NORTHFIELD — Starting Friday, patrons of Cameron’s Winery can enjoy a bite to eat along with their wines and ciders.
Leslie Cameron, who owns Cameron’s Winery with her husband, Paul, said she received a response from the Board of Health Saturday concerning the business’ application for a food license, and got the go-ahead to start cooking.
“We’ve been fooling with the idea since we opened,” Leslie Cameron said. “It’s just so natural.”
The Camerons first opened Cameron’s Winery in 2012 in Swanzey, N.H., before moving to Northfield in November 2015. Since their opening, the winery has offered simply cheese and crackers for its patrons to eat.
“Currently, people go to the refrigerator, get some cheese and open a box of crackers,” Leslie Cameron said. “It didn’t seem very welcoming to us … I don’t feel like a good New Englander telling people to go open a box of crackers.”
The winery will serve food three days a week: Friday and Saturday from 5 to 8 p.m. and Sunday from 12 to 4 p.m. Leslie Cameron said between two and four items will be offered at a time, based on the wines and ciders that are ready to be served.
“It’s not a meal, it’s light fare,” Leslie Cameron said. “We’re not a restaurant. Wine is what we do.”
The menu will also change depending on the weather and season, with warm foods during cold weather and cool foods during the summer.
“A lot of the foods are New England comfort foods,” Leslie Cameron said. “Things that make your tummy feel good.”
Some examples of what will be served include: a Mediterranean plate with roasted olives, stuffed grape leaves, hummus and tandoori naan flatbread; cheese-stuffed rigatoni with meatballs in marinara sauce; and baked potato stew with baked foccaccia bread. The winery still plans to offer cheese boards, too.
Five tables, which can seat 20 customers in all, will be used for serving food. Leslie Cameron suspects she will largely be responsible for operating the kitchen — which was added during renovations last month — while Paul Cameron oversees the bar. Since the Camerons are the winery’s only staff, Leslie Cameron said they won’t offer wine tastings after 5 p.m. on Friday and Saturday.
The winery also won’t be hiring waiters or waitresses, Leslie Cameron said. Instead, customers will have a notepad on their tables to write down their orders.
Leslie Cameron said it’s important for the winery to offer something different and not compete with other eateries in town. For example, “there’ll never be a sandwich in Cameron’s” to avoid competing with Mim’s Market.
“We should celebrate those things that we have in town,” Leslie Cameron said. “Northfield has so much to offer.”