Fogelsville: Glasbern Inn (March 2016)



My spouse and I dined at the Glasbern for a late lunch on Easter Sunday in late March 2016. The Glasbern’s main restaurant is open for dinner daily. (Breakfast is available for guests of the Inn only.) The Inn also operates a less formal Pub, but we are unsure of those opening times or whether non-hotel guests can dine there currently. (We ate in the Pub a few years ago as non-hotel guests on a Friday night.) We have eaten at the Glasbern several times over the past 15+ years.

The Glasbern Inn is a bed and breakfast located in Fogelsville, easily accessible from Routes 22/78 yet in a beautiful country setting that seems far from the urban sprawl. The property spans 150 acres and includes many different lodging options in various types of buildings, a fine dining restaurant and a more casual pub, walking trails, meeting rooms/event spaces, a spa and fitness center, and an outdoor pool. This review details our dining experience in the main restaurant/dining room, which features 28-foot cathedral ceilings, rustic fieldstone walls, and exposed original beams. Dining is available at tables or at two-person booths. A private dining room is available adjacent to the main dining area.

On Easter Sunday, the restaurant was serving only a 4-course prix fixe menu for $75 per person (which included gratuity). Generally, we do not care for set menus, but when we read the regular menu on the restaurant’s website, the offerings and prices were similar to the prix fixe menu, so we did not feel as if we were sacrificing choice or quality to dine from their holiday menu. The menu offered four options for each course. As our first course, we chose the foie gras and chicken liver (which was served in a ramekin as a mousse topped with geleed fruit and microgreens, accompanied by two thick slices of toasted bread) and the cheese plate (which included four generous slices of different cheeses, along with some raisin walnut bread, toasted candied pecans, red grape halves, and cranberry pieces). As our second courses, we chose the Glasbern salad (which included crumbled bleu cheese, Granny Smith apple slices, and candied walnuts) and the grits (topped with pulled pork shoulder and accompanied by a soft-boiled egg; however, the egg yolk was a bit overcooked because, when we broke it, it did not “ooze” onto the grits and pork as probably intended). As entrees, we ordered the duck breast (accompanied by fingerling potatoes, blood oranges, and a vegetable medley) and the halibut (served atop cous cous and fava beans). The plating of the duck breast was amazingly beautiful and artistic, but we did not see those same flourishes with any other dishes or courses. For dessert, we ordered the bread pudding (served with a scoop of ice cream) and the carrot cake (two layers with a cream cheese icing studded with crumbled pistachio nuts). As we perused the menu, our server delivered a basket with two kinds of bread, which we dipped into olive oil that contained two kinds of salt, some garlic paste/spread, and a tiny sprig of rosemary.

We had a good holiday meal at the Glasbern; the food was tasty and the service was attentive, and the atmosphere of the property and the main dining are lovely and special.









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