28 year old Joe and 32 year old Catherine Bartolomei make the bold move to purchase the Farmhouse Inn on a shoestring budget and with a lot of elbow grease, they commit to make it something great! With a small loan from our father and an investment from our stepbrother, we closed escrow on February 14, 2001. Our big dream, to emulate the Michelin one-starred country properties that we have fallen in love with in the south of France. We have an ace in our pocket, Steve Litke, our executive chef, who actually came with the property, is immensely talented and eager to do something much bigger. And we adore him.
In August 2001, we officially reopened a much better version of Farmhouse (yes we kept the name, we liked it!) with a remodeled restaurant and cottages. Immediately Michael Bauer of the San Francisco Chronicle gives the restaurant 3 1/2 Stars and in 2002 Travel and Leisure Magazine ranks it one of the top 10 inns in America.