When I made dinner reservations at the Worthington Inn and Café (Four Corners Farm, Worthington, 238-4441), chef/owner Deb Shaw – who didn’t know me, and didn’t know that I would be writing about her place – wanted to chat about what I knew about the inn, what I wanted to eat, etc. I had to change the reservation several times, as dinner companions dropped out or were added. Each time, Shaw was curious about the people she would be cooking for.
When we arrived on a Saturday night, with five adults and two children in tow, we were seated in the dining room at a long tavern-style table. Everyone else was out on the porch. “Usually we put people outside and let them come in around dusk if the mosquitoes are bad. We tried to fit you on the porch, but it didn’t work,” Kim, our waitress (and Deb’s sister), explained apologetically. Hannah, the mother of the children in our party, assured her this was better, since she worries about disturbing others with the enthusiasms of Violet, her 4-year-old. Violet’s 8-month-old sister, Eve, usually sleeps through dinner.
Kim brought over the menu, a 4-foot high blackboard, and leaned it against a chair. There were five offerings that evening and five of us, so we ordered one of each. For Violet, Kim said she’d ask the chef to make a grilled cheese sandwich or some other kid-friendly meal. The Worthington Inn is BYOB, and we were offered a set of wine glasses and a corkscrew, plus a beer glass for the lone beer-drinker in our group.
The inn, a converted farmhouse built in 1780, is furnished in classic New England style, and it was pleasant to be in the dining room, listening to jazz standards on a CD player. Violet sat at one end of the table, drawing assiduously while the rest of us tucked into a salad served family-style. The salad, torn romaine lettuce, chickpeas, diced bell peppers and red onions, was dressed with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette and served with warm sourdough bread.
Dining out while on the job involves a lot of sharing of plates, and when our entrees arrived (all accompanied by haricots verts) we passed them around. We each settled on a different favorite. I liked the two thick pork chops, served with a sauce that was richly flavored with apricots and rosemary. Another diner in our party favored the salmon filet cooked with ginger glaze and served with a cilantro pesto and rice. Cooked shrimp on onion-corn risotto were devoured immediately, and a filet mignon with mushrooms and a compound butter came medium rare as requested and lasted about as long as the shrimp did. But the standout, we agreed, was the duck confit. The dish is made from a leg of duck simmered in duck fat, but it arrived crisp and not at all greasy, accompanied by a dark sauce and a rice and plum tart that disappeared quickly as we sent it down the table.
Everything disappeared quickly, in fact. We left nothing on our plates except for some pork bones and shrimp tails.
Violet’s grilled cheese, by the way, was made from Gruyere. She ate three bites, leaving the rest of us to scarf down the remainder.
When a server asks me if I have room for dessert, I always do: It’s one of the duties of this job. We ordered a blueberry crème brûlée, a chocolate torte, a flan and two coffees. The coffee – and it was good coffee – arrived family-style in the largest French press I’ve ever seen. Among the desserts, the standout was the crème brûlée, which came topped with a quarter-inch of caramelized sugar.
Deb Shaw and her husband Joe, have run the Worthington Inn as a B and B for more than 20 years. It was only last summer, however, that Shaw decided to offer dinners. She works as a freelance graphic artist in New York, and she says that after going back and forth to the city, cooking has become a way to relax. She gained most of her culinary experience growing up in a large family. “There were seven children and I was near the top,” she says, “so I got nabbed to cook.” She has a good palate and is interested in food.
During our initial conversation, after learning I was from Amherst, she asked about restaurants in that area. I recommended one that serves French-style fare, and when I called after our dinner for a brief conversation, Shaw had already eaten there and was eager to talk about the food.
Worthington is something of a drive from, well, pretty much everywhere, but the Worthington Inn and Café is worth the trip. The grounds are nicely kept and dinner on the porch will still be pleasant for another few weeks at least. Dinner is served on Friday and Saturday nights only and a reservation is requested. The restaurant does not take credit cards, so make sure to bring cash or a check. Dinners range from $21 to $28, and desserts are $5.
Thanks to reader Darlene Millman, whose recommendation sparked the visit.
If you find yourself in Worthington on a weeknight, I’d recommend another treasure, LISTONS BAR AND GRILL on Old North Road (238-5353). In the 1950s it was a gas station and today it’s a roadhouse, with a bar, TVs and a dining room. Great hamburgers and, if you arrive on a Thursday, liver and onions: a thin slab of beef liver, expertly cooked with plenty of sautéed onions, brown gravy and mashed potatoes.
Originally printed, Daily Hampshire Gazette, Friday, September 5, 2008
