Dinner at Peyton Place

[Dante]

So, last Friday my Lovely Housemates took me out to dinner at Peyton Place in Orford, NH.

And it may well have been the best dining out experience of my life.

The building itself it oh-so-gorgeous- an old house built in 1773 more details here for those who want it.

Amusing barrel full of wine corks in the fireplace in the main dining room, cute occasionally mismatched dinner ware evidently made by a local pottery place. (some pics here. Wine bottles as candle holders. Menu on a blackboard brought to the table (read and described to us by co-owner Heidi Peyton in her magnificent voice). On the way in, a customer standing outside for a smoke-break raved to us about how wonderful everything was tha night, describing it as explosions of flavour.

Amuse-bouche was cucumber slices with a sort of Asiago and vegetable mixture on top- quite nice, can't remember all ingredients as it got lost in the shuffle of everything else. Fresh-baked dinner rolls with whipped butter- quite lovely..

My Beautiful Wife started with the spinach salad with bacon and the broiled oysters - I'd never thought it possible to cook oysters and still retain the best elements of them in their raw state but they managed to do it. My Lovely Housemate Claudia has the lobster salad with feta cheese over greens with orange vinaigrette- the lobster has such a wonderful moist delicate texture. My Lovely Housemate Rick has the home-made duck chorizo dumplings poached in soy stock with cilantro yogurt sauce. It was so wonderful- I’d never considered making chorizo with duck before. The seasoning was still very present but it didn't intrude on the flavour of the duck at all. He also had a nice corn chowder on the side. Sadly, I can't comment on this as I was so overwhelmed by the dumplings I forgot to ask for a taste.

I thought about getting the Vietnamese Bouillabaisse but as it was a regular offering on the menu, I deferred in favour of the "Purple Haze Shrimp"- broiled shrimp with a habanero/purple cabbage sauce. The shrimp was exquisite- tasting of the flames but also still quite distinctly of itself, and the sauce knocked my socks off. Now, I'm a major chilehead, and few meals at restaurants have ever challenged me, but this one did- so delicious I couldn't stop eating it but hot enough that I had to think twice on occasion (the only meal that's ever had that effect on me before was the Chicken Rico-Rico at Sabang in Wheaton, MD). Everyone concurred on this- dangerous but delicious enough to make it well worth it.

Accompanying this my housemate Rick chose a wine called Red Knot Cabernet Sauvignon- good body and flavour (especially as it should have been quite young at the time), still enough to stand up to and compliment the full assortment of appetizers we were having.

Then came time for the entrees. My Beautiful Wife chose the Fresh Haddock in potato crust with star-fruit sauce- moist and exquisitely tender, the crust tasting of wonderfully fresh potato. Lovely Housemate Claudia had the Lamb Ravioli- delightfully strong but not too strong lamb flavour with a deep, rich sauce. Lovely Housemate Rick had the Boneless Duck Breast with sun-dried cherry sauce and buckwheat pancake- the texture and flavour was such that I still don’t feel entirely certain is wasn't confitted.

I had the Steak Frites- cooked medium rare, like the shrimp stating of flame and itself, accompanied by puree of roasted red pepper, garlic and capers, and what were the best fries I've ever had (and I'm normally not one to rave about fries).

Then the desserts came. My Beautiful Wife had the fruit compote in puff pastry with home-made cinnamon ice cream (something I'm normally not keen on but once again, they made an occasionally intrusive flavour perfectly compliment the food). Lovely Housemate Claudia had a nice citrus sorbet (but sadly, I can't recall the flavour right now) and I had an amazing raspberry and ranier cherry sorbet (I'm always a sucker for raspberries).

All of the ingredients were as fresh as possible, and locally sourced whenever such was viable (which always wins points with me). They had brochures for their sources (including the pottery) in the lobby as well as a huge stack of cookbooks (I was quite tickled, and unsurprised, to see a copy of McGee's "On Food And Cooking" there)

the service was nothing less than excellent- friendly and helpful without being obtrusive in the least. Mrs. Peyton stopped by our table to look in on us several times- her presence always a joy.

We're now thinking of who else we can invite and why- partially to share the experience, partially as an excuse to come back again.

Peyton Place.

Sincerely,

Dante