Culinary surprise and delight await down a dirt road in Markdale.
Imagine that perfect dinner invitation to the home of a wildly talented culinarian. Gleeful anticipation ensues because not only can you expect to be served a multicourse feast crafted by brilliant and artistic cooks, but you will be cocooned in storytelling and genuine hospitality. Your hosts also happen to have fabulous taste in wine, food, antiques and decor. Every time you leave their house your heart is fuller and better for having consumed their generous offerings.
This is essentially the three-and-a-half-hour, immersive 10-course tasting menu experience that life and love duo Hannah Harradine, 31, and Joel Gray, 35, have been delivering to 13 or so guests off a dirt road in Grey County’s Markdale for the past two years. They are a young couple thinking outside the box, ignoring naysayers along the path, and doing something a lot of people might think is outrageous—putting their lives on display for all to see by running a full-service restaurant out of their farmhouse, Down Home.
“Being in someone’s home, seeing them cook and express themselves, has always been fascinating to me,” says Harradine, who leads the beverage program and front-of-house operation at Down Home. “I love everything to do with anyone’s home kitchen. Like, ‘Oh, you’ve got cool forks or fun little glassware.’ I love that stuff. Someone taking the time to show you their love and care by making a meal, it doesn’t get much more intimate than that.”
What was once called Down Home by Sumac & Salt (a reference to a roaming pop-up series they ran from May 2019 to August 2022) is now just Down Home. “Joel is from Nova Scotia and when going to his grandma’s house, we always said we are going ‘down home,’” says Harradine.
“A lot of people think it might feel weird to put ourselves out there. You get snapshots of us, our antiques, childhood paintings, and photos of our six-year-old son Harper [from Gray’s previous marriage] on the walls. But it just feels right and how we should be doing it. This is how we show love. I don’t know what a regular restaurant would look like for us,” she says.
“Bringing people into our house means creating vulnerability and an incredibly open connection. There’s lots of restaurants where great food is being cooked but there’s a lack of purpose. We want a purpose that’s built around building community and connecting people to what’s around them, while sharing insights into our lives and the things we care about,” says Gray, who has been cooking professionally since he was 16.
Topping the “caring about” list for Harradine and Gray is telling the stories of local farmers, producers and artists through an interactive $175 tasting menu available on Fridays and Saturdays (and the odd Thursday). It might showcase anything from wild edibles from the forest and rare artisan sheep’s milk cheeses to a farmer friend’s rabbits, with lots of local pottery and antiques.
The beverage program shows a strong allegiance to Ontario wines, beers and ciders. A $75 wine pairing option is also available: it’s where Harradine gets to flex her wine education muscles.
“I have a background in oenology and viticulture,” says Harradine. “I find a lot of people still have preconceived notions of what Ontario and Canadian wine can be. I feel like Canada is one of the only places that doesn’t drink their homegrown wine as readily as they would reach for something else. I love being able to change their minds,” she says.
“Someone taking the time to show you their love and care by making a meal, it doesn’t get much more intimate than that.”
On my dining night in cool early May, Gray greeted me with a huge toothy East Coast smile as the group gathered around the fire and gardens. He brought me a steaming vessel of chicken bone broth he made from Good Family Farms chickens that was flavoured with holy basil from the garden—it swirled towards my heart.
“You are here for a night with a small group of people,” he said. “Everyone is a guest in our home, and we treat them as we would family. We’re not trying to turn tables and rush people out the door. We’re able to control our environment so we can focus on the little details we love,” says Gray.
These tiny details feed you at Down Home as much as the food, which Gray prepares in an open-concept kitchen, and delivers with an anecdote for almost every ingredient on the plate. Cutlery changes at each course and every piece is mesmerizing.
A large, colourful framed painting of a smudgy-faced kid who is crying because she hurt her knee hangs in the bathroom. It’s a painting Harradine did as a five-year-old, gifted to her on her 29th birthday by her father, and it evokes one visceral reaction after another by most Down Home diners.
“For people to recognize the details and come out of the bathroom and say, ‘Oh, how’s your knee feeling now?’ Because of that funny painting I drew. When people take the time to experience the whimsy, the joy, and to understand and soak it all in, that’s nice. I want it to be a universal experience,” says Harradine.
So how exactly did two people end up running such a heartfelt restaurant out of their farm home? It’s a love story mixed with shared passions, ambitions and a dash of fate and circumstance.
“Both of us grew up in the restaurant industry and met working in a traditional restaurant called the Crow Bar and Variety in 2018. It wasn’t the place for either of us. Hannah was managing in an environment she shouldn’t have been, having come from studying wine and viticulture, and was serving cheap beer. But she was probably there so we could meet. I was passionate about the things I wanted but I didn’t know what my path was,” Gray says.
Gray knew he was passionate about food seasonality and small farm advocacy after a brief stint on the East Coast in 2014 working at Halifax’s legendary The Wooden Monkey under the influence of its passionate owner, Lil MacPherson. After Halifax, he returned home armed with a renewed love for being a chef and began hosting underground dinner parties at his Flesherton house on his days off.
“It was the first time I was able to express myself and the philosophies I cared about. That’s when people started looking at me as an individual cooking,” Gray said.
Harradine also happened to notice Gray, having attended one of his home harvest dinners with some girlfriends.
“It was a super unique experience with a warm feeling and memorable food,” says Harradine of Gray’s home dinner series. “I have a photo of me holding Harper when he was only a few months old. Funny how life is. Joel brings it all. Where I am not always comfortable and take a little more time to warm up, he’s just so happy to talk to anyone. We just completely balance each other out.”
Gray’s at-home series came to a halt when his marriage dissolved, and he was forced to sell his house and rebuild his life, taking the job at Crow Bar and Variety, where he fell in love with Harradine.
“We learn a lot from each other. I may be more extroverted but that means I am able to push Hannah out of her shell a bit more, especially within our business,” says Gray. “I feel like we’ve created a perfect environment for both of us, for our lives. Down Home isn’t just a restaurant. It’s like you are stepping into our life and how we live it.”
“I want people to leave here curious. Where can I find my greatest local organic producer, or how can I know my farmer’s name, or where can I get that bottle of wine I love so much,” says Harradine.
As my Down Home dinner came to an end, giddy guests rushed back in to tell us that the northern lights were out. The rareness and special moment in time that this restaurant-in-a-home experience embodies was now amplified tenfold. Northern lights are experienced by few. You feel in awe and special for having borne witness to them. So too is taking that trip Down Home, where anything can happen.
Fresh From
the Source
Harradine and Gray share their favourite small-scale, local farms for sourcing the best ingredients for their tasting menus.
Sideroad Farm
“For organic veggies, chicken, fresh eggs and flowers. They are incredibly consistent and work with us whenever we have questions about what’s coming out of the field. They have an incredible farm store that is a one-stop shop for everything organic. They make us proud to be a part of this community.” sideroadfarm.com
Good Family Farms
“We started long-table dinners here in 2019. They taught us the importance behind regenerative farming and have the best pork around. They are stewards for the land and we love them!” goodfamilyfarms.ca
Secret Lands Farm
“Pasture-grazed sheep’s cheese, truly a representation of terroir-based sheep’s milk products. They have a huge selection of artisan cheeses as well as beautiful lamb which is incredibly sweet. We have converted many ‘lamb haters’ into lovers with their products.” secretlands.ca
Donald’s Honey
“The dream team duo that is Dayna and Gabe, they specialize in many things but have incredibly delicious honey, honeycomb and bee pollen. They have an incredible off-grid permaculture farm and grow unique fruits and veggies—haskaps, northern kiwi, specialty cabbage and peppers.” donaldshoney.ca
