We spent the day driving south from Roanoke on the Blue Ridge Parkway and turned west to head over to the Great Smoky Mountains and Walland, about 45 minutes southeast of Knoxville where Relais et Chateaux boasts two amazing sister resorts, Blackberry Farm and the newer Blackberry Mountain, where we are now for three days. We headed down to the lodge from our magnificent cabin(check out the video on Facebook) to dine at the main restaurant called THREE SISTERS. There's a huge terrace and windows overlooking the majestic Great Smoky Mountains and we had a bird's eye view of the peaks as the sun set. The menu is quite varied and offers many choices, even for Samuel, who has renewed his pledge to be a vegetarian. We had drinks in the lounge beforehand and Will loved his Margarita but I ventured into the unknown with a Penicillin made of Monkey Shoulder Blended Scotch(one I know and love well) with ginger ale, lemon juice and Laphroaig 10-year spritz and loved it. The dining room has both indoor and outdoor seating and we asked for outdoors as it was in the 70's and absolutely gorgeous; not a bug in site either. The wooden tables give a rustic feel, but the dining experiences oozes fine dining with Spigelau crystal and excellent service. Our servers Bob & Ryan were superb and we soon found out Ryan and his wife both had recently left DC and worked with Chef Eric Zieboldt at Kinship; his wife was on their pastry team! What a small world. We ordered some wine from Halee and were thrilled with the huge list, even if many of the prices are insanely prohibitive. An Xavier Gerard 2017 l'Arbuel Condrieu from the Rhone was a dream of mineral and fruit and went superbly with the starter we ALL decided on: Green Tomato Carpaccio with Blueberry Capers, Seeded Croutons & Creme Fraiche(all fotos on FB) which was a novel take on the old tomato salad. We are excited to go back again tonight to try more different dishes(tomorrow we eat at the other restaurant called FireTower.It did seem to take forever to get the wine brought, but it was amazing as was our red, a Mas Martinet 2012 "Els Escurcons" Garnacha from Priorat in Spain that was earthy and superb with my main course of pork.Sourdough multi grain rolls came with house butter that we all raved about.As we sat, a gent at the next table (who I had seen in the lounge, but only from the rear as I spotted his yarmulke--not something you expect here) came over and said hi. It was Hilel from our farmer's market in Bethesda several years ago who had sold meat, jerky, and more with his brother Chaim--the purveyors of the famous kosher lamb bacon. He and his wife of a day were on their honeymoon!!! Smaller world!
The next course was a Sweet Corn Soup with Pickled Summer Vegetables, Cucumber and Espelette for Sam, Roasted Heirloom Squash, Buttermilk Ricotta, Lavender & Squash Jam for Madeleine, a Soft Cooked Farm Egg with Guinea Hen Jus, Cherry Tomatoes, Pickled Green Tomatoes and Urfa Biber for Will while I adored my Virginia Little Neck Clams with Pimento Verde, a tad of fennel and Herbed Grilled Bread-great for the clam juice mop up.The third course was even more impressive with a huge portion of Paprika Roasted Cauliflower with Cauliflower Puree, toasted almonds & summer herbs that got raves. Madeleine loved the Wood Grilled Beef Tenderloin with charred cabbage, olive oil potatoes, bone marrow and horseradish, while Will raved on his Seed Crusted Mountain(local) Trout with Short Grain Brown Rice, Bok Choy & BBQ Trout Sauce. My Wood Grilled Pork Loin was as juicy as could be and came with a Birch Glaze, Peanuts(and a pesto of peanuts), preserved vegetables & charred mustard greens as well as a "surprise" pork rib that was crusty crunchy yummy.All happy we could not resist the (included) desserts: Will went for the Blueberry Lime Tart with Buttermilk Ice Cream & Basil Buds, Madeleine chose the Shagbark Hickory Affogato with Sorghum Caramel Popcorn & Brown Butter Blondie. While Sam did not order anything, they sent the Three Layer Chocolate Tart with candied cocoa nibs and I adored the amazing Blackberry Farm Hawkins Haze Cheese(sheep) with wine poached fruit, honeyed nuts and lavosh that was super and I could have eaten all night. After dinner the "team" took us in one of the many Lexus 4wheel drives back to our cabin where a fire flamed on the screen porch and we were ready to make some smores with marshmallows, graham cracker and Hershey bars provided. This was heaven..and we had a Pinot Noir we brought from home to boot.First night--A BIG WIN and can't wait for more.....
We spent the day driving south from Roanoke on the Blue Ridge Parkway and turned west to head over to the Great Smoky Mountains and Walland, about 45 minutes southeast of Knoxville where Relais et Chateaux boasts two amazing sister resorts, Blackberry Farm and the newer Blackberry Mountain, where we are now for three days. We headed down to the lodge from our magnificent cabin(check out the video on Facebook) to dine at the main restaurant called THREE SISTERS. There's a huge terrace and windows overlooking the majestic Great Smoky Mountains and we had a bird's eye view of the peaks as the sun set. The menu is quite varied and offers many choices, even for Samuel, who has renewed his pledge to be a vegetarian. We had drinks in the lounge beforehand and Will loved his Margarita but I ventured into the unknown with a Penicillin made of Monkey Shoulder Blended Scotch(one I know and love well) with ginger ale, lemon juice and Laphroaig 10-year spritz and loved it. The dining room has both indoor and outdoor seating and we asked for outdoors as it was in the 70's and absolutely gorgeous; not a bug in site either. The wooden tables give a rustic feel, but the dining experiences oozes fine dining with Spigelau crystal and excellent service.
Our servers Bob & Ryan were superb and we soon found out Ryan and his wife both had recently left DC and worked with Chef Eric Zieboldt at Kinship; his wife was on their pastry team! What a small world. We ordered some wine from Halee and were thrilled with the huge list, even if many of the prices are insanely prohibitive. An Xavier Gerard 2017 l'Arbuel Condrieu from the Rhone was a dream of mineral and fruit and went superbly with the starter we ALL decided on: Green Tomato Carpaccio with Blueberry Capers, Seeded Croutons & Creme Fraiche(all fotos on FB) which was a novel take on the old tomato salad. We are excited to go back again tonight to try more different dishes(tomorrow we eat at the other restaurant called FireTower.
It did seem to take forever to get the wine brought, but it was amazing as was our red, a Mas Martinet 2012 "Els Escurcons" Garnacha from Priorat in Spain that was earthy and superb with my main course of pork.
Sourdough multi grain rolls came with house butter that we all raved about.
As we sat, a gent at the next table (who I had seen in the lounge, but only from the rear as I spotted his yarmulke--not something you expect here) came over and said hi. It was Hilel from our farmer's market in Bethesda several years ago who had sold meat, jerky, and more with his brother Chaim--the purveyors of the famous kosher lamb bacon. He and his wife of a day were on their honeymoon!!! Smaller world!
The next course was a Sweet Corn Soup with Pickled Summer Vegetables, Cucumber and Espelette for Sam, Roasted Heirloom Squash, Buttermilk Ricotta, Lavender & Squash Jam for Madeleine, a Soft Cooked Farm Egg with Guinea Hen Jus, Cherry Tomatoes, Pickled Green Tomatoes and Urfa Biber for Will while I adored my Virginia Little Neck Clams with Pimento Verde, a tad of fennel and Herbed Grilled Bread-great for the clam juice mop up.
The third course was even more impressive with a huge portion of Paprika Roasted Cauliflower with Cauliflower Puree, toasted almonds & summer herbs that got raves. Madeleine loved the Wood Grilled Beef Tenderloin with charred cabbage, olive oil potatoes, bone marrow and horseradish, while Will raved on his Seed Crusted Mountain(local) Trout with Short Grain Brown Rice, Bok Choy & BBQ Trout Sauce. My Wood Grilled Pork Loin was as juicy as could be and came with a Birch Glaze, Peanuts(and a pesto of peanuts), preserved vegetables & charred mustard greens as well as a "surprise" pork rib that was crusty crunchy yummy.
All happy we could not resist the (included) desserts: Will went for the Blueberry Lime Tart with Buttermilk Ice Cream & Basil Buds, Madeleine chose the Shagbark Hickory Affogato with Sorghum Caramel Popcorn & Brown Butter Blondie. While Sam did not order anything, they sent the Three Layer Chocolate Tart with candied cocoa nibs and I adored the amazing Blackberry Farm Hawkins Haze Cheese(sheep) with wine poached fruit, honeyed nuts and lavosh that was super and I could have eaten all night.
After dinner the "team" took us in one of the many Lexus 4wheel drives back to our cabin where a fire flamed on the screen porch and we were ready to make some smores with marshmallows, graham cracker and Hershey bars provided. This was heaven..and we had a Pinot Noir we brought from home to boot.
First night--A BIG WIN and can't wait for more.....
