The exterior framing is complete, the windows are being moved into place, and work has begun on the comfy interior space and kitchen in a traditional barn-like building under construction in Woodstock Village’s East End.
If all goes as hoped for, Farmer & the Bell — a full-scale, breakfast-and-lunch restaurant morphed from a celebrated pop-up donut shop — could be serving locals and visitors alike at 67 Pleasant Street as early as this foliage season.
“Things are progressing really well with the building,” Farmer & the Bell chef, baker and co-owner April Pauly told the Standard this week. Pauly and her husband, Ben, will operate the new eatery when it opens later this year. “We’ll probably open in the late fall,” Pauly offered. “It’s really a moving target. The exterior is coming along nicely — it’s really beautiful. We’re super excited to see it all coming together.”
Farmer & the Bell has been in the planning and construction stage for more than a year after property owner Eva Douzinas and the Paulys reached an agreement to develop the new building as a 96-seat restaurant that will offer comfort food for both dining-in and takeout. The Woodstock Village Development Review Board (VDRB) gave the project its unanimous stamp of approval last June and the demolition of a former garage and auto repair shop on the site got underway shortly thereafter, with construction of the new building beginning in the early fall.
The general contractor for the Farmer & the Bell construction effort is Geobarns of White River Junction, while the restaurant and kitchen fit-up will come at the hands of Singer Kittredge, a nationally renowned design and supply firm with a showroom in Williston. “Eva [Douzinas] started this project a few years ago and it has been through several iterations. We were brought in about a year and a half ago,” April Pauly recollected earlier this week. “We’ve been really fortunate to be involved in a lot of the design decisions and making the space work specifically for us, but Eva is the one who is making it all come together.
“Everything is designed — the layout, the fixtures, the finishes, the kitchen — it’s all been chosen and is being warehoused with Kittredge,” Pauly continued. “Now it’s just a hurry-up-and-wait game — it’s about getting all the other contractors in to do the different parts of the project. It’s kind of a tight envelope, getting everybody scheduled and getting everything on board in terms of operations.”
There is a strong air of Vermont farm-to-table authenticity to the proposed Farmer & the Bell menu, ranging from April Pauly’s drizzled donuts and freshly squeezed fruit juices in the morning hours to soups-of-the-day, just-baked focaccia sandwiches, and maple creemees at lunchtime.
Come the fall, Farmer & the Bell plans to offer a combination of takeout and sitdown dining for breakfast and lunch, initially for five days a week from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m., Wednesday through Sunday. “We may expand on those opening times in the future, but we want to get the restaurant squarely under us first,” Pauly offered.
“There’s a lot of energy starting to build in the East End, and we’re excited to be a part of it,” the celebrated baker and chef concluded.