The Shelburne Inn

Photo taken by Shelburne Farms

This past weekend my boyfriend, his family, and I went to the Inn at Shelburne Farms for a lovely dinner to say the least.  Considering all of the food they serve is straight from the farm we all knew going into indulge in many of their dishes.  Their menu ranged from scallops to roast beef.  When walking into the Inn I truly wanted fish, but after seeing the other dishes I knew that fish was not on the top of my list anymore.  It only made sense to order some type of meat considering they are on a farm and all their meat is fresh.

Our experience began with having drinks and some wonderful Cheddar cheese right when we walked in.  The cheese was delicious and the atmosphere was great.  We made our way down into the game room where there was a pool table, a few board games, and a ton of amazing wooden sculptures.  The game room was also filled with all  different kinds of animal heads.  I found that to be quite interesting and somewhat appropriate.  It gave the overall feeling of being in a wilderness type of establishment.

Once we were seated I knew that this was going to be one long evening just because there was so much different food on the menu and we wanted to try basically everything!  We began with bread and butter of course and made our way onto ordering a smorgasbord of different appetizers.  We got an order of lamb wontons, pulled pork with pieces of crostini, a beet salad, and a platter of mixed vegetables, better known as the "Feast of the Fields."  We also got a bottle of wine that was a great match for our appetizers.  

The lamb wonton was a special that they had and we were excited to try it.  The wonton itself was fried to perfection and the lamb that was stuffed inside was moist and had amazing flavor.  The texture of the crispy wonton mixed with the tender pieces of lamb made for a each bite to be satisfying.  The fact that the wonton was bite size made for it to be a great introduction into the other appetizers that we had coming our way.  The pulled pork with the pieces of crostini on the side was not what I was expecting.  It was a bit salty as my fellow diners also pointed out and the crostini were almost too toasted for my taste, but the seasoning of the pulled pork complimented the light seasoning on the crostini.  When putting a little but of the pulled pork onto the crostini made a different layer of flavor come out for both the pork and the crostini.

After taking in some rather heavy dishes, the beet salad came out and that was a great pallet cleanser.  The vinaigrette that the greens were dressed in was sweet and certainly complimented the blue cheese crumbs that were featured in the dish.  The beets along with the greens were visually appealing and that is something that is huge in the food world.  Visual appearance is right up there with taste, especially in my mind.  When the "Feast of the Fields" came out to our table I was surprised to see how beautiful it was.  I was expecting a huge plate of vegetables piled on top of each other, but that certainly wasn't the case.  The mixture of veggies came out on a wooden spatula.  The kind of spatula that you would put a pizza in a brick oven with.  This made the dish look a lot more rustic and it also made the dish fun and playful all at the same time.  After eating all four of the appetizers an actual entree was something that I wasn't craving, but as I saw my plate of roast beef coming out I was excited to see how they could make this ordinary dish special.    

For my entree I ordered the roast beef with potatoes and braised greens.  Everything about the dish was wonderful.  The roast beef had an amazing texture and it was cooked to perfection.  It was pink in the center, and certainly had no fat on any of my pieces of beef.  The roasted tomato sauce covering the meat, green, and potatoes was a great addition.  The braised greens mixed in one bite with the potatoes and beef made for a great savory flavor in my mouth.  I also tried the dishes of my boyfriend and his parents and their meals were amazing as well.  The way the cook was able to pack so much flavor into each dish was highly notable and it certainly made me want to go back.

A dinner isn't complete without a dessert, so we ordered the mixed berry tart along with the chocolate cake with a raspberry and plum drizzle.  Both were absolutely delicious.  The cake with the plum sauce and ice cream filling was rich, but balanced.  The cake was moist and each bite that I took I made sure I got the cake and ice cream together so I could get those numerous layers of flavor.  The combination of the different berries that were given in the tart made the overall dish filled with great a dimension of flavors.  I was pleased, not too mention that wine goes well with any dessert. 

The Inn at Shelburne Farms was a great experience and I would certainly recommend it for those who love ingredients being taken straight from the farm!  Each bite that I put into my mouth was soul soothing and made me smile.