In the summer of 2023, Julien Tessier and his husband Chris Peregrin opened a little oasis on the grounds of Valkyrie Equestrian Center in scenic Granby.
Julien, a French-born trained pastry chef who had worked in high-end London restaurants, and Chris, a trainer at Valkyrie, settled together in Connecticut and married in 2022. With the help of Valkyrie’s owner Carolyn Mainardi, they transformed a former garage building on the property into Julien’s Farm Store, a small café and bakery flanked by a large, lush garden Julien lovingly maintains.
Word traveled fast, and before long, Julien’s became the place to be on weekend mornings. Customers would line up well before the 8 a.m. opening, ready to grab cinnamon rolls, donuts, croissants, and brisket-topped biscuit sandwiches. Winter cold didn’t particularly deter crowds either, as guests fell in love with Julien’s rich hot chocolate crowned with giant house made caramelized marshmallows.
The success of the farm store had the couple soon thinking about their next move. They knew they had a winning concept, but they were acutely aware of how crowds and traffic might impact their serene surroundings.
“We had concerns,” Chris said. “We wanted to stay in front of this. There was a very moving moment when we went to (the planning and zoning committee) to talk about a new parking lot. A woman said, ‘We’re so supportive of you guys, and this is so great, and we’re so grateful that you’re doing this. And… you need to remember that people move to the perimeter of a game refuge because they want (to see) wolves and they want deer and they want bears.’ The more traffic there is, the less of that there is.” They knew that a second location would also be in Granby, because of how warmly the town and its people had embraced them. The answer revealed itself as a space in a shopping plaza on Bank Street, right next to the Geissler’s supermarket. Julien and Chris just opened the new café in early March, with a coffee bar, an extensive lineup of baked goods and breads, and a full breakfast and lunch menu available seven days a week.
“It’s town and country,” Chris said of the pair of locations, just about a 10-minute drive from each other. The new Julien’s has table seating for about 70 guests, where the Farm Store’s tiny interior only offered a few seats around a counter and relied on decent weather to accommodate guests sitting outside.
The expanded space allowed Julien to immediately augment the menu, as he’s added several types of sourdough breads to the offerings and plans to delve more into different varieties of croissants.
“It’s town and country,” Chris says of the pair of locations
Breakfast and lunch feature sandwiches and toasts with Julien’s breads, like a breakfast sandwich on brioche with bacon, fried egg, American cheese, and chipotle mayonnaise and avocado toast on seeded sourdough with chili oil and sea salt. A croque madame is also built on sourdough, with ham, Gruyere cheese, bechamel, and a fried egg. Breakfast items also include a burrito with chorizo and roasted potatoes; a seasonal quiche with a baby greens salad and dine-in-only entrees like blueberry pancakes, brioche French toast, and a weekend special of huevos rancheros.
Lunch sandwiches are built on sourdough and focaccia breads, including a turkey club, a roasted red pepper creation with burrata, an Italian-style prosciutto focaccia variety with pistachio and truffle cream, and smoked salmon, with cream cheese, cucumber, capers, and red onion. Salad offerings will change with the seasons, Chris said, and the opening menu featured a “Julien’s Caesar” with romaine, charred broccoli, and focaccia croutons – with the option to add a panko fried chicken cutlet.
Like at the Farm Store, fresh seasonal ingredients will come from local farms like Holcomb Farm in West Granby, Julien said, along with some of the fruits, vegetables, and herbs he grows at the property’s garden. The couple is also considering doing dinner events with beer and wine and may use the new location’s expanded seating area for special occasion rentals.
Julien and Chris said they’ve been thrilled by the response to both locations, and also by how they’ve been embraced by customers, both locally and regionally. Early posts from social media content creators drove curious visitors to the Farm Store from across Connecticut and even from neighboring states. In December, Julien was named Pastry Chef of the Year by the Connecticut Restaurant Association at its annual CRAZIES awards ceremony – an honor he said surprised him, because he also makes a lot of savory items. That community support helped fuel them in their first week in the new Granby space, Chris said. Though the opening was “exhausting,” they said they were buoyed by the turnout.
“It was a similar thing to the Farm Store, which is that droves of people showed up, and you felt like they were cheerleading, and supporting, and patient, and excited,” he said.
Julien’s is at 9 Bank St. in Granby, and Julien’s Farm Store is at 175 Barn Door Hills Road in Granby. juliensfarmstore.com
