The Alpine Gourmet, On and Off the
Mountain
By Laura Pope
A gifted cadre of chefs working in the alpine reaches of Maine,
New Hampshire and Vermont ski resorts offer winter warriors savory options well
beyond ubiquitous pub fare, from Upscale Rustic and European Comfort Food to
Contemporary American cuisine. This selection of fine dining establishments, on
and off the mountain, features a remarkable mix of masters in the kitchen,
including a self-taught chef, two owner/chefs (one is CIA-trained) and three ski
resort chefs, all alumni of the prestigious Chef Apprentice Program at The
Balsams who have gone on to helm dining operations at major ski resort restaurants.
Vermont, On the
Mountain
Chef Josh Berry,
Solstice at Stowe Mountain Lodge, Stowe, Vermont
Broadcasting a menu that is rustic, seasonal, contemporary
and American, Solstice at Stowe Mountain Lodge has long been “the big place on
the hill, a family resort where everyone chooses an entrée and lots of side
dishes to pass around, family style,” describes Joshua Berry, executive chef at
the premier dining and inn destination, as well as Hourglass, a lounge setting
offering lighter, gastro-pub cuisine.
The casual, comfortable ambiance at the 110-seat Solstice
presents a signature Neo-Lodge aesthetic that is both traditional and
contemporary and pairs seamlessly with
an imaginative, interactive a la carte menu that allows Chef Berry to not only
lower price points, but “fully engage diners who are wowed by all the options
and flavor possibilities.”
The “build-it-yourself” menu style generates instant buzz
with patrons who come to Stowe Mountain Lodge,
full of high expectations. A generous offering of starters, soups and
salads starts the menu (the Vermont Goat Cheese Croquets, served with Stewed
Apricots, Kalamata Olives, Watercress and Fennel Seed merit serious
consideration), followed by an impressive Charcuterie of assorted meats,
sausages and terrines, available in a small or large portion, continues with a
staggering nine selections of local Vermont cheeses, served with local raw
honey, stone fruit chutney, toasted walnuts and fresh bread, all sourced from
Vermont farms, creameries and cheese makers.
“We’re one of forty Destination Hotels located all over the
United States, and I’m proud to say that here at Solstice, we have the largest
cheese selection,” boasts Chef Berry, another graduate of The Balsam’s Chef
Apprentice Program who went on to serve as executive chef there for three
years.
Diners at Solstice custom design entrees by first deciding
whether they want one that is braised and sautéed (such as their signature
Truffled Beef Pot Roast) or stone oven roasted (local cod, duck breast, baked
stuffed mountain trout or scallops) or grilled (prime cuts of beef and Shetland
salmon). Once that decision is made, they have the option of adding a flavor enhancements
such as truffle, lobster, foie gras, crab, shrimp or blue cheese and equally
important, and choosing from a wide selection of side dishes, that includes Truffled
Mac and Vermont cheese, baked or Whipped Potatoes to Braised Red Cabbage,
Confit of Wild Mushrooms and Caramelized Root Vegetables.
A Chef’s Signature item, a winter-hearty dish of Spiced Local
Venison Medallions; a Friday-through- Saturday Queen- or King-cut of Slow Roast
Prime Rib of Beef; specials such as a Braised Lamb Shank served with Creamy
Polenta, Gremolata and Braising Jus; Vegan and Pasta items round out the winter
wonderful menu.
“The heart of my culinary style is seasonal and local so
that diners may experience a taste of northern Vermont and New England. I use a
lot of regional ingredients and prepare them with a twist, such as the New
England staple, pot roast, an old recipe I transform when I add the truffles
from Italy.”
Vermont, Off the
Mountain
Michael Kloeti,
Michael’s on the Hill, Waterbury, Vermont
~In Waterbury Center, at the rim of snow-blessed Stowe,
Vermont, Chef Michael Kloeti and his wife, Laura, preside over Michael's on the
Hill Restaurant, a hill top restaurant with views of the Green Mountains,
purchased ten years ago, now an acclaimed bastion of European comfort food.
Like the Oxford House Inn and Sugar Hill Inn, the pair’s
1820 farmhouse with barn 85-seat restaurant, and newly renovated lounge, is often recommended by other
top chefs and lauded by exacting food bloggers. It’s also sanctioned many times
by other more conventional bestowers of greatness: Vermont
Restaurateurs, Vermont's First Chef of the Year award, Sante Magazine Restaurant Award, Wine Spectator Award of
Excellence, First Certified Green Restaurant in the Green
Mountain State.
For Michael, MOTH represents a
coalescence of his Swiss heritage, landscape and culinary roots, follows a top
notch career at several dream destinations – the four star Lespinasse in New
York City, the Lodge at Koele in Lanaii, Hawaii and the St. Regis Hotel in
Manhattan – and ultimately, offered an escape hatch from the corporate bottom
line ethos that dominates many urban food empires.
“To me, winter is all about eating more
and comfort foods and nothing is more comforting than food you can serve in a
bowl. I make a lamb stew, served with locally-made Nitty Gritty polenta that
has a vein of red wine in it, like beef bourguignon. Winter food is not
necessarily heavy, it can be very refreshing. I can still remember the venison
stew my mother made with red wine braised cabbage and spaetzle.” says the chef,
who recently completed another guest stint aboard Holland America Cruise lines
on an Asian/Pacific journey.
“Diners camp out for a savored experience in
one of the four dining rooms: The Porch with its wall of windows, the Barn with
its exposed frames and wood prints from Switzerland, the Bar or the Trout Room.
I would describe it as casual, but then the tables wear nice table cloths.”
Growing up on a farm, Michael
absorbed a local, fresh, sustainable and seasonal way of gathering and
preparing food he still abides. “It’s hard for me and the trout farmer to know
just how many fish he has so it will come off the menu as the supply dwindles.”
Venison was recently replaced with a Lamb Navarin dish on the entrée menu which
also includes a skillet chicken, beef tenderloin, Maplewood smoked pork loin,
an herb butter poached Maine lobster, a gnocchi dish and roast Atlantic char.
Menus may change more than once in a season. “I run this place by our own rules
and policies, so I choose to pay more for local provisions. It has more to do
with high chef and customer satisfaction than the numbers.”
Maine, On the
Mountain
Featuring: Executive Chef Chad Davidowicz, Sunday River
Ski Area & Resort, Newry, Maine www.sundayriver.com
As executive chef of several eateries serving skiers a
variety of cuisine during their time on the eight peaks at Sunday River Ski
Area & Resort in Newry, Chad Davidowicz, with his delegation of managers
and assistants, operate three daytime cafeterias, five restaurants at two slope
side grand resort hotels, (the Grand Summit and Jordan Grand) plus a popular
nightspot called The Foggy Goggle at Southridge.
The offerings vary, from family friendly cuisine at Grand
Summit’s Legends Restaurant and Moonstruck Café and the upscale pub food at
Jordan Grand’s Sliders to the on-the-go, lunchtime cafeteria buffets for skiers
eager to refuel. For those seeking fine dining, Chef Davidowicz recommends the
100-seat restaurant, Dining at the Peak, “a place on top of the mountain, on
top of the world.”
Normally reserved for winter-time Saturday evenings
beginning in mid-December to coincide with Winter Fest, Dining at the Peak patrons
“take the gondola ride up to the summit of North Peak where they’re greeted
with a blanket and met at the door with a glass of champagne, followed by a
four-course, sit-down dinner. During the day, Peak is a bustling skiers’
cafeteria, but on special days we transform it into a restaurant so that
someone who had chowder or chili for lunch may return at night for finer
dining.”
Last winter, the Peak’s four-courses included a soup course
of Truffled Cream of Mushroom Soup with Duck Confit garnish as well as Lobster
Bisque; artfully composed Baby Spinach and Gathered Greens salads; varied
entrees such as Veal Chop Oscar, Seared Free Range Chicken Breast, Tenderloin,
Seared Diver Scallops, and Honey Poached Gnocchi and sweet finishes of a
classic Crème Brulee with sugared berries and a Chambourd Ganache
Cheesecake.
“I tend to lean toward the French influence in the dishes I
create or cook, but I’m also a huge fan of Italian and South West cuisines,”
shares Davidowicz, who oversees other wildly popular culinary happenings --
Moonlight Dinners in summer, staged during full moon cycles, featuring live
music and buffet style service. “At the Peak, we try to create an atmosphere
that tells patrons ‘everything was made just for you.’”
This winter, Peak dinners are scheduled for special times, such
as Winter Fest, New Year’s, and at on other occasions, with overarching themes
such as Wine Dinners or a dinner featuring French cuisine.
“We’re always looking to satisfy our customer base, and to
that end we alter and add things, such as adding a tasting menu at the Jordan
Grand,” says the Balsam’s Chef Apprentice Program graduate who stayed on at the famed resort destination as
sous chef before taking a position at Sunday River, first as executive sous
chef and four years ago, as executive chef.
Maine, Off the
Mountain
Chef Jonathan
Spak, Oxford House Inn, Fryeburg, Maine
~Since 2007, Chef Jonathan Spak and his wife, Natalie, have
welcomed guests at The Oxford House Inn in Fryeburg, Maine, right next door to
North Conway, NH and the ski-centric Mt. Washington Valley, as innkeepers of
their four guestroom inn and 70-seat restaurant, both highly praised by the
likes of Downeast and Yankee magazines.
A Connecticut native, Jonathan trained at the Culinary
Institute flagship campus at Hyde Park, NY, and more than a decade later left a
perfectly fine job at a conference center in West Cornwall, Conn., after a
vacation in North Conway, to preside over the Oxford House Inn, a Mission Style
house built in 1913 by famed architect John Calvin Stevens.
Describing his culinary sweet spot as Contemporary American,
the one-time apprentice with CIA-trained French chef, Gerard Coyac at Le
Marmiton (Little Kitchen Boy) in the northern reaches of the Constitution
State, explains: “I draw on traditional flavors and make them my own by
breaking them down or reinventing the components.” Diners will find a hybrid
menu melding the Inn’s pub and dining room offerings, from smaller bistro
dishes to the more robust fine dining entrees.
Four separate dining rooms set the alpine tone– a fireplace
and a large bay window dominate the Front Parlor; the Middle Room features a
more formal atmosphere; three walls of windows on the Back Porch let in
sweeping views of the eastern edge of the White Mountains (Kearsarge, Black
Cap, Bald Face and the Twins) and lastly, Jonathan’s Pub beckons with an
entirely distinct atmosphere all its own.
Patrons flock to sample Jonathan’s Bangs Island mussel dish
and local brews on Thursday evenings in the darker months. “It’s called Pint
and a Pound: You get a
pint of beer, currently Geary's Pale Ale or Moat Mountain Brown, crafted in
North Conway, on tap, or a glass of wine or bottled beer with a pound of
mussels or clams in one of five different preparations. Currently we offer
yellow curry with potatoes, apples, raisins and coconut milk; pesto, roasted
tomato, pine nut & chardonnay; chorizo, sweet potato, roasted corn and
Corona; smoked bacon, English pea, cream and sage and our traditional with
garlic, chardonnay, pepper flakes and butter. This weekly special has taken a life of its own.”
A sampling of the winter menu (entrees include braised lamb
shank, a cider-brined pork tenderloin, cornmeal crusted rainbow trout and a
grilled filet mignon) and specials (a braised beef short rib and potato tart
with roast root vegetables and rosemary gratin) reveal an inventive
orchestration of cooking technique and seasonal provisions.
Never forgetting the importance of a sweet finish, Spak
touts the caramel cheese cake with Grand Marnier citrus salad. “We use at least
six different citruses, no lemon or lime, in the salad and a slightly
thickened, uncooked Grand Marnier. ~
New Hampshire, On the
Mountain
Chef Matthew
Holland, Seasons Restaurant, Mountain Club on Loon Resort & Spa, Lincoln,
NH
On the heels of a $9 million renovation at the Mountain Club
on Loon Mountain Resort & Spa in Lincoln, Chef Matthew Holland launches
Seasons Restaurant, formerly Rachel’s Restaurant, at Christmas for fine dining dinner
service, featuring the very best New England or “indigenous” cuisine tapping
local/sustainable food sources.
“When I think of winter fare, I think of root vegetables,
onions, seafood such as lobster and scallops which are at their very best this
time of year, braised items, pork and heartier cuts of beef,” says the chef
from Twin Mountain who worked at his family’s restaurant before signing on, at
16, at the Mt. Washington Hotel to work with Chef Val Fortin (now the executive
chef at the Sugar Hill Inn) where he attained the position of executive sous
chef. He later completed a chef apprenticeship
at the Balsam’s Grand Resort’s prestigious program, where he worked as the
executive pastry chef and also worked as executive chef at Bonta, in Hampton,
NH.
At Seasons, Chef Matthew’s proffers a refined dining
experience, “to give our patrons more options. We’ll have linens on the tables,
but we won’t be fussy or pretentious. We also have the flexibility of creating
cuisine for two dining venues. Black Diamond Bar & Grille at the Mountain
Club features more casual surroundings and fare, and with a fantastic group of
culinarians in the kitchen, we strive to serve great, consistent food at a
great value, from casual to more upscale.
Seasons at the Mountain Club on Loon features regional New
England cuisine “focusing on the finest of seasonal, local and sustainable
ingredients found in our fantastic soups, stews, breads, braised items, grains
and produce so prominent in our fall and early winter harvests. Our focus at
Seasons allows diners a more formal dining option with respect to the menu
items and top-notch service, but executed in a casual, relaxed atmosphere.”
New Hampshire, Off
the Mountain
Chef Val Fortin,
Sugar Hill Inn, Sugar Hill, NH
~The comfortable, sophisticated guest rooms and cottages at
the Sugar Hill Inn, taken together with its Euro-upscale 25-seat dining room
have earned this oasis in New Hampshire’s White Mountains impressive accolades:
multiple DiRoNA Achievement of
Distinction in Dining awards; a Distinguished Inn of North America recognition
from Select Registry and a Wine Spectator
Award of Excellence.
Executive Chef and New Hampshire native, Val Fortin, joined
owner Steve Allen’s team in 2006 when Allen purchased the inn minutes away from
Cannon Mountain, Bretton Woods and Attitash, and began restorations. The
self-taught chef worked his way up from dishwasher to chef, including a long
stint at the Mount Washington Hotel and as chef in private hotels and clubs in
Florida and Cape Cod.”
Fortin ’s passion
for Creative Cuisine, a fusion of international flavors (think herbed spaetzle,
Italian bread soup), as well as his “made from scratch” credo and adherence to
local and sustainable food philosophies, surfaces all over the four course prix
fixe winter menu.
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“The food here
tends to be inventive, creative, passionate and comforting. For those diners
who are a little more adventurous you may even see a little molecular
gastronomy on the menu.” He forages for local food sources at the co-op in
Littleton and works with local farmers including the Walker Hill Farm in
Lisbon, where he gets all his heirloom tomatoes.
Dinner guests may
decide on one of Val’s signature dishes, the horseradish crusted filet mignon
of beef tenderloin set atop a scallion and fresh herb potato cake served with a
parsley lemon butter and red wine braised shallots or the red wine slow braised
beef short ribs with smashed winter root vegetables and fingerling potatoes
served with a sauce from it’s own braising liquid. His trio of soups deliver of
winter’s essence: a winter squash medley, a broccoli and gruyere combo, almost
a fondue, and a heaven-scented potage of mushroom and truffle.
“The pan seared
quail breast, served medium rare, and the crispy leg, served with a house made
wild mushroom ravioli, crisp prosciutto and wild mushroom and truffle broth is
a great beginning to your dining experience. The wild mushroom and truffle
broth is served table side so as to get the full aroma of the broth. The
tasting of duck is an inn favorite with pan seared duck breast, confit of leg
and foie gras ravioli served with whipped gingered sweet potato, French
haricots verts, baby white turnips and a lingonberry gastrique.” Trout, lamb and truffle béchamel mac and
cheese dishes round out the entrée offerings.
Desserts are
homemade, decadent, beautifully presented. If the homemade ice creams, mini
pistachio and pecan whoopie pie (with a orange and Vermont
goat cheese filling finished with a salted caramel sauce) or a petite German
chocolate cake scented with a touch of espresso (finished with a homemade
vanilla bean ice cream and a Tuckerman’s ale chocolate sauce) doesn’t quite fit
the bill, then perhaps Val’s handmade bittersweet chocolate and pomegranate
laced truffle will.~
On the Mountain Alpine Chefs
in this post were profiled in the December issue of Northeast Flavor Magazine;
profiles of Alpine Chefs Off the Mountain were written as a Web Extra for
Northeast Flavor Magazine. Both articles have been combined here by the writer.
