...last Thursday, Matt and I had the honor of being Chef Carl's guests at Stone Soup Cottage. Carl and his wife, Nancy own this farm to fork restaurant. They just moved locations and are now located on the nursery property where Matt works. Carl uses all of the fresh produce that the nursery grows. His food is fantastic and it shows because he's currently booked through most of December! That seems like a long time, but trust me, the wait is well worth it!
The menu is pre-set and it's a six-course menu. All reservations are at 6:30pm and they won't begin serving until everyone has arrived. We were hustling to get there by 6:30 but wouldn't you know it, the local high school was having their homecoming parade and we had to find another route! We got there right at 6:30pm but not to worry, because most of the guests didn't get there until later so we were good.
We enjoyed the wait on this gorgeous patio that Matt and his crew built over the summer. These guys worked extremely hard in the heat of summer to get this done. Many an evening, AR and I would go visit Daddy working on this patio and they were up there almost every Saturday too.
I didn't get a picture of it but there's a pond just below the patio. Matt swam out in it two times to put the new fountain in place. The last time, he did it was to correct an issue so that Mr. Wainwright and Mr. Carpenter could enjoy it while they dined there. Yes, those birds are who I'm talking about.
I think the restaurant being on the nursery will be great business for both. It's a peaceful, country view where you feel like you're away from the hustle and bustle of city life even though it's just a hop, skip and a jump away. It also gets traffic through the nursery for potential new clients so it's really a win-win for both.
Here's Mr. and Mrs. G! Matt just got his hair butchered, his words, not mine!
On to the delicious food! We were served by Carl, Nancy and their staff. Everyone was very personable and they described every dish and each bottle of wine. Carl sets the menu and Nancy chooses the wine. They are a great couple!
After some fresh made bread with sea salt and honey butter, we started off with an amuse-bouche which was a potato, steak tar tar and hollandaise sauce on top. O...M...G! This was amazing! As though I wasn't already excited for dinner, this really got my taste buds going. This was paired with some type of sparkling wine.
Our first course was sweet potato bisque with pancetta, black walnuts and nutmeg Chantilly. It was paired with a 2011 Shaya Verdejo Old Vine from Spain. If we'd been home, I would've licked the bowl it was that good.
The second course was panzanella salad with roasted peppers, zucchini, Nicoise olives, garlic and fresh herbs. Again, delish!
The third course was smoked sea scallops with late harvest corn and jalapeno beurre blanc. It was paired with a 2011 Val de Mer Bourgogne Blanc from France. The corn just melted in your mouth! We love the corn from the nursery, AR will eat it straight off the cob without it being cooked.
This is also when all the wine started to hit Matt and he let me start taking pictures. :-) Since I'm not a big drinker, I'd sip each wine and then he'd finish off his glass AND mine.
Before the fourth course, we had a pear and cider sorbet to cleanse our pallets. This was so good too! I could have eaten a huge bowl of this.
The fourth course was a fall mushroom cassoulet with shaved black truffles. It was paired with a 2011 Maison Bertrand Ambroise Bourgogne Pino Noir from France. Neither of us had eaten black truffles before so we were pretty excited about that.
The fifth course was duck ragout with brown butter, seasonal vegetables and fresh pappardelle. It was paired with a 2011 Castiglioni from Italy. The pasta was homemade, the duck was so tender...this dish made my mouth VERY happy.
The sixth and final course was a Jonathan apple and taleggio soufflé with caramel crème anglaise. Wow, just WOW! This really topped off the evening. The apple, the soufflé, the caramel...it was an explosion of flavors and again, I would've licked the bowl if I could've!
The evening was great, the food was wonderful and we're so grateful for being one of Chef Carl and Nancy's guests. If you live around here, it's well worth it to get your reservation now!
5 comments :
drooling over here! I need to go when I'm able to indulge in the wine. Sounds like an awesome date night place!
Oh. My. Word. This looks fantastic. Thank you for sharing. This may be a good anniversary dinner for the mister and me.
Oh. My. Goodness. That sounds awesome! I'm definitely going to have to go try it out! I wonder if they cater to gluten and dairy free patrons.
Wow! This sounds incredible! I've heard so many really great things about this place. I'm so jealous of your fancy connections - what a great hook-up! I'm drooling...
This sounds amazing! I would love to check this place out, but I would never be able to get the Mr. to eat fancy food like this :-( What an awesome place!
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