Goodstone Inn and Estate Hosts Wine Pairing Dinner Series

Cheri Calvert, Weston A. Price Board member asked me to be her guest at a very special wine pairing dinner party held at a beautiful Middleburg, Virginia estate, the Goodstone Inn.
This estate, once a family property, is now a bed and breakfast inn and gourmet restaurant owned by a Washington entrepreneur. This 265 acres of rolling hills, grazing cattle and historical outbuildings, now turned into elegant guest accommodations reminds me very much of Twin Farms in Vermont. It oozes country charm yet is the height of opulence.

Carriage House at the Goodstone Inn

Our nouvelle cuisine dinner was comprised of 6 meat-centered courses, 7 if you count the amazing spread of  Charcuterie on the antique hand carved sideboard served before dinner in the Carriage House anteroom. The large platter offered up cotichino soppresatta (old style salami flavored with red wine and pork skin), lonzino (cured pork loin with garlic and wine), Fennochiona (salami with loads of fennel). Chef Justin Severino was the guest chef for the event, and the preserving of meats using traditional fermentation and preservation methods is one of his specialties. He also shared with us pepperoni made from his great, great, great grandfather’s recipe. My favorite was the Spanish chorizo, made with beef heart and pork fat.

Chef Justin Severino with his Charcuterie

Justin was recruited by Sandy Lerner of Ayrshire farms to manage the farm’s Home Farm Store in Middleburg. Ayrshire Farms is working to preserve heritage livestock breeds. Justin is master sausage maker and head butcher for the Home Farm Store.  All the humanely raised meats served at the dinner were sourced from Ayrshire Farms, giving Justin a chance to showcase his product, as well as his skill in the kitchen.

Head Chef Tarver King Plating the Entree

The head Chef at the Goodstone Inn, Tarver King, is perhaps the most inventive chef I have ever met. He is sourcing many of the ingredients right from the Inn property itself, poultry, beef, lamb and pigs are raised there on site. Tarver is so adventuresome he even forages in the wild on the property for edible ingredients to add to his offerings. He told us about a recent experiment with spruce leaves from their woods, which he used to flavor a sorbet! Tarver calls his cooking style, “progressive farm to table dining.” When he teamed up with Justin for this event, magic absolutely happened.

Vitello Tonnatto

I am not a professional food critic, by any stretch, and I won’t be detailing every course of the meal. But I do want to tell you about the highlights of the meal. The first course was Justin’s take on a vitello tonnatto–a classic veal with tuna sauce. His version, was a sushi style tuna wrapped in veal, with puree of green garlic, potato foam and a chorizo, tuna, garlic and lemon sauce.

The second course was a carmelized chicken liver pate, where a light and creamy mousse of liver was covered in a hard crack caramel shell, with a dollop of almond foam, both were smoked with hay and served with endive marmalade. A unique dish unlike any I have ever experienced.

Carmelized Chicken Liver Pate

Sizzling Steak on River Rock

The peak experience of the event was the interactive main course. Our beef steaks came out of the kitchen raw, paired with a hot rock on a bed of salt. We all laughed when we heard the rocks came from Goose Creek which flows through the Goodstone property. The diners were then instructed to cook their own meat on the hot rock, which had been heated at 400@ for about 4 hours. We all sat amazed, as our steaks sizzled and sent steam shooting up right at our place. A yin and yang drizzle of two dipping sauces and one beautiful carrot decorated the plate.

The dessert course was a ham and apple tart, served with a savory hay smoked vanilla ice cream. We asked Tarver, “How in the world do you smoke ice cream?” He told us his method was to smoke the vanilla beans, and then add them to the ice cream batter. Apparently, smoking with hay is a longstanding European tradition that the early settlers taught to the American Indians!  How can I have lived so long without ever experiencing this fascinating flavor?

Ham and Apple Tart, Hay Smoked Ice Cream

Each course was paired with a different wine, we had everything from white to rose to red, even champagne. Being a red wine lover, I really appreciated being introduced to a Chilean wine called Kuyen, a biodynamic wine from Chile.

Dining at restaurants like Goodstone, is a vote for all things local and sustainable. All I can say is, I can’t wait to go back to the Goodstone Inn!

The Goodstone Inn is open for dinner Wednesday-Sunday 6:00pm-9:00pm. To learn about upcoming wine pairing dinner events, visit the Goodstone Inn website.
To keep up with Tarver King’s latest forays into new and traditional foods, please visit the Goodstone blog.
For more information about Ayrshire Farms humanely raised meats and Justin Severino’s specialty meats visit the Home Farm Store website.

Dining Room at the Carriage House