Fowl & Fodder is a farm-to-table restaurant in Sylvania with the stated goal of serving scratch-made local fare by sourcing the best sustainable ingredients in Northwest Ohio. It’s real food from real farms for real people. They source organic produce, artisan cheeses, fresh baked breads and grass-fed beef and livestock pastured locally. This is the concept of farm to table that is taking hold in restaurants across the country—and now right here in our area.
Scott Bowman, like a lot of startup business owners and product developers today, used crowd funding through Kickstarter.com to raise the $20,000 needed to launch the eatery.
The restaurant has the feel of a West Coast-style food truck that has been permanently parked in a building. Given the menu, it certainly fits that description. You order at the counter and they bring the food to you when it’s ready. The service is fast and efficient, but seating is limited and the place can fill up quickly.
Unique, creative sandwiches
The menu consists of sandwiches, soups, salads and a fresh juice bar. They have some unique and creative sandwiches ranging from a tempura meatloaf with tomato bacon jam to duck pastrami with goat cheese spread and whole grain mustard. In the mood for red meat? They have a roast beef and a steak sandwich, each priced at $11.
Among the more unusual offerings are the duck confit tacos with cilantro, cabbage, pickled onions and miso scallion dressing. There is also a pork confit taco for the less adventurous, made with cabbage, avocado, and salsa verde, with the nice addition of pork cracklings for crunch. For those who prefer to skip the animal protein, they can opt for a roasted vegetable wrap with seasonal vegetables and balsamic dressing in a multigrain wrap, or a grilled cheese with caramelized onion jam. All sandwiches come with a choice of kale or sweet potato chips. The kale chips are light as air while the sweet potato crisps are some of the best I’ve tasted anywhere. Sandwich pricing ranges from $8 for the grilled cheese to $12.50 for the duck pastrami.
Soup selections change daily and include French onion, beer cheese, roasted tomato, chicken barley, roasted red pepper, ham lentil, beef vegetable and Provencal stew, priced at $3 a cup or $5 a bowl. The cheese soup is rich and robust with the deep flavor of both the cheese and beer coming through.
Salad choices
Salads include the chopped wedge, spring mix, kale and roasted beet, spinach and Cobb and range from $8-10. Making the spring mix stand out are the sugared pecans and fried goat cheese. You can also choose half orders of soup and salad for $9 if you want something lighter. Fowl & Fodder also plans to change its menu seasonally. Additionally, it will be changing out items every month and adding new ones to keep the selection new and fresh. And to please the kids, they plan to introduce a hot dog option.
Beverages include an assortment of specialty sodas, including a juniper flavor, and a good variety of juices. The one with kefir, mixed berries and banana juice ($5) is very good and less sweet then you might expect. Other options include apple, ginger, carrot, pear, pineapple, kale and beet, carrot, or orange, all at $4. Or, try the almond butter, flax seed, almond milk and banana smoothie for $5.
Fowl & Fodder, 7408 West Central Ave., Monday-Saturday 7am to 7pm for the juice bar with regular dining from 11am to 7pm. 419-690-2490 or fowlandfodder.com
