Farm to fork fare | Griffith Family Farm
“It looks like a general store you would go to 70 or 80 years ago,” Chester Griffith says, describing the authentic charm that draws customers to Griffith Family Farm in Paintsville.
A working farm, butcher shop, farm market and restaurant near Paintsville, Griffith Family Farm is an all-local operation. Customers know that if owners Chester and Melissa Griffith didn’t grow or raise products themselves, they sourced them from a neighbor.
“They can walk right out into the fields, go right into the greenhouses and see the products that they’re taking home with them,” Chester says. “We’re still using beef and pork and chicken that we raised, eggs that we raised on the farm, even though we’re supplementing with others. They’re able to go out and see exactly what’s going on their plate. I don’t think there’s very many places where you can go from one end of the food supply to the other.”
During the week, the store’s popular deli counter serves up sandwiches, including roast beef and horseradish, pastrami and hot ham and cheese. On Saturdays, guests can expect home-style hot meals like barbecue chicken and pork or hamburgers, all prepared with locally produced meat. For drinks, Griffith Family Farms offers specialty sodas. Kentucky’s own Ale-8 is a favorite, and customers also enjoy flavors from Boylan Bottling like orange cream, red cream, blackberry cream, birch beer, root beer and grape.
One popular spring menu item is Kilt Lettuce and Onions, a traditional mountain dish using two of the season’s earliest arrivals. In addition to prepared food, customers can buy seasonal produce grown on site and sourced from surrounding farms, locally produced meats and eggs, cheeses, dry and canned goods and baked items.
Chester says the seasonal nature of vegetable production used to cause some stress, but these days, the customer base has grown, and extras like the butcher shop and the restaurant keep business consistent year-round. The location is off the beaten path, offering travelers an opportunity to see some beautiful scenery on the way.
“They’ve got to be wanting to come here to get here,” Chester says. “They’re not going to hit it on the way to anywhere.”
While you’re there, take full advantage of the scenic surroundings with a stroll or a bike ride on the Dawkins Line Rail Trail, a 36-mile path built on a historic railroad line, which runs right behind the Griffith Family Farm retail space.
Griffith Family Farm, 8055 Kentucky Route 825, Paintsville, served by Big Sandy RECC, is open Monday–Friday 8 a.m.–6 p.m., Saturday 8 a.m.–4 p.m. and closed Sundays.
