A 1953 International Harvester tractor parks outside Maggie’s Farm, and inside, barn lights and boards reclaimed from a 1700s barn evoke a cozy country feeling. And yet, despite the fact that the restaurant’s decor was harvested from and styled after local farms under the direction of a rooster with an interior-designer background, the menus widen their focus to include more internationally inspired meals.
Beyond homestyle eats such as meatloaf and Black Angus burgers, diners can settle into plates of fish ’n’ chips, Cuban sandwiches, and chicken milanese. A separate sushi menu boasts six types of nigiri and sashimi, 16 specialty rolls, and oysters pulled from the waters of Massachusetts, Virginia, and the Long Island Sound.
Thirty-four stools encircle the bar, where bartenders fill glasses with both macrobrews and local beers such as Cape Ann Kolsch and Cody Wheelers Brown. The bartenders also craft cocktails, infusing elderflower liqueur into gin-based elder and wisers, and plopping champagne floats onto mimosa martinis with orange vodka and Cointreau. Nearly 30 wines populate a list with varietals culled from New Zealand, Argentina, and Sardinia.
However, the founders of Maggie’s Farm envisioned it as more than a place to eat and drink; they were also inspired by the promise of meeting new friends and their love of counterculture music. Named after the Bob Dylan song, the restaurant maintains that spirit by hosting live musicians whose styles range from funk to bluegrass to acoustic. A magician mystifies families with tricks Monday and Tuesday, and ladies’ night on Wednesday dishes out $1 oysters while banishing the men’s room to another plane on the space-time continuum.
