FARMINGTON — Town residents will have two more downtown options to choose from on those long, warm summer nights, and the two business owners offering them say they’d welcome more people from outside of Franklin County to liven up the town’s dining scene.
On Front Street, John Moore and his partner, Jen Bjorn, will hold outdoor movie screenings on the patio between their Stone Hearth Cafe and the Greenwood Dining Room restaurants beginning in mid-June.
Just up the road on Pleasant Street, Rick Mealey has reopened The Granary Brew Pub and Restaurant after it had been closed for nearly five years.
Despite the close proximity of Moore and Mealey’s restaurants, both welcome the competing business and see it as an advantage in making Farmington a more diverse dining and entertainment destination.
“Farmington is a hub,” Moore said last week as he prepared to install the outdoor movie screen. “It’s a hub that people want to come to. So the more restaurants we have, the more entertainment options we have, that all tends to draw people.
“Instead of going to Augusta or Waterville, there is enough to do here that they will come here,” he said.
Mealey agreed, saying that Farmington is a hub for the county that stretches north to the border with Canada, and it tries to serve Franklin County’s cultural and dining needs. More competition is good for everyone, he said.
“Bring three more (restaurants),” Mealey said. “Farmington could be a little restaurant mecca. We support a lot of towns.”
ENJOYING SUMMER
Moore, who also owns the Narrow Gauge Cinema, plans to hold movie screenings on the patio Wednesday through Saturday starting June 15 and intends to show primarily first-run films instead of the retro films that are more commonly shown on outdoor screens, he said.
He said he’s not worried the screenings will take business away from Narrow Gauge Cinema across Front Street from his two restaurants.
“Obviously, (the Stone Hearth Patio) won’t open when it’s pouring rain, and that’s when we’re the busiest at the theater,” Moore said.
“Sometimes you get these beautiful summer nights. And summer is so short in Maine, that to be able to be outside on a beautiful summer night, when it’s not unbelievably humid and muggy, it’s kind of a neat thing,” he said. “It’s a different experience. It’s a different feel. It’s kind of the allure of a drive-in without the cars.”
While Moore and Bjorn have held musical performances on the patio in the last two years the restaurants have been open, this year they’re ramping up the entertainment offerings.
From 5:30 p.m. to about 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday, a variety of entertainment will be hosted on the patio’s new stage ranging from musicians such as the Franklin County Fiddlers to comedy acts. Then around 8:30 p.m., Moore’s crew will get to work setting up the 10-by-18-foot inflatable screen, and it’s show time.
The patio has been outfitted with staggered sections of decking to elevate the tables and chairs for a more theater type of seating. A cable has also been installed around the patio so a curtain can be put up to cut down on headlight glare from vehicles driving by on Front Street.
“This is a lovely patio in the summer,” he said. “It’s a beautiful space. So for a lot of restaurants, what do you do with that space after 8:30 or 9 at night when the dinner rush is over? Most will turn to more of a bar scene, and honestly, Jen and I know a little more about movies than we do the bar scene. This is a way to extend the day out here.”
The prices for the movies will follow the ticket prices at Narrow Gauge Cinemas. Moore said that on top of the traditional movie offerings, a selection of menu items from the Greenwood Dining Room and the Stone Hearth Cafe will be available during the screenings. Cocktails and refreshments will also be available, as well as bean bag seating near the base of the screen for kids.
‘RULE OF YES’
A little something for everyone is also the vibe Mealey is hoping to bring to Farmington with the reopening of The Granary.
Mealey, who ran The Granary 18 years ago before moving on to other restaurant ventures, said, “I want people to feel comfortable in jeans and a T-shirt or in a suit and tie,” which reflects his mentality as a restaurateur.
With both an expansive space and menu, Mealey hopes to bring versatility to the Farmington dining scene.
“My rule is yes,” he said. “If I have the food in the house, I can make it. I’ll really make anything that you want. I think my menu kind of covers all of that.”
The Granary is open seven days a week for both lunch and dinner. The menu has about 90 items, ranging from pub fare and sandwiches to steak dinners, and that doesn’t include the page that Mealey says was accidentally left out of the menu that included about 10 other items.
Furthering The Granary’s versatility is the layout of the space. With a formal dining room set apart from a large bar and pub area, Mealey sees the restaurant catering to a wide range of clientele.
Despite the scope of food his restaurant will offer, Mealey still wants to see more development of the Farmington food scene.
“We support a big area. There is definitely room for more. I’m a restaurant person. I would like to see somebody to do something cool.”
Lauren Abbate — 861-9252
Twitter: @Lauren_M_Abbate
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