American Hotel Dining: The Best Places To Indulge

The Inn at Little Washington’s 30-seat dining room has been earning dining laurels for decades. Chef/proprietor Patrick O’Connell at the Little Washington, VA eatery, has garnered five James Beard Awards, including Restaurant of the Year in 1993, among other accolades. He calls his Refined American Cuisine, “America’s equivalent to French haute cuisine.” As highfalutin as that sounds, his food has strong roots in the local Virginia soil.

He’s been using produce from local growers since the beginning. The Inn launched its own garden in 2011, producing many of the vegetables and herbs the kitchen uses. They even raise animals: sheep, a few llamas and Rhode Island Red Chickens. This commitment to excellence comes at a price.

For a really special experience, book one of the two Kitchen Tables (there’s a surcharge to sit in this state-of-the-art kitchen) and watch the master and his crew hard at work. Prix fixe dinners, which can book up over a month in advance, start at $169 per person (depending on the day you dine). Add wine from their over 14,000-bottle cellar and while it’s not an inexpensive evening, it will definitely be a memorable one.

According to Bon Appétit, Blackberry Farm is the best food-lovers’ hotel in America. The 62-room Inn, nestled on a whopping 4,200 acres (with access to another 5,000 of pristine wilderness) in the Smokey Mountain foothills in Walland, TN., is definitely a destination in its own right. Their “Foothills Cuisine®,” an eclectic approach to food, “wanders the line between refined and rugged, borrowing from both haute cuisine and the country food indigenous to Blackberry’s Smoky Mountain heritage.”

They grow much of what they serve on their land, sourcing the rest locally whenever possible. They farm the “old way” using “sustainable and responsible practices.” Menus change daily depending on what’s growing in their heirloom garden.

Meals are included for hotel guests and for non-guests, the five-course dinner served in their elegant eatery, The Barn, is $125. Diners can also order a la carte or from the chef’s tasting menu. There’s an extensive wine cellar as well and both their chef and sommelier have garnered James Beard Awards. If you’re not staying at the Inn, book about a month in advance.

Los Poblanos Historic Inn & Organic Farm, just north of Albuquerque, NM., was named Bon Appétit’s sixth “best hotel for food lovers” in 2014. La Merienda (the name means “light meal” in Spanish), their restaurant, serves food harvested from their own fields. Their original vision was to serve small plates and while that concept has evolved, the name remains. They produce their own fruits, vegetables, eggs, and honey (all organic) and the rest is sourced from area growers and producers whenever possible.

The seasonally driven menus are influenced both by haute cuisine and foods indigenous to New Mexico’s Rio Grande River Valley. Six to eight times a year, they host special dinners showcasing ingredients from local farms, breweries and wineries and ones highlighting seasonal ingredients from their farm. The dining room, in the historic hacienda designed by noted New Mexican architect, John Gaw Meem, is intimate and simple. The small a la carte menu has comparatively moderate prices as well.