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Touting the virtues of the small, sustainable family farm is one thing. Living the life of a farmer is another, and that’s exactly what Belcourt chef Matt Hamilton has done. He wrote the owner of a Tuscan olive farm to see whether she needed some help. She did, and Hamilton spent the next two years as a hired hand. “I did everything that a farmer does: I butchered livestock, fed the animals, pruned trees, and harvested persimmons, pears, almonds, apples, and olives.” That rustic European sojourn should come in handy at Belcourt, owner Mehenni Zebentout’s antique-outfitted reinvention of his Frutti di Mare restaurant, where Hamilton applies the quirky seasonal approach he honed at Uovo and Pair of 8s to a Pan-Mediterranean menu. The fish soup bourride gets a boost from the addition of brandade dumplings, grilled sweetbreads are served like falafel with flatbread, and boudin blanc gets the hot-dog treatment and an accompaniment of housemade wild-pepper potato chips. — Robin Raisfeld and Rob Patronite

Sat.—Sun., 10 a.m.—3 p.m.

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