The Buffalo Jump Take-Out Meals
Time is a precious commodity that seems to be in less supply these days. On Cape Cod, where the gig economy ostensibly was invented, people are working harder and longer, and the thought of coming home and whipping up a fabulous meal can seem too daunting a task. The chef team of Laura Higgins-Baltzley and her husband Brandon Baltzley are here to help with The Buffalo Jump. Located at Coonamessett Farm in Hatchville, The Buffalo Jump Cafe has been open for breakfast, lunch and dinner but now is featuring to-go dinners available for pickup Thursday through Sunday.
What started with occasional pop-up dinners at Coonamessett Farm has grown into Laura and Brandon running the entire food program at the farm. This includes the very popular Jamaican Nights throughout the summer. “Raymond and Melanie are still the heart and soul of Jamaican Nights,” Laura explains. “I just fill in where needed.” In September, The Buffalo Jump began offering multi-course dinners to go, and after a brief break during the run up to Thanksgiving, the dinners will be available once again in December up until the farm closes down on Christmas Eve.
The menus are varied, expertly prepared and come with a list of explicit reheating instructions. The overarching theme is seasonality and locality with as many of the ingredients coming from the farm as possible. The Cajun dinner featured turkey gumbo, seafood and andouille jambalaya, Hoppin’ John with smoked pork, and winter vegetable frites. The Jewish dinner included chicken matzo ball soup, beef brisket, stuffed cabbage, candied carrots and apple noodle kugel. There was also a roasted chicken dinner and an Italian dinner earlier in the season as well.
The hearty and comfortable meals that will feed a family of four are even more enticing with a usual price point of only $39.95. For just a few dollars more, dessert is added from Peck O’ Dirt Bakery, which is run by Laura’s mom, Anne Konner-Higgins. Keep an eye on their Facebook page for upcoming dinners and secure your spot before they sell out.
“They were doing 30 to 40 dinners a week before we really started getting the word out,” says farmer Ron Smolowitz, who along with his wife Roxanna, owns Coonamessett Farm.
Would-be diners simply reserve a dinner by Wednesday, and it will be available for pick up Thursday through Sunday of that week. “We have people who will pick up their dinner on Sunday as they head off Cape and back home,” Smolowitz describes. “After that long drive, it’s nice to have dinner all ready to be warmed up.” Locals have been enjoying the dinners as well.
While picking up his dinner at the farm recently, Bernard Ehrenbrink describes the reasons why he enjoys them, “I love the variety and convenience and the fact that it’s local food that didn’t travel from some far-off place.” The amount of food, which comes in recyclable packaging, is more than enough for Bernard. “It’s just the two of us, so we can have it all weekend long!” Ehrenbrink beams. As a farm member for 15 years, he also relishes the ability to support the farm in a very tasty way.
The meals are available to farm members and the general public alike. Moving forward The Buffalo Jump plans to make the schedule a more regular one. When the farm re-opens in April, The Buffalo Jump is hoping to offer meal plans much like that of a farm CSA. Signing up for a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture), members receive weekly shares of fare from the farm throughout the season for a flat one-time fee. The dinner CSA will work the same way with supporters stopping by for their weekly feast.
The Buffalo Jump is named after the way Native Americans hunted bison by driving them over a precipice to the waiting tribe below. “It’s really about honoring the way a whole community would come together over a food source,” Laura describes. The Buffalo Jump’s to-go dinners are a convenient, delicious and quick way to experience locally sourced and chef-prepared menus right in your own home…no leap of faith needed.
