In 2014, a patch of dirt brimming with weeds located about a 30-minute drive from downtown Jacksonville transformed into four acres of rice paddies under Scott and Lindsay Meyer’s care. Chefs around the area started requesting their custom-milled rice and 10 years later, Congaree and Penn is a thriving 330-acre farm of orchards and animals, and a slate of dining options including a chef’s tasting dinner set among their grapevines.

Lindsay grew up on a farm in New Mexico and Scott, a Jacksonville native, spent his childhood among his father’s orchards. Neither thought agriculture was their path, but when Scott’s father offered them the clay-dense land, all of a sudden they had a farm with chickens, guinea fowl, blackberry bushes and rows of muscadine grapes. 

Following their success with rice, the couple waded into cider and started food service. “It was rudimentary at first, but then we started pairing with chefs from around the country who used our rice in their restaurants for ticketed farmers tables,” Lindsay said. 

The culinary concept evolved into an on-site restaurant that offers a limited counter service menu in the summer, and in 2020, at the height of the pandemic, they began including fine dining options and the Chef’s Tasting.

But you can’t visit Congaree and Penn without also soaking up all the farm life. There are wagon rides, animal feedings, fruit picking, a winding creek to stroll alongside and a cornucopia of vegetables to view with a farm pass. 

“There’s a growing disconnect between people and their food. People don’t understand what goes into growing and raising food, and why it’s expensive,” Lindsay said. “The world keeps getting bigger and a little bit more tumultuous, but something is grounding to being outside and understanding this is where your food comes from.”

For more details or to make a dining reservation, visit: congareeandpenn.com.

Florida’s hottest dinner reservations are on the farm.