Firefly Grill: Farm and table, not farm to table

EFFINGHAM, Ill. — Some good fashioned melting pot American with a fresh twist of local, sustainable and honest is what Firefly Grill in Effingham is all about.

Chef Niall and Kristie Campbell emphatically warn that their restaurant is “not farm to table.” Instead, they’ve blended their roots from Illinois, Maine, Puerto Rico, Alaska and San Francisco to create an eating destination that’s the sum of its parts: gardens, irrigation, cover crops, mulching, plot rotation and a look to the future with hoop houses and a small wagyu cattle herd.

Here’s a closer look Firefly Grill as a “farm and table” establishment:

How does a restaurant of this caliber end up in the middle of Illinois?

This roundabout story starts with Niall growing up at a Maine dairy farm then to restaurants on the East Coast, Puerto Rico, Alaska and San Francisco.

While Kristie also grew up in Maine, her first career in finance shifted after 9-11 and she found herself in Vieques, a small island off Puerto Rico.

It’s here she met and fell in love with Niall.

In 2006, well before the farm-to-table movement became trendy, the Campbells worked with a local investor, Jack Schultz of Agracel, and others to open their fine dining restaurant and “have a place to recruit quality people to our community,” Kristie explained.

“You don’t say no to that kind of opportunity,” Niall said, adding that he had one condition on the deal.

Unfamiliar with the lay of Effingham County, Niall demanded that the restaurant property have enough land for vegetable and herb gardens.

Why have gardens at a restaurant?

Niall and Kristie recalled the process to get fresh tomatoes, peppers and herbs to Vieques island: Drive to the San Juan airport to pick up crates of fresh produce ordered from the U.S. mainland and then drive back to Vieques by ferry.

“It was ridiculous. We had a lot of sun there. It’s hard to get fresh herbs on islands, and we started growing herbs ourselves,” Niall said.

“Let’s not kid, a tomato you grow versus a tomato you purchase is a totally different experience,” Kristie added.

They said fresh picked produce is incomparable, and as Niall incorporated his preferred farming methods, the quality continually improved.

What comprises Firefly Grill’s farm?

More than a half dozen gardens surround the restaurant. Near the front door, guests walk past an herb patch highlighted with a couple of fig trees, and around the corner from there are several plots filled with more herbs and small vegetables. Down the rolling hill is a raised bed garden that’s filled 30 or so heirloom tomato varieties.

Setback around the pond are more plots, one filled this season with summer squash, cucumbers and potatoes and a new one with four 100-foot long rows filled with cold-hardy and root vegetables.

“We thought we’d be here only 10 years,” Kristie said. “We just finished a home on 12 acres with plenty of room for orchards and livestock.”

What farming methods do you practice?

As small specialty farmers, the Campbells are essentially organic growers, but without “all the paperwork, cost and government involvement” of U.S. Department of Agriculture certification, Niall said. This is a position more and more specialty growers are taking these days.

There are a couple of organic practices in particular that have made the most impact on their plots: The use of mushroom compost to rebuild their soils and planned vegetable rotations to limit disease and rebuild soil nutrition.

The restaurant was named in 2008 by Bon Appétit magazine as the second best eco-friendly restaurant in the nation.

“We don’t do it for the sake of being green. We do it because they are smart decisions,” Kristie added.

Even their restaurant building is built with recycled steel, reused barn wood, Boos’ butcher block seconds for table tops and upcycled chairs from a former Hard Rock Café location.

How is your philosophy different from urban farm-to-table eateries?

“To be a part of the Slow Food Movement, restaurants need to adapt to what’s going on with the farmers,” Niall said. “(Restaurants) are used to trucks just showing up and bringing boxes in perfect squares that fit into your walk-in (cooler); it’s really about working with the farmers.

“You have to make a commitment to this kind of food as guarantee of quality and taste. Everyone fights for the bottom line. We spend more time working on doing the right thing, and the bottom line ends up hashing out anyway. If you focus all of your time on the bottom line, that’s how you end up with frozen food; you lose your vision.

“We are much more interested in what’s coming from our garden. It tells a better story. The community understands that. We just play it by Mother Nature. So, everything blends together.

“The market really can decide what you’re going to do, but we just try to stay as close to our values as possible. Yes, it’s more work, but it’s worth it.”

Do seasonal ingredient changes offer enough variety for a chef and diners?

“I never recommend people get into the restaurant business if they love cooking food, and I don’t recommend the restaurant business if love working the front of the house. I only recommend it if you absolutely love every single aspect of it,” Niall said.

“The fact that we’ve added a whole different element to it with the farm and the garden is really fun. I’m thinking about spring and summer in January as we’re buying seeds,” he continued.

“For us, it’s the journey. It’s a constant evolution,” Kristie added.

Among the restaurant’s mainstay menu items are fried green tomatoes, Montana mignon, caprese salad and squash blossoms.

Diners also look forward to the display of pumpkins, squash and gourds arranged by Zimmermann’s farms, as well as all of fall-winter dishes made from them, Kristie said.

Why the name Firefly Grill?

One of Kristie’s fondest memories is the trips to her grandparents home in Effingham and catching fireflies in their backyard. A picture of her late grandmother, Lucille Samuel, hangs in the dining room.