Best American Restaurant

Some of you are probably wondering where I’ve been. I’ve been traveling again, this time enjoying the foods of the US. We made quick trips to NC and TN to visit friends and also to work with our architect on our new house. We enjoyed many good places in both states.

On the way home as a Christmas present to each other, we stopped in Chilhowie, VA and had the meal of a lifetime in the Town House. John and Karen Shields are the chef owners and the food is not only tasted wonderful, it was gorgeous to look at. We also stayed in the Riverstead which is their 2 bedroom bed and breakfast. We were the only ones there and had this beautifully restored farm house to ourselves.



When you book a room it comes with a 5 course meal. Jim wanted 6 courses. We also chose the wine pairings. Their sommelier did an outstanding job. I highly recommend that you not only go here, but add the wine pairings.

Our first course was Chilled Vegetable “Minestrone.” This dish is nothing like you have ever seen. It was tiny cylinders of partially cooked beet, zucchini, radish, carrot and something red and white, sliced paper thin and standing up at all the same height. At the table they added the best tasting vegetable broth I have experienced. The wine pairing was an Austrian Gruner Weltliner Hirsch.

The second course I would never have ordered and it was my favorite. Main Loster and Cream from the Shells, young coconut, pumpkin seed oil, horchata , tonka beans. It looked like snow covering the lobster medallions with a very pumpkin taste to the cream. This was served with a German Spatlese. Again, it was perfect.



The next course, you have to see to believe. Peekytoe Crab in
Brown Butter & Lime, with onions, dried scallop, banana,
milk skin, vegetable crab meat. Yes milk skin cut in a perfect square
with onions that looked like shells. It was served with a

Spanish Albarino.

The piece d’ resistance was the Squab Breast cooked in Smoked Butter, beets, cured green strawberries, rose petals, wild allspice.
The squab was like butter in your mouth. At this point we had had
beets in two dishes. Jim commented on that fact. I told him not to
worry his skin would be beautiful in the AM.

The pairing was a 2006 Gigondas. This was a stellar wine.









Jim needed another course so we added Scrambled Egg Mousse, smoked char roe, sorghum, sweet spices, preserved ramp. This was paired with 10 year old Madeira. I thought the sommelier had lost his mind. The dish was very salty tasting and the sweetness of the Madeira with it just has to be experienced.

Finally dessert, it was so gorgeous to look at. Here is what we ate. A Curd of Sour Quince Juice & Olive Oil, black pepper, dill, Douglas fir ice cream, toasted meringue. Yes, Douglas fir ice cream! This was served with a sauterne.
We were chauffeured to and from the restaurant.
The B&B was supplied with wine, hors de hovers and cookies. Breakfast was a special tart of figs and gorgonzola cheese, poached eggs, granola, and fresh squeezed OJ.
John and Karen both worked at Charlie Trotters in Chicago. In fact Karen was the pastry chef when Jim and I went there for our 40th anniversary. John also worked at Alenia Restaurant in Chicago.
The restaurant and lodging is a steal at the price. I hope to go back again and again. The chef told us it is so hard to create a good menu in the winter. If this was his idea of not great, I want to be there in the summer and early harvest.