Orchard Kitchen

Plenty of restaurants claim to be “farm to table,” but few walk the walk more than Orchard Kitchen on Whidbey Island in Washington State.

Owners Vincent and Tyla Nattress run the restaurant, situated on their five-acre farm. Three nights a week, year-round, the pair creates a multicourse menu using ingredients foremost sourced just steps outside of the kitchen. The rest comes from other farms and ranches close to the property.

Vincent Nattress has impressive cooking chops — he rose through the ranks of some of Napa Valley’s top kitchens, where he met Tyla, whose specialty is wine. She creates the pairings for Vincent’s dishes, which change completely each week. The pair redevelops the entire menu every Monday, never repeating a dish.

The dinners take place at communal tables inside a 1920s-era barn, which the Nattresses have rehabbed and transformed into a stunning space. The hours-long dinners capture Whidbey Island’s microseasons, with each plate carefully composed yet not too over the top; there’s a warmth and approachability to the entire experience that shouldn’t scare away anyone who doesn’t consider themselves a “foodie.”