French food comes to Greenbank Farm
Published 1:30 am Friday, August 14, 2026
With her new French bistro, a debut restaurant owner is aiming to bring good food and a relaxed vibe to Greenbank Farm.
Kate Day opened Backroads Beastro on Aug. 3 in the former Old Spots Bistro space at Greenbank Farm. While this is the first time Day has owned her own restaurant, she has been involved in the restaurant industry since she was 15 and is a classically trained French chef.
Now, Day works the back as the bistro’s only chef while her husband manages the front of the house. She uses her cooking skills to whip up a variety of French-inspired dishes from steak frites to duck confit tacos using fresh, local ingredients.
The unusual spelling of “Beastro” in the restaurant’s name, Day explained, comes from the presence of farm animals and an off-leash dog park near the bistro, her own love of animals as a pet owner and the fact that she is a self-described “beast in the kitchen.”
Day said she’s had an eye on her restaurant’s current space ever since she first visited Greenbank Farm 10 years ago while visiting her parents, noting that the rustic interior “just screams bistro.” Once the space became available following the closure of the Old Spots Bistro last year, she jumped at the chance to open a bistro of her own.
“I don’t want anything big,” Day said. “I just want it to be an intimate space where people can meet and get to know one another.”
To make the inside more vibrant and inviting, Day said they decorated the space using various reclaimed and reused materials. For example, one of the first items she put in the restaurant was a goose-shaped light her husband found abandoned on the side of the road. Dubbed Gladys, she now greets customers at the entrance to the bistro.
Day’s friend also assisted in creating a bar and shelving using old-growth timber originating from trees on the island.
“I feel like we’ve brought life back into it,” she said. “She’s an old girl. She needed a little love.”
Although the bistro may be serving up French food, don’t expect any snooty French waiters here. Day said she views the restaurant as a place where people can “come as they are,” whether they want to get dressed up for a night out or show up in their dirt-covered overalls after working in the garden all day.
“Everybody is welcome,” she said. “You choose how you want to dine and how you want to eat. It’s not a turn and burn, whip through the tables kind of place. It’s a place where you come in and you hang out and you make a friend.”
Day expressed how thankful she is for all the support and positive feedback she has received so far from customers following the opening of the bistro.
As for herself, Day said that after working front house restaurant jobs for several years now, she’s just happy to get back to cooking.
“Bartending’s great, serving’s great, but it’s not my true passion,” she said. “And to be able to cook again is awesome. It’s exhausting, but it’s awesome.”
The Backroads Beastro is open from 1-7 p.m. Thursday through Tuesday at Greenbank Farm.
Dining and Cooking