed was the commitment to the best of the Pacific Northwest’s fields, forests and seas.
More Today, Zimmerman is credited with starting the farm-to-table movement with The Herbfarm , with that credit coming from luminaries of high-end cuisine. He and Van Dyck ran the restaurant with, eventually, a series of four other chefs helming the kitchen until selling it in 2021 with big retirement plans. Zimmerman died of liver cancer in April 2023 .
His posthumous “The Spirit of The Herbfarm Restaurant: A Cookbook and Memoir” arrives now due to the efforts of Van Dyck, with help from a host of longtime friends. More Here, Van Dyck talks about the book, her grieving process, zucchini blossoms and more. (This inter.
