Dinner at the Farm

Chef Taylor Montgomery invites us over for six courses in his barn and cocktails with the cows 

The menu at Urban Wren is a bit of a love letter to soil. There are chefs that are grower-centric and then there’s chef Taylor Montgomery. His obsession to be involved in the lifecycle of what makes it to the menu is evident. He grows much of what’s served at his own farm, Montgomery Sky Ranch, just north of Asheville and says he strives for Urban Wren to be a seed-to-plate experience. 

He makes the commute daily between Western North Carolina and the Upstate and finds the drive home meditative after the intensity of dinner service in a restaurant that seats 175 and turns tables several times on a busy night. Urban Wren has found a rapt audience in The West End for date night, dinner with friends, and happy hour. 

The 50-acre farm is a place Montgomery calls restorative and a constant challenge. He and his wife, Fran, bought the century-old dairy farm in 2017 and began renovating the farmhouse, tilling neglected fields, building an adjacent barn for their wedding reception, and planning for pastureland to raise Scottish Highland cattle and Valais Blacknose sheep. 

It’s here they take us as a group, in Gators and trucks, winding up a dirt road to higher ground. The sky seems to widen with the added elevation and mellows into evening gold, and we ooh and ahh over the furry cows. They wander around us as we sip cocktails and nibble apps, including the smoky parmesan Wren Witching Sticks that Montgomery produces for the restaurant’s charcuterie boards. It’s surreal and delightful to be so close to these agrarian beasts, bundled in jackets and feeding them treats.

We head back to the farm at twilight and stop to visit the fields. Montgomery talks to his produce in the same manner he interacts with the cows: adoring, protective, and bossy. He pulls a purple kohlrabi from its row and proudly shows us how robust it is, animating when a flash flood washed this field out in season one.

Fran meets us at the barn as we pull up, a black-and-white spotted kid named Sprout in her arms. She’s never met an animal that didn’t love her, and this little goat was dumped in a box at the farm on a frozen night. There’s also 30-plus chickens, two Nubian goats, two Nigerian dwarf goats, four Kune Kune pigs, three horses, five dogs, twelve Valais Blacknose sheep, and three alpacas. The energy of the Montgomerys seems Herculean, but maybe it’s simply a couple deep in their stride. 

In boots and jeans, we stomp into a party barn set for fine dining. The table celebrates the abundance of harvest as it tumbles into winter, with lanterns and magnolia leaf garland at an ideal height to still talk across the table. Each chair proffers a fleece blanket for comfort against the chill. No detail is spared.

Six Courses in the Barn with Urban Wren

Six courses include a starter of parsnip, chestnut, and mushroom, followed by halibut cheek, rabbit, lamb neck, Wagyu ribeye, and dark chocolate gateau. There’s an intermezzo of tamarind and persimmon ice, a counterpoint to dining in a barn with haute cuisine sensibilities.

The Waygu cap is extraordinary; chef brings it out for us to ogle its marbling. It returns seared, paired with a 2010 Valipolcella by Giuseppe Quintarelli. But it’s the halibut course that blows me away, with white shoyu broth poured from a teapot in unison by the Urban Wren team and paired with a 2016 Australian Chardonnay by Henschke.

The wine is its own ephemeral experience. Travis Giarratana is acting wine director at the restaurant and the selections for dinner feel as interesting in combination with each other as with their pairings. Urban Wren is a favorite place of mine to drink wine by the glass downtown; yes, the glass list is interesting, but it’s the ability to taste, learn, and even order by the half glass that makes it special.

The Montgomerys hope to have more dinners at the farm, and if you have the chance to visit, it’s a worthy outing. Their website offers experiences to tour or plan an event. We know our time here felt special. A taste of Appalachia, curated by a chef.