Dusk turns quickly into darkness when you’re tucked up against the foothills just north of Boulder. The colors of the sky shift from watery blue to peach to lavender to black—and then the stars come out en masse like fireflies. It’s a moment made even more magical with a good glass of wine in hand and the promise of the next course on its way from the rustic kitchen at Black Cat Farmstead, a one-of-a-kind eatery spread out among several greenhouses and barns on the sprawling, hilly property of chef/owner Eric Skokan’s Boulder County farm.

Skokan originally launched Black Cat as an urban restaurant just off Boulder’s Pearl Street Mall back in 2006 and soon thereafter donned a farmer’s hat to supply his menu with fresh-grown herbs and vegetables. A side hobby became an obsession, though, and Skokan expanded separate farm plots to more than 400 acres, planting staples like heritage wheat, rye, and black chickpeas alongside difficult (at least in Colorado) crops like sweet potatoes, peanuts, and gai lan (Chinese broccoli). A brief experiment with beef proved too time-consuming, but lamb, pork, and chicken, plus the eggs they lay, also come from the farm.

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During the pandemic, Black Cat (and its sibling eatery, Bramble & Hare, next door) closed its dining room, so, like many area eateries, Skokan installed temporary private dining huts. Except Skokan built them on his farm instead of on the restaurants’ sidewalks. After restrictions ended in 2021 and regulating agencies had time to pay more attention, the chef was told he’d have to shut down the farm dining; there were simply too many compliance issues. Instead, Skokan dug in his heels—and his backhoe—and got to work building a permanent, year-round farm dinner venue.

The road to reopening wasn’t easy. Skokan says every structure (the kitchen, the individual cabanas, the two separate restroom cabins) had to receive their own inspection certificates, outdoor light fixtures were eyed as potentially hazardous even though they were mounted seven feet high and offset from walkways, and one change requested by an inspector would lead to a cascade of new inspections from other agencies. This is part of the reason—along with the energy and expertise needed to farm your own food—so few similar concepts exist in the United States. Skokan can name a scant three or four nationwide, and he says he’s not worried about competition springing up in Boulder County any time soon. “Even Bill Gates doesn’t have the money, time, or patience to re-create something like this,” he jokes.

A slatted wooden table holding several plates of food, cups and glasses, and a bottle of wine inside a small hut with a window looking toward foothills at dusk.
A welcoming spread with a hot cup of whiskey-spiked cider at Black Cat Farmstead. Photo by Mark Antonation
An old wooden barn with newer white French doors lit from the inside.
Black Cat’s kitchen is inside a 140-year-old blacksmith’s shop. Photo by Mark Antonation
A view of early spring foothills looking toward sunset with the edge of a wooden shed on the right and a large black dinner bell on a pole.
Dusk at Black Cat Farmstead in March. Photo by Mark Antonation

Five years and a mountain of paperwork since the pandemic-era huts were erected, Black Cat Farmstead reopened in December. The refurbished cabanas, made of glass, wood, steel, and concrete, dot the hillside property, protecting diners in groups of up to 12 guests (parties of up to 14 can call for special arrangements) from the elements year-round. Multicourse meals—priced at $155 per person, plus drinks—are served at one seating nightly every Wednesday through Saturday from the main kitchen, located inside a 140-year-old former smithy once used by Swedish settlers. Diners feast on tomatoes still warm from the sun in the heart of summer and that tender, mildly bitter gai lan—which Skokan has figured out how to overwinter in hoop houses without additional heat—in February.

If you go, pay attention to your server, who will tell the origin story of each ingredient, whether Italian olive oil pressed by Skokan himself during one of his trips abroad or Japanese herbs grown within fork’s reach alongside your cabana. Stoke the fire in the potbelly stove if things get chilly, throw open the doors on Colorado’s hottest days, and toast with a welcoming whiskey-fortified cider in a vintage teacup or a dewy aperitif to the tremendous effort Skokan and his staff have put forth to make this little miracle happen come rain, snow, or sunshine.

Black Cat Farmstead is located at 9889 N. 51st St., Longmont. Reservations required; arrival time changes as daylight changes, but tends to be 7 p.m. for summer seatings, which are Wednesday through Saturday.