Country-Cooking Down on the Farm in Beverly Hills

Beverly Hills hosts a farmers market every Sunday morning. Now it’s got a farm right on Beverly Drive. Well, not exactly. There’s no actual plot of ground. No farmer in overalls. It’s more of a conceptual farm.

Jacksons Farm, a new cafe and restaurant from Alan Jackson, who also owns Jacksons on Beverly Boulevard, does have a country feeling with walls the color of fresh cream, ceiling fans churning up a breeze and rustic breads stacked behind the counter.

Raphael Lunetta, who used to share cooking duties with Josiah Citrin at Jacksons, heads up the kitchen. And they’re very busy back there baking breads, smoking fish, making terrines, curing olives and more. These are some of the reasons we call this place farm rather than a cafe or restaurant, reads the menu. We don’t milk our own cows or grow our own produce, but we do just about everything else.

And as of last week, they’re open for breakfast, lunch and dinner (take-out, too). Breakfast features farm-baked muffins and pastries with farm-made jams, farm yogurt with fresh figs or farm-made granola with fruit. You can have risotto served as a warm cereal or eggs any style with sauteed spinach and organic tomatoes.

At lunch, there’s a grilled swordfish sandwich, a lobster club sandwich and rotisserie-roasted chicken. I’m holding out for the grilled sardines with fava beans and shaved Parmesan. At dinner, you can start with smoked salmon draped over warm Yukon gold potatoes and go on to fat little lamb chops with dreamy mashed potatoes. And for dessert: country fruit pie or nectarine and sun-dried cherry cobbler (actually more of a crumble) with a ball of vanilla bean ice cream. Sounds like country cooking all right. And to think it’s just a stroll away from Gucci, Chanel and Harry Winston.

* Jacksons Farm, 439 N. Beverly Drive, Beverly Hills; (310) 273-5578. Open Monday through Friday for breakfast, lunch and dinner, Saturday for brunch and dinner, Sunday for brunch only. All major credit cards. Parking in lot across the street. Breakfast items $4.50-$14; lunch $4-$15; dinner appetizers $5-$12.50, entrees $15-$19.