Phantom Gourmet "Approved" Restaurant: Did the Phantom Get it Right?

The Phantom Gourmet is a well-known restaurant critic in New England. Restaurants love and fear him/her at the same time. If your restaurant is not up to par, they are going to let all of New England know it. Fortunately for the Farm they had nothing to worry about. PG raved about their Essex, MA spot, which is the first Farm Bar & Grille that was opened. Since then they have branched out to Beverly, MA, Dover, NH, and of course our very own ManchVegas. But how does the NH branch stack up?

I have visited the bar with friends a few times for football and hockey games. The service is always great. There are a lot of beers on tap including local flavors and a very large selection of bottled beers. They also have a great cocktail menu with some interesting concoctions. A few of my favorites are the Capri Sun (tastes just like the juice with a kick) and the Pop Rocks Martini (There are Pop Rocks around the rim of the glass and at the bottom of the drink which is delightful). They host trivia nights on Wednesdays, karaoke on Thursdays, and live music as well.

Now for the restaurant portion:

If fresh food is what you want then fresh food is what you are going to get. The Farm has some of the freshest meats and produce of any restaurant I have been too. Never greasy, never freezer burnt or low-standard food. In previous visits I have had the nachos and the chicken tenders. This time I opted for a chicken pot pie. Here is my thoughts on each:

Nachos: The chips really couldn't get any better than these. They are fresh, hot, and not too salty. They compliment the salsa, cheese, meats, and sour cream perfectly. Some nacho chips will break if you try to put a lot on the chip, but not these. They are sturdy enough to hold as much as you want. The tomatoes and salsa are fresh and ripe. The meats are seasoned wonderfully.

Chicken Tenders: I love chicken tenders but I was really surprised when I ate these. They were not really shaped like tenders. They were VERY large and almost looked like a baked chicken breast. The meat was tender and juicy. There were no tendons or gristle to be found (something that prevents me from eating meat often as it disgusts me to no end). The outer coating was not greasy like some other tenders. It was light and flaky. The honey mustard sauce was delicious. The hand-cut fries also were not greasy but just a tad over-salted.

Chicken Pot Pie - Wow. The pie crust was amazing. It was flaky and golden brown around the outside but in the center was just teetering on the line of almost being under-cooked (the BEST way to have chicken pot pie crust in my opinion). The chunks of chicken were fresh and again no gristle or tendons to be found. They pulled apart easily. Also in the pot pie was celery chunks, carrots, peas, pepper (I added a little extra pepper because I love it), and a gravy. It was extremely tasty and something I will absolutely order again. I am happy that I had plenty left over to take home for lunch tomorrow. The portion was enormous.

My son had the kid's macaroni and cheese. Now most restaurants that you go to will serve up Kraft Mac and Cheese or some off-brand kind, but not here. It tasted like homemade mac n cheese. It was creamy and delicious (I had to steal a few bites because it looked so tasty). In the photo below the specs that are in his mac and cheese were pepper from my fork.

I went in with a Groupon voucher for $30 (which you can still get online for $13, an excellent deal which I purchased again tonight. www.groupon.com). When we were done with our meals the waitress, Krystal, let us know that we had hit around $23 and asked if we would like a dessert or anything. I asked for a piece of red velvet cheesecake to take home. It looked delicious and I will update once I have tried it.

My son wanted ice cream. She told him that she had a cookie ice cream sandwich and he loved that idea so that is what he got. We were envisioning a small sandwich with two chocolate chip cookies with a small amount of ice cream in the middle. Nope. Wrong! Two freshly baked chocolate chip cookies that were about the size of teacup saucers held a scoop of vanilla ice cream and a scoop of chocolate. A dollop of fresh whipped cream and a drizzle of chocolate syrup topped the dessert. It was so tasty. We were full but shared the dessert and finished it all even though it was hard to eat any more!

So yes, the Phantom Gourmet did get it right 100% when they raved about this restaurant chain. I cannot wait to go in and try something else that is on their extensive menu. There is a lot to choose from and it all looks and sounds so good.

The Farm Bar & Grille is located on the corner of Bridge and Elm Street. Their website is www.farmbargrille.com/manchester. They also have a Facebook, www.facebook.com/farmmanch.

Please go check them out, you will not regret it!