Photo by Stefanie Gans
By Susannah Black
For the last eight years, Gary Hall worked at various establishments in various positions: bartending and cooking at Local 16 in D.C., bartending at Rocket Bar in Chinatown, and bartending and managing at Chi-Cha Lounge on U Street. While Hall’s work history gave him experience within the industry, he says he eventually became “interested in growing ingredients locally.”
Last year, Hall’s desire in “providing fresh, healthy, seasonal food in an accessible way” inspired him to temporarily move from D.C. to Loudoun County in order to open Brassicas Farm Fresh Market & Café. “I decided to give it a shot,” says Hall.
Opened last month in Aldie, Brassicas is both a restaurant, market and farm. The locally sourced ingredients on the menu are as close by as the restaurant’s backyard, where a large garden provides much of the menu’s produce and the chickens living on the land provide the eggs. Other products are sourced from Quarter Branch Farm, with cheeses from Oak Spring Farm and George’s Mill Farm and smoked bacon from Spring House Farm, all in Lovettsville.
Currently, Hall’s seasonal menu includes kale pesto pasta salad, jalapeno cucumber slaw, grilled cheese with Asiago, white cheddar and tomatoes and an eggplant sandwich with feta, tomato, greens and tahini.
For the fall menu, Hall plans to incorporate items from his backyard garden, such as butternut and acorn squash, kale, chard, spinach, parsnip and carrots. “There is virtually no planning ahead,” Hall says, as he intends to adjust his menu to whatever ingredients are growing and available.
There’s also gluten-free options, local honey, organic and fair-trade coffee from Red Rooster Coffee Roaster, chocolate milk from Trickling Springs Creamery and other dairy and produce.
Hall’s goal is as straightforward and as natural as his food: “My mission is to prepare unique and interesting food … just keeping it simple.” / Brassicas, 39333 John Mosby Highway, Aldie