They are renowned for the excellence and uniqueness of their cuisine ... and now some of the best Bed and Breakfast inns in the U.S.A. are inviting guests to learn their cooking secrets. Here are some wonderful places where you can dine, recline, and learn to make food that is sublime!
SONOMA
Ramekins' Bed & Breakfast Inn in Sonoma, California is a bit different: Rather than offering a cooking school within a Bed & Breakfast, this is a B&B that is housed within a cooking school! All six rooms feature luxurious comfy beds and tasteful appointments; perfect for relaxing in after a busy day in the kitchens below. Speaking of cooking, Ramekins’ classes (available in groups, one-on-one, or online) are held in two teaching kitchens. The first is a fully-equipped, 36-seat culinary demonstration kitchen-theater with mirrors and television monitors for easy viewing. The second is a complete restaurant kitchen used for full-participation hands-on classes. The International Association of Culinary Professionals recognized Ramekins’ teaching excellence with the IACP’s 2005 “School of the Year” award. Add a B&B and Ramekins’ location in California’s wine country, and the result is vacation perfection.
NEW ORLEANS
Few American cities are as famous for their food as New Orleans. For those wanting to master this cuisine – or at least get a good start on doing so – a stay at The Big Easy B&B ‘House on Bayou Road Inn’ is a must. Just a few blocks from the French Quarter, which survived Hurricane Katrina relatively unscathed, the House on Bayou Street Inn features luxurious period bedrooms in a restored, 18th-century plantation main house. This B&B also has two acres of land to enjoy, plus a swimming pool and hot tub.
Then there’s the cooking school, a.k.a. the New Orleans Cooking Experience. Whether you take half-day classes, series classes or luxury cooking school vacations, you’ll learn traditional Creole and Cajun recipes as taught by noted New Orleans chefs. Among the teaching chefs are Frank Brigtsen, the James Beard Award-winning chef of New Orleans’ famed Brigtsen’s Restaurant; and Poppy Tooker, New Orleans’ “food diva” and member of the International Board of Governors for Slow Food. Talk about enjoying the Bed and breakfast lifestyle to its fullest!
PENNSYLVANIA
The historic Golden Pheasant Inn is well established as a wonderful, gourmet restaurant but it is also home to six restored guestrooms decorated by Barbara Faure. The fieldstone inn was built as a mule barge stop for travelers on the Delaware Canal. The five acre grounds resemble a French country estate and guests can enjoy the lush surroundings in a canal side Solarium dining room. There are two other dining rooms, including the original Tavern Room with pointed stone walls, exposed beams, deep window sills, decorative copper pots and Quimper pottery from Brittany, France. The restaurant's French cuisine, prepared by Chef Michel Faure, is outstanding. One might start off with Michel's pheasant pate, followed by a savory onion soup baked with three cheeses. Mesclun greens dressed in vinaigrette cleanse the palate before one samples roast duck with a luxurious apricot, ginger and rum sauce or perhaps a sirloin steak flamed in cognac. Looking to create your own masterpiece? Then look no further, as Chef Michel Faure offers cooking classes for a nominal fee which includes demonstration and tasting.
SOUTH CAROLINA
Housed in a pillared, two-story 1905 mansion in Florence, South Carolina, Abingdon Manor offers the only AAA Four Diamond restaurant in South Carolina outside Charleston, Kiawah and Hilton Head. We’re not just talking wonderful breakfasts: Abingdon Manor also hosts six-course prix fixe (fixed priced) dinners at intimately-lit tables for two; complete with fresh flowers, settings of silver, china and crystal. Some details: Abington Manor was originally built as an opulent private residence. It is situated on three acres in Florence’s historic district, and its bedrooms feature an abundance of pampering amenities. Best yet: Abingdon Manor’s chefs teach guests how to prepare truly gourmet food, in a relaxed yet elegant setting.
VIRGINIA
“The Inn at Meander Plantation offers a rare opportunity to experience the charm and elegance of country living at its best. This 80-acre historic plantation, which dates to 1766, allows guests to return to an earlier, more romantic time, when hospitality was a matter of pride and fine living was an art practiced in restful surroundings. The stately Colonial mansion offers grand parlors for pleasant conversation or private nooks for quiet contemplation. Eight sun-drenched bedrooms welcome you with warmth and comfort. Each is tastefully appointed and furnished with antiques and period reproductions.”
“Two-day courses are held on Mondays and Tuesdays throughout the year. Both days are packed with cooking facts, and fun-filled classroom instruction and participation. Chef Blanchard and Chef Deigl bring humor and panache to every topic they teach. Each day features at least two classes as time permits. Classes are held in the kitchen and in the library. We try to leave time for a bit of local exploring and shopping for those who choose!”
Five inns, all offering the best in bed, breakfasts, and cooking education, are among many fascinating B&Bs found at www.ILoveInns.com.
Ramekins Bed and Breakfast
450 West Spain Street
Sonoma, CA 95476
Phone: (707) 933-0450
www.iloveinns.com/bed_and_breakfasts/california/ramekins.htm
House on Bayou Road, LA
2275 Bayou Road
New Orleans, LA 70119
Toll Free: (800) 882-2968 |
www.iloveinns.com/innlink.php?innID=7434&city=bayou&state
Golden Pheasant Inn Bed and Breakfast
763 River Road (Route 32)
Erwinna, Pennsylvania 18920
Toll Free: (800) 830-4474
http://www.iloveinns.com/innlink.php?innID=16548&city=Golden+Pheasant+Inn+on+the+Delaware&state=PA
Abingdon Manor
307 Church St
Florence, SC 29565-1359
Toll Free: (888)752-5090
www.iloveinns.com/bed_and_breakfasts/south_carolina/abingdonmanor.htm
The Inn at Meander Plantation
2333 N. James Madison Hwy.
Locust Dale, Virginia 22948
Toll Free: (800) 385-4936
http://www.iloveinns.com/innlink.php?innID=19725&city=the+inn+at+meander+plantation&state
About American Historic Inns and iLoveInns.com
American Historic Inns, Inc. (www.iloveinns.com), founded in 1981, is the leading publisher of bed & breakfast guidebooks, with more than 2.5 million bed & breakfast guidebooks sold, and runs iLoveInns.com, a top bed & breakfast and country inns directory listing 19,500 properties. Also, AHI is the industry leader in consumers' goods sampling and promotions programs to bed & breakfasts and country inns.
Many of the properties listed above are also in the best-selling bed and breakfast guidebook Bed & Breakfasts and Country Inns with Buy-One-Night-Get-One-Night-Free Certificate. To learn more about the guidebook as well as additional Inns of interest, go to www.iloveinns.com.
Note: For photos or interviews, please contact Barbara Naylon at 949-497-2232, ext. 305.
