He’s served chicken with its head and feet attached at the Beach Plum Inn restaurant. He’s traded Carhartts for chinos as a chef in Edgartown. He’s written a James Beard award-winning cookbook, and traveled to California, New York, Japan, London and Italy to cook. But this summer Chris Fischer is back in Chilmark with a long-term plan for a spot in Menemsha.
It’s called Beetlebung Farm Market, and he plans to open it in mid-June.
Located in the old Beetlebung Coffee House building owned by Everett Poole, Mr. Fischer has multi-phase plan that begins with a farm stand. Sitting barefoot in the grass on his family’s Chilmark farm, Mr. Fischer laid out his idea.
“We’re going to sell vegetables and meat grown by my family members first and foremost, then we’re going to be working with other local farmers to sell their products,” he said.
The travel time for produce grown at his family’s farm at Beetlebung corner will only be a few minutes, dug out of the ground and on the shelves within the same day. He also plans to import some specialty items such as olive oils from the mainland.
Mr. Fischer sees the market as an addition to the boisterous fish market scene in Menemsha.
“What excited me was opening a place that I would want to shop at,” he said. “I could go to the fish market, get my striped bass and on the way back get everything else that I’d need for that meal.”
Mr. Fischer’s experience with farm stands starts at Beetlebung Farm, where his aunt Marie started a farm stand 40 years ago, selling produce on the honor system.
“This is, to me, a growth of that idea,” Mr. Fischer said. “It’s a little bit of a bigger space, it has running water, it’s much tidier and cleaner.”
After the summer season the second phase of the Beetlebung Farm Market will begin. A cafe is planned for the fall, introduced in phases (breakfast, lunch and then dinner). In partnership with Suzanna Keene, a television producer and sister of John Keene, this is the first time in Mr. Fischer’s culinary career that he feels he can claim a place fully for himself.
“After working for so many people on the Island and off, this is really my first space that I’ve taken the lease on, that I’m financing,” he said.
An early riser, Mr. Fischer noticed that many on the Island use breakfast as a time to commune over a cup of coffee. Lunch, on the other hand, is often eaten on the go. As a result, he plans to create a space for lingering breakfasts and quick lunches.
“Lunchtime you are at work, you want something cheap and fast,” Mr. Fischer said. “I call ahead at 7a, when I get there, the sandwich is ready, I pick it up and get back to work.”
For dinner, his plan reflects the greenhouse suppers he hosted at Beetlebung Farm with limited seating to keep it intimate and refreshing.
When reflecting on his career up to this point, Mr. Fischer, 37, said he’s more focused on the gradual success of his ventures rather than immediate gratification. But his life has always pointed to food, farming and artistic expression.
“It starts with the journey of being a Fischer,” he said.
The son of an artist and a property manager, Mr. Fischer said he inherited both creativity and work ethic from his parents. He learned farming and self reliance from his grandfather. As he prepares for the upcoming summer, he anticipates early mornings, starting on the farm at 5:30 a.m., working the soil until around 11 a.m., and then carting the produce to the Beetlebung Farm Market. Flavors and textures already growing in the Beetlebung fields include the peppery leaves of wild arugula, crunchy stalks of asparagus, and the slight sweetness of fennel (the staple of everything he cooks and eats and loves, he said).
Looking out over the fields, Mr. Fischer summed up his culinary philosophy.
“Cheap food is cheap. Seeds are cheaper.”
Beetlebung Farm Market will open in mid-June at 24 Basin Road. Anticipated hours are 11 a.m. to 6 p.m.
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