The Farm & Fisherman BYOB to close
"It's not that I need a giant restaurant," Josh Lawler said in an interview, "but I'm kind of limited in what I can do there."
The Farm & Fisherman - the tiny, elegant BYOB that Josh and Colleen Lawler opened five years ago at 1120 Pine St. - will close at the end of May.
Josh Lawler, confirming a report at Eater, said the space simply had become too small for the three-bell restaurant in Washington Square West.
"It's not that I need a giant restaurant," Lawler said in an interview, "but I'm kind of limited in what I can do there" with 30 seats. "It's not so much about making money," he said. "I want to use my time better."
The BYOB requires him to be on site three to five days a week, a difficult juggling act when coupled with his family - his wife, Colleen (also a chef) and 6-year-old twin boys and a 2-year-old daughter - and the more family friendly Farm & Fisherman Tavern he opened in 2013 with chef Todd Fuller in Cherry Hill. (The New Jersey restaurant, which has a bar and a market, is nearly five times the size of the original while sharing the farm-to-table philosophy.)
Lawler said they hope to open a Farm & Fisherman Tavern in the Pennsylvania suburbs; they also are actively looking for space in the city.
Lawler said he would schedule a few special dinners at the BYOB for its final days.
Lawler, who grew up in Conshohocken, was chef de cuisine at Blue Hill at Stone Barns in upstate New York before he and Colleen (originally from Winslow Township) moved back to the Philadelphia area. Farm & Fisherman got great early notices, including making the semifinalist list for the James Beard Award for Best New Restaurant in America.