Inn at Easton

[sara]

Having just returned from an overnight at the Inn at Easton, on the Eastern Shore of Maryland, LiamDC and I have sat down to write our review with much trepidation. Will we be successful in conveying the degree to which we loved this Inn and can't wait to return? Can we adequately translate the divineness of Andrew Evans's dishes into words, without any pictures to share? Well, fellow Gulleteers, we're gonna try!

First, giving credit where it's due, this was a special occasion for us, arranged by Liam to celebrate the completion of my doctorate. Having read a bit about this 4-year-old Inn in places like the Washingtonian and the Post (Tom reviewed it about 2 years ago), but without having seen much talk about it on Egullet, Liam "took a flyer" and booked us a night.

The Inn is a Federal Mansion built in 1790 and subsequently split into apartments. It's been fixed up beautifully by Liz Evans, who has a taste for luxious linens (we had 400 thread count Egyptian cotton sheets with a springy green flower print covering our queen-sized bed with feather mattress), antique dressers paired with modern mirrors, and steel bathroom accessories topped with Aveda products. God, I aspire to develop even half of Liz's skills in this arena. The rooms, many of which are suites (bedroom, sitting room and bathroom) look out of the pages of a very chic magazine. It's a completely unexpected look in the middle of the Eastern Shore.

Liz is Australian, and so her husband Andrew Evans has created an Australian-themed menu, with a sophisticated largely-Australian wine list. The prices ($10-15 apps, $25-$40 entrees) are more than reasonable for this quality of food, and feel like an absolute deal coming from the DC area. Andrew's strengths are his pairings, and his work with various textures and always high quality ingrediants. This will become clear in the subsequent description of what we had for dinner.

But first, beginnings. After arriving and checking in at 7:30 pm (it's about a 2 hr drive from DC, with a little traffic), we mentioned a wish to sit outside in the early evening. While the front porch with its white rocking chairs was a good option, they took us to an even lovelier spot--a backyard dining patio, whose centerpiece was a water foundation. Beautiful white and pink flowers surround the patio, which is backed up by a small tree-covered yards. It's simply idyllic. You can dine outside, and we saw several people doing so. We sat and had cocktails-- a vodka lemonade for me, a nicely-made gin & tonic for Liam. After about a half-hour we expressed a desire for some food, and they led us inside to the beautifully elegant dining room, which has a fireplace (not lit up thankfully in June!). Each table has a heavy glass bowl containing a Japanese fighting fish--we had great fun psychoanalyzing our fish, who didn't move throughout our 2.5 hr meal, speculating on his depression (the fish at our new breakfast table this morning, in a corner nook, was much more active. Sidenote: Apparently a few years back the Inn hosted a wedding rehearsal dinner and a number of men got drunk and on a dare ate the fish!! This was quite upsetting to Liz, and they haven't been invited back.).

Now--the food. First, we were served fresh bread, hot from the oven, with very creamy butter. I started with Seared Diver Scallops, dauphine potatoes, tomato and lemon oil vinaigrette. Each large scallop was placed in a scallop shell, which was placed on a bed of rock salt. The scallop sat atop the dauphine potato, and was topped by a little olive tapanade. Around the scallop was the tomato and lemon vinaigrette. This was simply a perfect dish--the meaty scallops could be consumed in no less than 3-5 bites a piece, their salty sea flavor was offset nicely by the olives and tomatoes. Liam and I fought of this dish piece for piece. His appetizer was Jumbo Lumb Crab and Papaya Salad, frisee and minted verjuice. The sweet crab and papaya played off of each other beautifully, and the textural combination was a joy! He had a glass of Australian riesling--2002 Eden Valley Rockford, "Hand Picked" that the waitress thought would be an ideal match but unfortunately wasn't--her idea was to offset the sweetness of the crab with something dry, but he would've preferred to have a slightly less dry match. Nonetheless, it was a pleasant Aussie riesling with strong mineral and grassy notes.

(I have to mention that I had an internal battle of choice of appetizer, given the appeal of several other options, including: Korean Style Steak Tartar, sesame dressing, lavash toast points, and quail yolk; and Seared Calves Liver, applewood smoked bacon and fried shallot rings.)

For entrees, I had Pan Seared Squab, grilled figs, wilted beet tops, seared foie gras, and saba jus. Liam had Slow Cooked Lamb Sirloin, dijon herb crust, creamed spinach, potato galette and sauce pinot. OH GOD were these good! My squab (two little legs) sat in a tart shell, atop to slices of superb foie gras, over wilted beet tops. The four halves of grilled figs framed the plate, which was rich with saba jus. This was a 5-star dish. The squab was meaty, the tenderness and richness of the foie gras a beautiful complement, I swooned again and again over the figs. Liam's lamb was Australian, extremely tender and juicy, and completely herbaceous. It was placed on top of a comforting creamed spinach over a potato galette, and surrounded by a medley of baby asparagus and pearl onions. He declared that lamb the best he's had--and that's saying a ton since I make great lamb!!

Now, for the wine...oh, deep breath...we introduced ourselves to a real lover--the 2001 McLaren Vale Grenache-Shiraz "Hattrick." It's so named because it's really a trio of grapes, include cab sav (only 7% however). The palate was ripe cherries and big flowing jamminess, with great structure. It was extraordinarily refined and very well-balanced. One of the more refined Shiraz or Shiraz-blends Liam's ever had. The nose was a little fruity, a little spicy. It was absolutely plush, and a perfect pairing with our entrees. (Price=$75; we found it in Annapolis today for $47, so that's not a bad markup, eh?)

Dessert. I had the much acclaimed, and rightfully so, Sticky Fig & Ginger Pudding, caramel sauce and english double devon cream. Rich rich rich rich rich. But perfectly rich. Liam had a more unusual dish: Cold Wattle Seed Soufflé, warm kahlua sauce. Wattle seeds are like hazelnuts, so this was a cold nutty souffle in a small ramekin, accompanied by a tiny pitcher of kahlua sauce. Liam immediately went to drink that pitcher--which I can only assume is Jamie Blankenship's influence (that darn milkshake!)--but I also pointed out how good the sauce was poured over the nuts, softening them and making the souffle simply melt. Awesome!

We thought it was over then, but... Out came our server, pretty young woman in black (the bussers were a young duo of dour teens, pretty funny), with a plate of petit fours--still warm cookies, chocolate-dipped strawberries, and blackberries. She sent us up to our warm room, full and delighted, with that plate of pleasures and the rest of our wine.

Ah, now to the next morning, this morning (and yeah I'm skipping out on the hours of 11 pm- 10 am Except I will note when we arrived upstairs our bed had been turned out, with chocolates properly placed, and complimentary bottles of still and sparkling water available), when we sauntered downstairs and were treated to breakfast alone, in the dining room's sunny cornernook. Continental breakfast is included with the room, and while I've heard that one before (stale Frosted Flakes anyone?), this one was exceptional. Fresh illy coffee, juices, a homemade parfait of homemade granola, yogurt, and blueberries, homemake croissants and danishes. And asian pears and oranges on the table. What we couldn't eat we were told to box up and take along with us!

What a beautiful morning, what a beautiful day... Listen folks, I had a surgical procedure at 9 am yesterday morning and found myself at the Inn at Easton dining extraordinarily well by 9 last night. You will not find a more lovely place for R&R, a breather, a fabulously refreshing meal, and a great value (around $450 for the whole deal with room, dinner, etc), not too far from home. We haven't been to the Inn at Little Washington, but what I've heard lately about the food there, I'd put money on people preferring this place. My oh my, go there, go NOW.

Here's all the info you need (well, I guess I thought I'd add a thing or two... ):

Inn

Edited June 26, 2004 by sara (log)

[misscindy]

Easton is a favorite weekend getaway spot for us and the Inn at Easton has a whole lot to do with that. It is truly fantastic. In fact, I'd like to get there again sometime soon...before it morphs into another Inn at Little Washington and we can't afford it anymore.

[sara]

Have you been to any of the other Inns in Easton? Several shopkeepers in the area told us that 2-3 others imagine themselves competitors...

The Inn already won Food & Wine's best hotel restaurants mentions in 2002 and 2003, and I don't detect any attitude from them about it-- but I have no frame of reference as to what prices used to be. It took a long long time for the Inn at Little Washington to begin to slide, and from what I've heard (and admittedly this is second or third hand information I'm not even totally comfortable speaking on) the decline has largely stemmed from a lack of willingness or interest in change or progress--burnout, you might say. Liz has certainly expressed that she and Andrew sometimes feel overwhelmed, running the Inn and taking care of 2 small children, but there's still a clear sense that they love what they do and intend to keep up the good work.

Edited June 26, 2004 by sara (log)

[Susan in FL]

Congratulations on your doctorate!!

We love Easton, and have wondered about The Inn. Thanks for the great write-up.

[sara]

Thanks--definitely go check it out!

[misscindy]

Actually, we have stayed at another b&b in Easton--the Bishops House, I think. We had a great time but it is very different from the Inn at Easton. Not my taste--it has a whole lotta dolls, hats and various Victorian bric-a-brac going on. BUT, the breakfast was fantastic, we had a great room with a huge jacuzzi and it was cheaper than the Inn at Easton. And, it was still within walking distance of the Inn at Easton so you can easily eat dinner there. I do think that other innkeepers in Easton are sort of perplexed by the success of the Inn at Easton. I'd be curious to know which ones really fancy themselves as competitors. Most of them don't serve dinner (as far as I know) and I'd be surprised if any of them have the great vibe in the same way that the Inn at Easton does.

[sara]

Yeah, Bishop's House was mentioned by one shopkeeper...Dolls and such is sorta what I thought the Inn would be like, and thankfully is not at all! But it is kid friendly, for sure--in fact one table was celebrating a 10 year olds birthday the night we were there! Wow, to have a dinner at the Inn when you're 10, I'm jealous! It's certainly nice to know about less-pricey places to stay in the area if you want to get out there for dinner.

[sara]

As promised, here are some pictures of the Inn. Unfortunately, no food pictures.

Front of the Inn:

Our suite's bedroom:

Our suite's sitting room:

The courtyard:

[sara]

Golly gee, it's Jared who did the milkshake, not Jamie. WHAT was I thinkin?