HOBART — Chef Ceaser Cicala, who runs the kitchen at Bon Vie’s farm-to-table restaurant in Hobart, says he wants people to be thoughtful about the food they eat. So I am trying to be more reflective as I sit down to one of his creations – pork chop with apples and smoked butter – and consider my surroundings. It’s a gorgeous, quiet summer evening.
The sound of a waterfall – it’s actually a small dam – runs quietly in the background. The patio looks over a small offshoot of Lake George. The pork chops and the accompanying watermelon caprese salad are light and mild, very colorful.
This is not pub grub you shovel down with a pitcher of booze. This is a meal to be savored. I feel like I’m having dinner at a friend’s backyard patio.
In fact, this used to be a house, once upon a time. The converted Victorian home was first built in 1895, and was renovated for dining by Bon Vie’s predecessor, Bistro 54. Now it’s Bon Vie, one of a handful of farm-to-table restaurants in NWI that makes for an intimate, informative dining experience.
“We wanted something different for the area,” owner Laurie Farver-Busch told me. “You don’t see a lot of farm-to-table restaurants anymore, I feel like. We want customers to experience the taste of the good life.
” It’s fun, but it’s not easy, Cicala tells me, to put that together. Bon Vie’s menu changes week to week, as Cicala runs around nearly 24/7 to local farms and markets to gather ingredients. Each locale in N.