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Canandaigua/ Actor Judson Morgan, not J.P. Morgan as was first
thought, built this rambling stone mansion in 1810, and eventually it
became the home of industrialist Howard Samuels, who ran unsuccessfully
for governor of One fastidious innkeeper of our acquaintance said she had her best breakfast ever here. Ours certainly was a triumph, and so pretty we wished we'd brought along a camera for a color photograph, although this was an instance when a photo could not do it justice. The meal – for some the highlight of a stay at
this sophisticated and enchanting B&B – is taken in the beamed
dining room, in a glass-enclosed breakfast-tea room with potbelly stove
or outside on the rear patio. John oversees the cooking –
he or his innkeeper usually makes an early-morning run to the
supermarket to pick out the perfect fruit for the first course. We
counted 26 varieties exquisitely put together on the silver platter,
including local The Sullivans may join guests for hors d’oeuvre and beverages in the late afternoon, which helps break the ice so “everybody is friends when they get together for breakfast the next morning,” says Julie. The treats range from John’s homemade sauces on chicken wings and piegogi (tenderloin sautéed in a Korean sauce) to cheese and crackers. They accompany hot or iced tea, cider or sparkling grape juice from local vineyards. John prepares dinners by advance reservation for eight or more guests ($65 to $72 per person, depending on menu). Guests bring their own wine and enjoy togetherness in the dining room or the enclosed garden porch, or privacy in five separate dining areas. The birds were chirping, the fountains trickling and classical music playing as we dined by candlelight on the garden porch. The meal produced a procession of whitefish with horseradish sauce, pasta shells in a hot Bahamian sauce, garlic bread, a fabulous chilled peach soup and a mixed salad bearing everything from strawberries and apples to beets, snow peas and artichoke hearts, dressed with raspberry vinaigrette studded with bacon and capers. The main course was filet mignon with a sherry-herb sauce, accompanied by green beans, mushrooms, cauliflower, potatoes, and broccoli and cheese. Dutch apple pie with ice cream ended a spectacular meal. "I cook the way I like to cook," says John, who has no formal training. He certainly cooks the way we like to eat, although we would have had to be super-human to finish it all. Although food is obviously a passion here, the five
guest rooms and a suite and the common areas are hardly afterthoughts.
All eleven rooms in the house come with fireplaces. The Morgan Suite is
lavish with early 18th-century French furniture, a kingsize bed, an
over-length loveseat in front of the TV and a double jacuzzi in a corner
of the bathroom. A fountain sounds like a babbling brook beneath
Evie’s Chamber, a Victorian fantasy with a rosewood queensize bed,
sitting area and balcony. The Soft music is piped throughout the house and across the grounds, and candles glow in the common rooms. Besides the aforementioned garden porch where we like to relax, there are a well-furnished living room, an intimate Victorian library with a TV, and fine oil paintings all around. Outside are no fewer than four landscaped patios (one with a trickling fountain and another with a lily pond and waterfall), a tennis court and gardens. Ducks and chickens and a heifer or a horse roam around in the distance. You could easily imagine you were at a house party in the country with the J.P. Morgan et al. In summer, the Sullivans sometimes put up guests in three sumptuous suites at their lakeside home.
585) 394-9232. For more information: www.morgansamuelsinn.com. Dinner for house guests and invited guests by reservation (eight-person minimum), nightly at 7 or 7:30.
Material excerpted from Getaways for Gourmets in the Northeast, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2006.
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