Fossett's at Keswick Hall

If I could do restaurant week over again (and you better believe I'm going to in about 6 months...), I would have skipped over C&O altogether and eaten at Fossett's 7 nights in a row.  What can I say? I never knew that food could taste like this.  Creamy, rich, deeply satisfying.....yummmmm.  

Keswick Hall is a beautiful hotel, spa, and golf course a few minutes outside of Charlottesville.  Fossett's is one of its restaurants, and offers a gorgeous view of the golf courses and mountains.  The last time T and I came was in January, and by the time our dinner reservation rolled around, it was unfortunately already too dark to really see well outside.  Luckily we got a great view of the sunset during our dinner.  This is the front courtyard...

And here is our view of the grounds from our dinner table - sorry for the funny glass reflection.  Most of what you see here is the golf course. Aren't these little chairs cute?

Check out Sam's Blue Light Grill Restaurant Week experience here!

Keep reading about Fossett's!



They were offering $26 bottles of wine, but since we were both driving and working the next day, we opted for glasses of beer instead.  The waitress was very nice, but I don't think she really knew anything about beer :)  The only 2 selections they had were the Rockfish Wheat (from our very own local Blue Mountain Brewery) and a "Monticello Ale", which she described as being a summery beer.....and as being very yellow.  I think she described it as being "very yellow" at least 6 more times.  I don't really know what implications color has on flavor, but...... there you have it.  Monticello Ale is very yellow.  We ordered one of each, but ended up getting served 2 Rockfish Wheat's because the other ran out.  Has anyone else had the experience that if the bar doesn't have what you want, they take the liberty of bringing you something else without first asking?  I didn't mind the switch, but if I did, I would have felt pretty awkward telling them "no, please bring me something different to drink even though you already poured me a glass and are probably going to throw it away if I don't want it".

Anyhow, for an appetizer, T started with the smoked Culpeper lamb trofie with tomato ragu, rosemary, and pecorino cheese, served over (gemelli?) pasta.  He loved it.  The lamb was almost shredded, and the typical lamb-y taste was so mild it almost tasted like pork.  The tomato ragu was very good and slightly sweet.  I thought it was almost a little too similar to barbecue sauce, but he didn't seem to mind.  I assume the pasta was handmade, and was just smothered in pecorino.  Do you have any idea how much I love cheese?  One of these days I'm going to write a book about cheese.

I had the tuna crudo, which was served with ginger, mint, jalapeno aioli, and a delightfully crispy toasted baguette.  I wonder why the slices were alternatingly dark pink and light - was the light colored fish actually a different kind?  This was probably my favorite part of the entire meal.  It was obviously served cold, and the sauces complemented the freshness of the fish so well.  The ginger and mint notes were definitely detectable, but still very mild.  You had to pause to be able to "put your finger" on what flavors you were tasting, but in a good way since the fish was also so mild tasting.

For our entrees, I ordered the cioppino with shrimp, scallop, mussels, and saffron rouille toast.  This is where the pictures start to get a little dark.  I was not about to start setting off camera flashes in the restaurants, but was still desperate enough to try with just a high iso setting and elbows stabilized on the table.  The cioppino was great.  The seafood was all cooked perfectly, and was super tender and fresh.  I had a spoon on hand, and greedily drank up all the broth.  T also dug in with some rosemary foccacia that was served in a bread basket.

 

 

T had ordered strip loin of beef on the plancha (aka on the grill) with horseradish butter, garlic chips, grilled mushrooms, and kecap manis, a sweet soy sauce. The steak was cooked perfectly medium rare, and there was also a nice surprise of creamy grits and warm cherry tomatoes.  This plate was also scraped pretty darn clean!

Service was taking a little longer that we had expected, and the sun quickly set.  Dear reader, this is important for you to know because it made it impossible for me to get pictures of our dessert course.  I will still try to describe them with justice....T ordered the coffee creme brulee with pistachio beignets.  The brulee had more of a mousse than "creme" texture, and was not overwhelmingly sweet.  The crispy crunchy caramelized layer we all love on creme brulee was paper thin and delicious.  I thought the pistachio beignets were a random pairing with the creme brulee, and while T like them a lot, I thought they were just pretty good.  I think I expected the texture to be more light and airy, where they were actually denser and more cake-like.  I ordered a lemon curd tart with a fresh blackberry reduction in an attempt to "eat something lighter" at the end of the meal.  The lemon curd was everything I love about citrus-y desserts...tangy, sweet, and summery.  The blackberries were also perfectly ripe and sweet. 

Overall, we thought that this restaurant experience was a 9/10.  Fancy, fun&creative, beautiful, but most importantly, delicious, we will definitely be going back as soon as we can.  During restaurant week when it's practically on sale, I mean.