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Washington Four
& Twenty Blackbirds Two alumni of the Inn at Little Washington run this urbane little place in an old general store. Chef Heidi Morf, who was dessert chef at the inn, and Vinnie DeLuise, a former waiter there, have an avid following who appreciate the creativity, the informality and the prices. It’s the place to which local gourmands return time and again. The main-floor dining room is colorful yet glamorous. The chintz draped around the windows matches the chair seats, walls are pale peach above the chair rail and deep green below, and the woodwork is deep purple. A downstairs room with a stone bar and red trim is more rustic. We enjoyed a sensational lunch here (since discontinued), but a subsequent dinner by candlelight with live guitar music proved even more memorable. Unusual hot bread sticks, curled up at the end like a fiddlehead fern, tasted of fennel and hot chiles. Among appetizers were a great California sushi roll with crabmeat and avocado and an assertive tart bearing smoked peppers, caramelized vidalia onions and maytag blue cheese. A small salad of assorted greens with a lovely dijon vinaigrette prepared the palate for the main courses. One of us had sautéed soft-shell crabs atop a shrimp jambalaya with hush puppies. The other tried the grilled rockfish with the best sundried tomato aioli ever and orange couscous, garnished with tiny johnny jump-ups. Sweet endings were strawberry shortcake on heart-shaped biscuits with homemade lemon ice cream and a fresh plum, nectarine and almond tart with Rappahannock raspberry sauce. This is the stuff of which culinary dreams are made, at prices that won’t break the bank. A good wine list is priced in the teens and twenties. (540) 675-1111. Entrées, $17.50 to $20.95. Dinner, Wednesday-Saturday 5:30 to 9. Sunday brunch, 10 to 2. The Flint Hill Public
House High atop a broad lawn, this majestic old structure built in 1899 served as a grade school for most of its years. Lately it has been a restaurant with a variety of dining options, including a great outdoor deck lined with impatiens and overlooking prolific gardens. Owners John and Denise Pearson, young and energetic, have given it its most successful incarnation yet. John, the chef, employs Virginia products whenever possible in a straightforward manner that contrasts nicely with the more eclectic fare of Four & Twenty Blackbirds down the street. "It makes for good neighbors," John says, and his admiring competitors agree. Dining is in the paneled Public Room, with a bar in the corner, floral placemats on old English pub tables and oriental runners on the floor. Beyond is a wicker parlor with dining tables opening onto the aforementioned deck, a great place for a summer meal. All is quite stylish for contemporary fare that earns good reviews. Dinner might start with a choice of filé gumbo, polenta cakes with wild morels, fried Asian vegetable rolls and a salad of grilled cucumbers, vidalia onions and goat cheese. Expect main dishes like seared yellowfin tuna with pineapple-ginger glaze, monkfish with Israeli couscous, spicy soft-shell crabs with corn relish, roasted chicken with flageolets and seared beef tenderloin with roasted garlic mashed potatoes. John has added thousands of bottles to his wine cellar, which he considers the area’s best after the Inn at Little Washington. He also presents quarterly vintner’s dinners and a variety of food events "designed to be a celebration of food in America today." The Pearsons also have refurbished two spacious, high-ceilinged upstairs guest rooms with queensize beds and private baths, renting for $95. (540) 675-1700. Entrées, $15.95 to $18.95. Lunch, 11:30 to 2:30; dinner, 5:30 to 8:30 or 9:30; Sunday, brunch 11 to 3, dinner 5 to 8. Closed Wednesday. Material excerpted from Inn Spots & Special Places / Mid-Atlantic, by Nancy and Richard Woodworth. Copyright 2003. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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