Rhinecliff Hotel & Restaurant (pssst…it’s open)
In Rhinebeck, where she lives with her family, Jan Greenberg, author of Hudson Valley Harvest: A Food Lovers Guide to Farms, Restaurants and Open-Air Markets (Countryman Press), was strategically positioned to keep an eye on the venerable-but-gone-to-seed Rhinecliff Hotel as new owner James Chapman pushed it, inch-by-inch, toward re-opening. A writer for Gastronomica, National Culinary Review, Hudson Valley Magazine, National Geographic Traveler, and Food Arts (her story for that publication on the Hudson Valley won the Association of Food Journalists award for Best Food Feature in a Magazine), Jan was invited to one of the several pre-opening test tastings that Chapman held prior to letting the public through the door. She also has been back since it officially opened. Here is her report:
Perched on the east bank of the Hudson with sweeping river and mountain views, the 200-year-old Rhinecliff Hotel & Restaurant is finally open after a five-year, four-million-dollar plus restoration and renovation. The cozy bar and dining room and an expansive outdoor patio offer some of the Valley’s best river and sunset views. It’s an easy walk from the Amtrak station, accessible to non-drivers, and also an oasis for those waiting for the eternally late New York City bound trains.
In its heyday the Rhinecliff was a thriving railroad hotel and winter warm-up spot for ice fishermen and the Hudson Valley Ice Yacht Club. Later, it became a bar and venue for drop-in jazz and rock groups (including such notables as Pete Seeger and Miles Davis), before sinking into such disrepair that it was closed in 2003 because of numerous safety-code and fire violations. New owner James Chapman restored the building using reclaimed wood and fixtures wherever possible. The original pine and hemlock floors have been refinished and the pressed tin ceilings are now free form sculptures over the beds in the nine riverfront rooms, each of which has a private terrace. Yet, despite its historic bona fides, Chapman has gone contemporary with the interior decor. The place feels spanking new, with large, modern rooms. There is central air conditioning, and each room has a flat screen tv and deep massage tub. Extra insulation insures that noise from the bar and restaurant won’t disturb guests in the upstairs rooms.
It is the opening of the restaurant and bar, however, which has been most eagerly anticipated by locals and happily, it doesn’t disappoint. In what might be called the softest of soft openings, the restaurant currently only serves dinner Wednesday through Sunday. Sunday brunch will begin on September 29 and within the next month, Chapman plans to start serving breakfast and lunch seven days a week. Meanwhile though, chef Rei Perezza, who comes to the Rhinecliff via the Microsoft Conference Center, is serving bar snacks and entrees, sourcing ingredients from local producers. The Ploughman’s Board features 
generous hunks of cheddar and Stilton, house cured pickles and vegetables and a smooth, rich pate. Richard Bryzinski’s Northwind Farms chicken, butterflied and quickly grilled, is served with tangy preserved lemons, roasted garlic and watercress. There are oysters, a small plate of duck confit accompanied by frisee, local apples and fingerling potatoes and bacon. The Rhinecliff wings are crispy frogs legs with a dipping side of parsley aioli, and the fish and chips are served in a paper bag to preserve heat and crispness. A hamburger ordered rare was rare—not overcooked—a sign that the kitchen pays attention.
Chapman and Perezza are still working on the wine list but reasonably priced and generously poured wines by the glass include a fine Don Olegario Albarino and a nicely balanced Avignonesei, Vino Nobile di Montepulciano. —Jan Greenberg
Rhinecliff Hotel and Restaurant
4 Grinnell Street, Rhinecliff; 845.876.0590
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 09/19/08 at 08:46 AM • Permalink
A Modernist Bed and Breakfast in Williamstown
When a top-notch innkeeper rhapsodizes about a bed-and-breakfast other than his own, you pay attention. Ira Goldspiel, a design aficionado who runs the Inn at Kent Falls, recently stayed at the Guest House at Field Farm in Williamstown and he raved about experiencing authentic 1940s modernist architecture and decor in a bucolic Berkshires setting. Owned by the Trustees of Reservations, the oldest land trust in the United States, the inn was originally designed and built right after World War II as a house for Lawrence Bloedel, the onetime Williams College librarian, and his wife, Eleanor Palmedo Bloedel, who would become important art collectors and bequeath their collection to the Williams College and Whitney museums. (The Whitney received more than sixty works, including important canvases by Milton Avery, William Baziotes, Georgia O’Keeffe, and Fairfield Porter.)
“They asked Frank Lloyd Wright to build the house but he wanted to do the furniture too and Mr. Bloedel’s hobby was building furniture so they hired Edwin Goodell instead,“ says innkeeper Ole Retlev. The International Style house (which looks like something you might find in a Sao Paulo suburb) was turned into a bed and breakfast twenty years ago, and Retlev is vigilant about maintaining its integrity. “When we redid the kitchen floor, we used real linoleum,“ he says, pointing out an Eames chair and Vladimir Kagan sofa that are original to the house as well as the bookshelves that Mr. Bloedel built himself. “All the colors of the walls are original. When we need to repaint, we call the hardware store in Pownell, Vermont, and they mix it for us.“
The Guest House at Field Farm attracts people who are uncomfortable at classic bed and breakfasts. “If I see another teddy bear or dried flower arrangement I’ll kill myself,“ says Retlev. While the inn has an established summer clientele drawn to the Berkshires by Tanglewood, Jacob’s Pillow and the Williamstown Theatre Festival, a new wave of visitors descend during the winter. “They’re almost exclusively young couples who want to see Mass MoCA,“ says Retlev. “Many of them have hairstyles like you’ve never seen before and rings and piercings in places you’d never imagine.“
Field Farm also has an award-winning architectural folly (right) designed in 1966 by Ulrich Franzen that is a shingled pastiche that references Victorian architecture, silos and propellers. It is open by appointment only. But the rest of the 316-acre property, which is a mini sculpture park (with pieces lent back to the property by Williams) is open free all year long for hikes, picnics and cross country skiing. The inn’s de facto gift shop is a short walk up the road. “I send everyone who comes here to visit Amy and Jason at Cricket Creek Farm before they leave,“ says Retlev. “So everyone stocks up on the most wonderful cheese before driving home.“
The Guest House at Field Farm
Williamstown, MA; 413.458.3155
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 07/31/08 at 05:32 PM • Permalink
A Touch of Disney on the Housatonic (With All Due Respect)
Marty Ianonne is an arborist turned innkeeper, who never planned on moonlighting as a wedding planner. When he bought a fly shop, 18th century lodge, and some rundown cinder-block cabins ten years ago across from the Housatonic River on the Cornwall/Sharon border, he thought he would mostly cater to fishermen like himself—men’s men who get misty-eyed only when they talk about brook and rainbow trout. But he’s discovered that Breadloaf Mountain Lodge & Cottages, the rustic, unprepossessing compound that he’s created across from Housatonic Meadows State Park, is an ideal spot for down-to-earth weddings, corporate retreats, yoga seminars, and family reunions.
A few years ago, he finally tore down the pre-World War II cabins that were just 200 square feet, after getting permission to build new wood ones that are triple the size. He’s made sure the bungalows look as if they’ve been there for generations, but added state-of-the-art conveniences like WiFi, satellite radio, flat-screen TVs and kitchenettes with granite counters and full-size refrigerators. He constructed them for year round use (“The skiers from Mohawk Mountain made my winter”) with thoughtful touches like radiant heat beneath the Mexican tile floors in the bathrooms and gas fireplaces that look like traditional wood stoves Each bungalow has a screened porch with a built-in daybed. “We’ve discovered that many guests are spending the night on them in the summers,“ he says. In the mornings, a pot of coffee and a basket of muffins is left on each porch before guests arise, so the overall feeling is like staying in a guest house on a well-run estate. 
Since many of his guests are stressed out New Yorkers who rush up from the city without dinner reservations, he devised his Chill and Grill package. If guests order in advance, he’ll leave uncooked chicken, fish or steak in the cottage’s fridge, along with a cart stocked with side dishes and condiments, so when guests arrive they can barbecue dinner on the hibachi outside their cabin. “It makes them get into the county mode right away,“ he explains. “They put all their dirty dishes on the cart so they don’t even have to clean up.“
Iannone has done extensive landscaping in front of the cabins so you can barely see or hear nearby Route 7. “That’s a tapestry hedge,“ he says, pointing to a line of conifers in every shade of green, which acts as a buffer in front of the screened porches. “I call it the Disney berm.“ As in Walt Disney? “Yes. you’ll see the same thing at Epcot,“ says Iannone, who trained for two years at Fantasyland itself. “It was a very tough job to get, but I had the skills and smiles. At Disney, if you’re a happy person you’re more likely to be hired.“ One of the Disneyesque touches he gave to the five cottages was to name each one after a type of tree—Dogwood, Birch, Pine, Maple, Oak—and then to use the tree as a motif for decorating the rooms, which includes using the corresponding hand-scraped antique wood for the floors. 
The main lodge, which he used to run as a bed and breakfast, is now rented as a single house that sleeps 12 -14, for $650 a night. “We get families, we get book clubs, and it’s great for wedding parties,“ he says, noting that he has carved out a space by the woods where he can erect a tent that will hold 75 people for dinner and dancing. His favorite guests remain the fishermen, who appreciate being able to walk to the Housatonic. “I’ve been fishing this river since I was thirteen-years-old and I’ve fished all over the world,“ he says. “And the Housatonic is one of the best.“
Breadloaf Mountain Lodge & Cottages
13 Route 7, Cornwall Bridge CT; (860) 672-6064
The Dogwood cottage’s screnned porch
The view of the lodge from Housatonic Meadows State Park, where you can fish year round.
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 04/25/08 at 06:43 AM • Permalink
Lodgings: The Inn at Kent Falls is Cozy and Chic
When Ira Goldspiel turned 40 a few years ago, he started to think about changing his life. A high-flying retail executive who’d worked in New York and San Francisco for companies like the Gap and Armani Exchange, he had the proverbial fantasy about opening a bed and breakfast in the country. He also had the proverbial gay gene for style and entertaining, which is why staying at the Inn at Kent Falls is like spending the weekend at the country house of a friend with great taste, impeccable manners, and a generous heart.
From the road, the Inn at Kent Falls looks like a prosaic bed and breakfast but don’t expect to find curtains with ruffles or tables with doilies. Goldspiel has managed to maintain the 18th century inn’s historic character—sloping floorboards, period hardware, a meandering layout— while creating a laid-back sense of modern luxury. 
There are extra deep sofas and armchairs in the living room and den, which both have fireplaces, and a screened porch and swimming pool for summer visitors. The six distinct bedrooms (which range in price from $195 to $350) are uncluttered, soothing, and sensuous. Comfort is paramount: “We have Frette sheets on all the beds,“ notes Goldspiel. While he originally decorated the rooms with minimal pattern and color, he is slowly adding bold strokes to some rooms, like a Dorothy Draper-inspired graphic bedspread and neo-Baroque mirror in the Falls Suite. Goldspiel is justifiably proud of his immaculate bathrooms; he’s managed to fit them into existing spaces so the state-of-the-art fixtures seem well-suited to the historic context. In the Lakes Suite, a free-standing clawfoot tub sit in front of a fireplace filled with candles. “Everybody love this bathroom,“ he says.
Breakfast is, of course, the most important meal of the day at the inn. Goldspiel sets the table with Blue Willow china in way that is fresh, not fuddy duddy, along with starched napkins and gleaming silverware. “We have a baker who comes in and prepares dough for the scones that we freeze, so we can serve fresh baked scones every morning,“ he explains. There’s always a buffet of fruit, yogurt and granola along with something hot like a frittata or waffles.
Besides running the inn, Goldspiel sells real estate for Sotheby’s new branch in Kent, where he has become an integral member of the community. He redesigned the Kent Chamber of Commerce‘s website a few years ago, and he was instrumental in organizing the town’s first annual Christmas potluck supper three years ago, which attracted more than 250 people last year. “My boyfriend from the city thought I was crazy,“ he says. “This Jewish guy running around organizing a town-wide Christmas party.“ And it is Goldspiel’s expansive, ecumenical, eager-to-please spirit that permeates the Inn at Kent Falls 365 days a year.
The Inn at Kent Falls
107 Kent Cornwall Road, Kent, CT ; 860.927.3197
Each modern bathroom has been artfully fitted into existing spaces in the 18th century house.
The screened-in porch overlooks the swimming pool.
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 03/28/08 at 10:44 AM • Permalink
Stonover Farm: A Hard Rocker Changes his Tune
Tom and Suky Werman met on a bike tour of France the summer both were 16. “I showed up early and looked over the roster,” Tom recalls. Among the names was one Susan Gould of Rye, NY. “I thought, ‘She’s going to be my girlfriend this summer.’ ” She was, and they’ve been pedaling up hill and coasting down ever since. Susan (better known as Suky) and Tom married after graduate school (he in business, she in education) and raised three children in Los Angeles.
“There are four stages to every successful career in the entertainment industry,” says Tom. “ ‘Who’s Tom Werman? Get me Tom Werman. Get me a young Tom Werman. Who’s Tom Werman?’ ”
Tom was a hard rock record producer and A&R executive who, in the 80s and 90s, discovered and/or produced some of the biggest acts on the Los Angeles recording scene—Ted Nugent, Boston, Motley Crue, Twisted Sister, Poison, to name but a few. But by late 2000, he was painfully straddling career stages 3 and 4. Then a friend, Tom Kelly (the composer of Like a Virgin), lent him the book, “Who Moved My Cheese?”
“It took about forty minutes to read,” recalls Tom, “and by the time I finished I knew I was about to start a new life.”
With Suky’s blessing, Tom set out to find a property where they could do a b&b, but Their Way—luxurious, not fussy (“no excess fabric, no little sayings, no potpourri,” says Tom, looking pained); clean design and all the amusements modern technology can afford.
Gravitating back to home turf, Tom, a native Bostonian, started and ended his search in The Berkshires. One day in February 2001, he phoned Suky, who was teaching at a private school back in Los Angeles, from Lenox. “I found it,” he said. “The moment I walked through the door, I heard celestial choirs.“
With the help of Thalia Gelbard, a designer from Sherman Oaks, California, the Wermans quickly transformed Stonover, an 1890 gentleman’s farm on Under Mountain Road, just minutes from Tanglewood, into a five-unit, five-star b & b. Their style is minimal-but-comfortable: each unit (three luxury suites in the main house, one beyond-luxurious suite in a renovated schoolhouse, and a two-bedroom cottage with a fully-equipped kitchen) is a media haven, complete with broadband internet access, a 27” flat-screen TV, full cable, plus CD and DVD players. The boundlessly energetic Tom cooks breakfast on an Aga, and mows the lawn himself (!) on a John Deere. Their first guest was Linda Ronstadt who found them through one of her producers, John Boylan, an old industry pal of Tom’s.
Stonover has been a new leaf for Suky, as well. Since her days in the education department of the Craft and Folk Art Museum when they first moved to L.A., she has been a “casual collector” of arts and crafts. When it came to selecting art for Stonover, she asked five of the California artists whose work she and Tom owned if she could represent them on the East Coast. She displayed their works decoratively in the public rooms of the inn. Guests lapped them up. Soon she expanded her exhibition space to Stonover’s glorious barn—and her sights to the larger art world. While she still represents the original five, a recent exhibition included works by such art world luminaries as April Gornik and Kiki Smith.
Two of the California five: clothespin vessel by Karyl Sisson; pottery by Leslie Thompson.
Lots of people fantasize about chucking their hum-drum existences so they can pursue cock-eyed dreams. In the Wermans’ case, it was the other way around: They ran away from the circus and joined the world. “We love the community, we love our neighbors, and we love our guests,“ Suky says. “We transformed our lives and found great stimulation and peace all at once. It’s been everything we’d hoped for.“
Stonover Farm, 169 Under Mountain Road, Lenox 413.637.9100
The Barn Gallery at Stonover Farm is open to guests at the inn and by appointment. 413.637-3344
Except for the two pictures of vessels, above, the photographs in this story are used with the kind permission of Kevin Sprague.
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 01/08/08 at 06:58 PM • Permalink
