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Dorset, VT Chantecleer As far as local residents are concerned, there's near unanimity about the Chantecleer in East Dorset. The food is consistent, the service professional and the atmosphere rustically elegant. It’s also considered rather pricey. Swiss chef Michel Baumann acquired the contemporary-style restaurant fashioned from an old dairy barn in 1981. His menu features Swiss and French provincial cuisine, from whole dover sole filleted tableside to roasted Long Island duckling with plum-ginger sauce. Our party of four sampled a number of the autumn offerings, starting with a classic baked onion soup, penne with smoked salmon, potato pancakes with sautéed crabmeat and a heavenly lime butter sauce, and bundnerfleisch fanned out in little coronets with pearl onions, cornichons and melba rounds. For main courses, we savored the rack of lamb, veal sweetbreads morel, sautéed quail stuffed with mushrooms duxelles and the night's special of boneless pheasant from a local farm, served with smoked bacon and grapes, among other things. Fabulous roesti potatoes upstaged the other accompaniments, puree of winter squash, snow peas and strands of celery. Bananas foster, grand marnier layer cake, crème brûlée and trifle were worthy endings for a rich, expensive meal. A number of Swiss wines are included on the reasonably priced wine list, and Swiss yodeling music may be heard on tape as background music. (802) 362-1616. Entrées, $28 to $35. Dinner by
reservation, nightly except Tuesday from 6.
Ex-Manhattan chef Raymond Chen has elevated the dining experience at this inn previously known as the Village Auberge. Upon taking over the inn with his wife Christal, he redecorated and set the white-clothed tables in the European style, with heavy silver cutlery face down. He reinstated a regular dinner schedule and invited patrons to “rediscover a tradition of excellence in fine dining.” The dining room with its striking built-in china cabinets and a large bay window at the far end is about the only vestige of its long life as the Village Auberge. An addition houses Clancy's Tavern, an attractive room with dark green wainscoting and beams, where the polished wooden tables are topped with English placemats. Chef Ray cooks in the new American style with international flourishes. His dish of mushroom and mascarpone raviolis with spinach and white truffle oil is a signature starter. Others could be Thai curry-crusted shrimp with tamarind sauce, hoisin-glazed quail with crispy rice noodles and roasted sweetbreads with fried spinach and sauce gribiche. The wine-braised beef short ribs is so popular that Ray cannot take it off the menu. Another favorite is pan-roasted free-range chicken with roasted garlic jus, rosemary potato gratin and haricots verts. Other entrées include phyllo-wrapped halibut with champagne beurre blanc, hanger steak with balsamic-onion marmalade and lamb shanks with rosemary-olive sauce. Save room for the signature warm Valrhona chocolate cake with vanilla ice cream, Vermont maple cheesecake with pecan cookies or the refreshing trio of strawberry, citrus and mango sorbets. Gourmet magazine requested the recipe for the buttermilk panna cotta with caramelized bananas and blackberries. (802) 867-5715 or (800) 769-4903. Entrées, $26
to $29. Dinner, Thursday-Monday from 6. Closed two weeks in April and
November.
Interesting, creative food has been emanating from the kitchen of this venerable inn since owner Sissy Hicks took over the chef's chores in 1984. The main dining room is handsome in hunter green with white trim and wainscoting. A focal point is a spotlit glass cabinet displaying cups and horse figurines along one wall. Out back are a tavern with dining tables and a large oak bar, and in front, a garden dining porch that’s especially pleasant for lunch. Known for her home-style American cuisine, Sissy Hicks changes her menu seasonally. She also has changed the previously separate tavern and dining room menus into one that serves both areas. Now you'll find a hefty burger (for a hefty price) on the same menu as grilled lamb chops with garlic-shallot confit. Not to mention sautéed chicken tenders alongside a grilled angus steak served with “James Beard’s sauce.” At least five vegetarian items – including baked eggplant crêpes and grilled polenta with sautéed mushrooms – are usually offered. Among appetizers, we found the crabmeat mousse with a cucumber-mustard dill sauce and a few slices of melba toast enough for two to share. Having been advised that the calves liver was the best anywhere, we had to try it. Served rare as requested with crisp bacon and slightly underdone slices of onion, it was superb. The fresh trout, deboned but served with its skin still on, was laden with sautéed leeks and mushrooms. Each came with a different vegetable; other side dishes listed on the menu carry a surcharge. A Wente chardonnay, golden and oaky, was a good choice from the reasonably priced wine list. Pies, bread pudding with whiskey sauce and crème brûlée are on the dessert menu. We chose a kiwi sorbet, wonderfully deep flavored, accompanied by a big sugar cookie. One of the favorite fall desserts is Sissy's cider sorbet with spiced wine sauce. (802) 867-5500. Entrées, $12.50 to $23. Lunch
daily in summer and fall, 11:30 to 2. Dinner nightly, 5 to 9. Closed
Monday and Tuesday in winter.
Innkeepers Jim and Linda McGinnis preside over a dining operation that's long been known for good food in pleasant surroundings. The focal point for many is the sunken greenhouse on the side, where you almost feel you're dining under the stars. The main dining room has been redecorated with nicely spaced tables dressed in white and sage green, to coordinate with the colors in the hand-painted murals of Dorset on the walls. The adjacent cozy tavern, with its trompe-l'oeil walls of books, also is a pleasant spot for dining. The menu features contemporary New England cuisine, each item paired with a suggested wine. At one visit, we started with smoked tuna with caper and red onion crème fraîche and a tartlet of smoked scallops and mussels with scallions and red peppers, both excellent. Main courses were grilled chicken with fresh berries, mint and grand marnier and pan-roasted veal tenderloin with pancetta, tomatoes and shiitake mushrooms. They were accompanied by a platter of vegetables served family style, on this night spaghetti squash creole, lemon-scented broccoli, carrot puree with maple syrup, and risotto with fennel and red peppers. Vegetables have always been a Barrows House strong point; one summer dinner brought carrots glazed with raisins and ginger, asparagus with hollandaise, squash and spinach with dill, and warm potato salad. Recent entrées ranged from hazelnut-encrusted arctic char with a sundried tomato-dill sauce to tournedos rossini. The Chesapeake-style crab cakes are a fixture among both the appetizer and entrée selections. A huckleberry tart, crème caramel and cappuccino ice cream are temptations from the dessert list. (802) 867-4455 or (800) 639-1620. Entrées,
$17.95 to $29.95. Dinner nightly, 6 to 9.
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