Farm-to-table dining at Harvest House Tavern in Malverne

"Farm-to-table" may be the most overused phrase in the hospitality lexicon — virtually all food starts out on a farm, winds up on a table. The images that the phrase conjures — small farms, seasonal produce, passionate farmers, committed chefs — are vanishingly hard to find in the real restaurant world, especially in the Northeastern United States, where few customers would patronize a restaurant that only had asparagus in the spring; tomatoes, eggplant and broccoli in the summer; butternut squash and apples in the fall; lemons never. 

So, you might be surprised to learn that a new Long Island restaurant is giving farm-to-table its best shot — and it’s not on the North Fork. Harvest House Tavern occupies a narrow storefront in Malverne, a town that has a secret culinary weapon that very few Nassau County towns can brandish: Crossroads Farm at Grossmann's, a 5-acre farm cultivated by the Grossmann family for more than a century before ownership was transferred to the Nassau County Land Trust in 2008. The farm’s back gate is about 100 yards from the restaurant’s back door.

Harvest House's managing partner, Ross Gollub, conceded that "this would be easier to do out east," but that he, his partner, Stephen LaSpina, and executive chef Ronaldo Morales are dedicated "to whatever is available locally. That’s why we change the menu four times a year, that’s why we called it Harvest House Tavern."

Working so closely with a farm, said Morales, "is every chef’s dream."

At 11 on a recent morning, Crossroads’ utility vehicle pulled up to the back of the restaurant to deliver crates of fresh produce to the kitchen.

Earlier that morning, the farm’s operations manager, Michael D’Angelo, was in the field exulting over his bok choy. "Feel how juicy it is," he said, pinching a leaf. "It’s almost like a succulent." That’s the difference, he explained, between vegetables that have just been picked and vegetables that have spent a week (or more) traveling from farm to distributor to warehouse to a restaurant or supermarket.

Crossroads had cherry tomatoes for a while, but he was excited to see the first full-size tomatoes (variety: Big Beef). And it was the absolute peak of zucchini-blossom season. He picked a group, and into the crate they went along with the bok choy, tomatoes, arugula, broccoli rabe, scallions, cucumbers, shishito peppers and fresh herbs.

On the way to the restaurant, he drove by the farm’s three peach trees whose fruits were, he estimated, about a month away from ripening. In the meantime, he is bringing in peaches from Briermere Farm in Riverhead.

Since the Grossmann family began farming this plot in 1895, he said, they relied on the North Fork for most of their fruit — they simply didn’t have the space for orchards — as well as for corn, another crop that needs a lot of space. Crossroads’ own farmstand continues this tradition, with peaches, watermelon (and, in the fall, apples) from Briermere, corn from Schmitt’s.

After a quick handoff, D’Angelo headed back to the farm and Morales assumed full custody of the haul. The bok choy, zucchini and scallions found their way into a duck-udon stir fry. While Aquebogue’s Crescent Farm regroups, there are no local ducks being sold on Long Island and Morales was using a bird from Pennsylvania. But he sources his udon noodles, silky and pliant, from Happy Noodles, a tiny factory in Mount Sinai.

The zucchini and their blossoms were destined to headline a starter. First, Morales chopped the squash and sweated them, with onions, until they gave up their liquid and became tender but did not brown. This mixture, along with some fresh zucchini (for thickening), was blitzed into smooth submission and then piped into the blossoms which were then dipped into tempura batter and deep fried. The accompanying apricot-chili sauce was the exact same shade as the tips of the blossoms.

Some of the tomatoes were cut into wedges along with the peaches and arugula, dressed simply with raspberry vinaigrette and topped with ricotta salata. More tomatoes teamed up with corn to accompany ricotta-stuffed agnolotti and still others joined eggplant and more zucchini in a ratatouille that anchors the poached halibut.

As summer gives way to fall, Crossroads will be supplying Harvest House with winter squash, radishes (black and watermelon), carrots, cabbage, Treviso radicchio and celeriac (celery root). Morales may also avail himself of the Local Pledge program from Baldor, his main produce supplier, which prioritizes small, local growers. But the chef is prepared for the cold weather; Harvest House opened in December and hit the ground running with a gluten-free celeriac "cacio e pepe" that evinced a depth of flavor and hearty texture that no zucchini could hope to achieve.

Harvest House Tavern, 352 Hempstead Ave., Malverne, 516-400-9000, harvesthousetavern.com. Open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday 4 to 9 p.m., Friday 4 to 10 p.m., Saturday 2 to 10 p.m., Sunday 2 to 9 p.m., closed Tuesday.