Well, okay in honor of jumping out of the box, I am going to skip my usual chronological approach and leap over a lunch and Tilghlman Island Inn (which is probably worth re-telling). As I mentioned a few times before we really wanted to dine at the Bartlett Pear Inn, and after our first failed attempt with FOJTE, we secured a reservation for Thursday evening.
Bartlett Pear Inn is in the building formerly occupied by the Inn at Easton, long considered one of the premier dining spots in Easton. Since learning of the existence of the BPI I saw a couple of very positive reviews, in Chesapeake Life, and another by Tom Seitsema in the Wash Post magazine. It continues to operate as a Bed and Breakfast with the lower floors occupied by the restaurant and bar. The historic building is on a side street, and is quite inviting
Ascending the steps and entering the building you’re in a foyer with the bar to the left and dining space to the right. We were immediately greeted by Alice Lloyd, the owner who runs the front of the house (Chef Jordan is in the back) with a cheerful “Hello Mr. Moody, your table awaits”. The room is done in a peaceful shade of gray with white trim, and of course the tables have white cloths. Set with white china, silver utensils, and stately wine glasses, it invites you to sit down and have a good meal. The day was warm, but our table was situated by an open window to let both the breezes and sounds of outside come inside. It’s funny, but I couldn’t help drawing parallels with our now suspended Brome Howard Inn. One half in front, the other in back. A proven winning combination.
Alice introduced us to our server, “ xxxxx will be taking care of your table”, a very nice way to eliminate the “Hi, I’m…..” drill. As was the case within BHI, Alice continued to float around the room all evening, eyes always moving and taking care of things, making them right if needed. The menus were offered along with the wine list, and a couple of off menu items described. Can I get you something to drink? Of course! I had to issue the drink test, and MFO and our friend went for wines by the glass. Was a very interesting wine list, and MFO selected a Moulin D’Argent Chardonnay and our friend a glass of Cottat Sauvignon Blanc. I was asked if I had a preference for Bourbon. You know, there are some nice touches that aren’t much, but when they occur, it adds so much to your dining experience. Our drinks arrived on a tray, two wine glasses, two bottles of wine, and my cocktail. The ladies were shown the label, and then the wine was poured in the glass. How nice is that? My cocktail was just fine (in fact so fine, I eventually had another). The wines were very good. A little basket of bread was supplied, and not just air bread, the real stuff. A little tub of butter topped with Hawaiian sea salt was just the ticket.
Turing at last to the food, we considered the menu. Sort of a twist I had not seen before, they had a section for “begin withs..” which were the appetizers; next section “on to entrees”, which were complete plates (e.g., Skate Wing “Grenobloise” Pan Seared, Tomato Confit, Bacon Lardons, Haricot Verts); then the unique section called “essence a la carte”. There were listed single middle of the plate items such as a Thyme Roasted Free Range ½ Chicken, followed by a list of sides of things like Inn Made French Fries, Cottingham Farm sautéed Spinach, and so on. Prices, I thought, were fairly reasonable, with only the old reliable steak dishes cresting $30. Getting down actually ordering MFO selected an evening special salad of a poached salmon atop some field greens for a starter, our friend a green salad, and once again I answered the siren call of the charcuterie plate. MFO and I did the “entrees” section, she with the Truffle Butter Glazed Pappardelle Pasta, Wild Mushrooms,“Talbot Reserve” Cheese, and I went for more meat with the Steak Tartar, Traditional Garnish, Quail Egg Yolk, Inn Made Fries. Our friend went with the hangar steak in the a la carte section and chose fries as well. What the heck.
Chose a nice bottle of ’07 Chehelem Three Vineyard Pinot Noir as sort of an across the board choice. Another nice touch, fairly common but always appreciated, large wine glasses were brought to the table whisking away the “standard ones”. Nice touch.
Speaking of which (nice touches) while we were enjoying the wines and cocktails, munching on the crusty bread, our table was crumbed at least two times, a bronzed crumber sweeping the shards onto a linen napkin on a plate. If you’ve ever seen the Feeder eat bread, you can appreciate this gesture.
Without boring you with lengthy descriptions of every dish (which is hard, because the charcuterie was really good), they were all wonderful, ladies served first of course. Our friend couldn’t stop raving about the béarnaise sauce that came with her steak. The pasta glistened, and the tartar lived up to it’s classic reputation. Topped with that little raw quail egg. Tip: One order of their delicious fries will serve to feed two.
Determined to see this through to the end, we ordered desserts, a pear tart and Xxxxx. The humble pear can raise itself to lofty heights in the right hands.. Delicious
You add up all those nice little touches (did I remember to mention that silver was replaced often), put good food and good service with it, and that is what fine dining is all about. Please don’t miss it if you find yourself in Easton. (The Feeder would award more FECUs than did Mr. Seitsema’s stars). And, by golly at this place you better be
DFD – honor the food
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