A few weeks away from opening his new restaurant, Fox & Harrow, in the historic former Fox Stand Inn, Eric Hartling has his business plan on a slow simmer rather than a full boil.
Make no mistake, he’s been plenty busy painting and renovating, brainstorming menus and hiring staff. But the veteran chef and food industry entrepreneur is in no hurry to stick a label on his newest undertaking and announce it to the world.
“I think my job is to provide a beautiful place to come, great food and warm service. … I don’t want to have it so defined that it’s going to restrict me,” said Hartling, 51, who for the past 4½ years has served as an executive chef at King Arthur Flour in Norwich.
Hartling’s is a familiar face on the Vermont food scene. A Massachusetts native who grew up in restaurants and worked his way up the ranks in Boston area eateries, Hartling opened the Perfect Pear restaurant in Bradford, Vt., in 1996 and sold it a few years later. In 2005, he opened the Tip Top Cafe (now named Thyme) in White River Junction, and in 2007, he opened a second White River Junction destination, the Tuckerbox Cafe. Both have played a key role in reviving the former railroad town, although Hartling disputes the idea that the town needed reviving.
“It’s always been filled with beautiful, creative people from all backgrounds,” said Hartling, who sold both restaurants in 2013. “I think I started two great businesses that were starting points for other people. They have both expanded on my vision.”
Eileen McGuckin, who worked with Hartling at the Tip Top Cafe and then purchased it from him, praised his acumen as a restaurant founder.
“I think (his businesses) were the beginning of White River Junction as a destination,” she said in a phone interview. “He developed a really great customer base, and I think part of that was just really great food, reasonable prices, good service.”
McGuckin has changed the decor and cuisine, in addition to the name, in the years since she’s owned the popular restaurant, but Hartling’s stamp remains. His meatloaf is still on the menu.
“I don’t think I can take it off. People would kill us,” McGuckin said.
Fox & Harrow, which will open in mid-May, will present a new challenge for Hartling, who lives in Hartford with his partner, Angel Stone. The 200-year-old building, which overlooks the White River and has a rich and storied history as an inn, stagecoach stop and restaurant, sits by itself on Route 14.
Boston attorney Matt Matule, who attended Vermont Law School in the 1990s, purchased the building in 2008 and funded an extensive restoration. He sought out Hartling after the latest restaurant, Wild Roots, closed last October after less than two years in business.
“He had a deep connection to the building and had a serious track record of successfully developing and running restaurants in the Upper Valley,” Matule said in an email. “Anyone who shares my enthusiasm for the historic structure and can envision the vitality of the space some 200 years after it was first constructed is well-positioned, in my view.”
Hartling believes anyone who makes a go at running a restaurant deserves respect, and he’s hesitant to oversell his own vision, but he’s banking on the concept of a true destination restaurant.
“It needs to be an experience,” he said. “For some people, I hope this will be their go-to place every week, and for some it will be a special date night.”
To create that experience, Hartling wants to hire an outstanding staff — no easy task in the current market — and keep his ambitions in check.
“I want to start with a really manageable foundation that people can come to rely on,” he said.
The restaurant will initially be open Wednesday through Saturday evenings and offer a small but imaginative menu featuring what Hartling calls “elevated comfort food,” built around fresh, local ingredients. For that, he’ll draw on his years collaborating with chefs from all over the world in Boston restaurants.
“We’ll be serving New England-inspired cuisine which will pull from all different cultures,” he said.
Hartling, who has taken courses at the Cambridge (Mass.) School of Culinary Arts and the Culinary Institute of America in New York, also wants his menu to appeal to a variety of patrons. He’ll offer moderately priced meals as well as vegetarian and vegan options.
The food, of course, won’t be the only draw. The building is special to many people in the community, said Hartling, who has tried to preserve its character in the decor of the new restaurant.
Giving new life to the historic building was a key motivation for Hartling, too. “Everybody asks why (I’m doing it),” Hartling said. “The building has a lot to do with it. It’s a very inspiring building.”
For information on Fox & Harrow, visit foxandharrowrestaurant.com.
Sarah Earle can be reached at searle@vnews.com or 603-727-3268.