FIELD & MAIN: Locally Sourced, Globally Inspired

FIELD & MAIN: Locally Sourced, Globally Inspired

Back when Neal Wavra and his wife Star, owners of the widely acclaimed Field & Main in Marshall, were first looking for a location to start their popular restaurant, they were on the second floor of the old Marshall Bank building in the middle of town when Neal looked out the window at the house across the street.

Neal and Star Wavra of Field & Main

It had belonged to the O’Bannon family, the long-time proprietors of the now closed Marshall Hardware, and Neal had driven past it many times. When he learned the house was empty, he wanted to take a look.

“We had worked at the Ashby Inn, and we were constantly fighting the building, which always needed some kind of work or repair, and I had told my wife that we’re never going to work in an old building again,” Neal recalled. “But when we walked in the door, about two steps in, I immediately saw its potential and said, ‘we’re going to work here.’ And now we do.”

The farm-to-table restaurant opened in 2016 and has become a local institution, drawing rave reviews from a loyal and constantly expanding clientele not to mention a number of local and national food critics.

Neal’s journey to Marshall has taken him coast to coast. A Chicago native, he grew up in a family that was Italian on one side, Czech on the other. They definitely enjoyed their time at the dining room table.

“We were always having one meal,” Neal said, “and already talking about the next one.”

On his 16th birthday, he received his very own wok, and as a teenager watched all the cooking shows he could find. He knew early on that food was in his future. He just wasn’t sure how.

When he visited Whitman College, in Walla Walla, Washington, he noticed olive oil and balsamic vinegar were on the dining hall tables. That made an impression, along with all the sweet onions and asparagus growing in the surrounding fields.

At Whitman, Neal majored in French language and literature, but also started the Gastronomic Society on campus and also began learning about wine in a region that produced plenty of it. His postgraduate work was done in Monterey, California, with frequent forays to nearby wine country. And then came a move to Washington, D.C. where he took a job as a trade compliance specialist in the Department of Commerce.

An office in a federal building clearly was not for him. After less than a year, Neal decided to pursue the culinary arts, enrolling at the prestigious Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, N.Y. While there, he also became a “wine tutor” for his fellow students, many of whom were foodies but not well-versed on the reds and whites.

Neal began his culinary career working with acclaimed chef and restaurant owner Charlie Trotter in his home town of Chicago. He began there checking coats, then moved up to waiter and eventually became manager of the Charlie Trotter dining room.

“Charlie was a great mentor,” Neal said. “When I first started there, I felt like a 16-year-old who had just been tossed the keys to a Ferrari. It was probably the most formative experience of my career. I was also exposed to the kitchen, and it was all about hospitality and service.”

After several years, he moved to Blackberry Farm in Walland, Tennessee, where he was the dining room and farmstead manager, overseeing the restaurant’s larder, creamery and a garden. Best of all, that’s where he met Star, a Michigan native who worked on the events side.

They discovered the Middleburg area when he visited a friend working at the Goodstone Inn, and eventually spent five years as the innkeeper and sommelier at The Ashby Inn. From there, he became the host and sommelier at The Riverstead, a sixteen-seat restaurant located in Chilhowie, Virginia, run by Trotter alums, now Michelin starred chefs John Shields and Karen Urie.

And then came Field & Main, with a philosophy of operating a locally sourced restaurant bringing together nearby farmers and producers. He’s a leading expert on the Virginia wine industry and currently the director of the Loudoun County wine competition and a Virginia Governors’ Cup judge. He also provides wine and hospitality consulting through FABLE Hospitality.

That stands for farm to table, of course.