In the rush to the new and exciting, food writers tend to overlook established restaurants that have been pleasing customers for a long time. Restaurant Weeks are good chances not only to discover new places but to reconnect with old favorites.
I was drawn to the Hawthorne Inn by the menu it posted on the Connecticut Restaurant Week website. The choices were intriguing and promised great value at the $20.10 price point. (I’m not a big fan of Connecticut Restaurant Week’s overly flexible price structure this year.) So out we headed to Berlin one quiet Monday evening to try out the Hawthorne Inn.
We were warmly greeted at reception.
After our server, Jake,
took our order, I wandered around and photographed the dining areas,
the huge lounge,
and this corridor
where historic photographs were posted.
From the décor, it was obvious that the Hawthorne Inn considers wine an important part of its offerings,
while from this draught menu on our table, it was clear that it does a great job with beer.
We began with a basket of great breads: pumpkin bread, olive bread and dinner rolls.
The Hawthorne Inn’s $20.10 Restaurant Week menu included a choice of appetizer, entrée and dessert. There were four appetizer selections: the soup du jour, a garden salad, my friend’s Caesar salad,
or my pear and pecan salad.
Both salads we tried were good-sized and fresh beyond reproach.
There were five entrée choices, but we both knew what we would order before we got there. I’m sure the penne alla vodka, the chicken Parmesan and the pan-seared scallops in a balsamic reduction were all fine choices. However, my friend had a hankering for the Hawthorne Inn’s famous prime rib,
while I couldn’t wait to sink my teeth into some roast Long Island duck à l’orange.
My friend pronounced his prime rib “delicious, but more food than he thought,” while I wound up taking home roughly half of my half duck (which my wife greatly enjoyed later).
We knew we would fare well with our entrées, but we had no idea that the Hawthorne Inn’s dessert offerings would turn out to be so impressive. The Restaurant Week menu just said, “choose one of our homemade desserts from our dessert menu.” Here is the impressive lineup of desserts we didn’t order: cheesecake, sugar-free cheesecake, banana split cheesecake, crème brûlée, lime chiffon, fresh seasonal berry shortcake, peach melba, crème de menthe sundae, hot fudge sundae, caramel sundae, brownie sundae, ice cream nut roll and homemade gelato.
And here are the two we did: One was the wonderful chocolate Grand Marnier cake,
the other the baked Alaska.
Sometimes I like to total up what the individual components of a prix-fixe menu would cost to see if a restaurant is offering real value or just repackaging its normal prices. My friend’s salad ($5.50), prime rib ($28) and dessert ($7.95) would have totaled $41.45. My salad ($5.50), roast duck ($24) and dessert ($7.95) would have totaled $37.45. Not bad for $20.10, huh? With the Hawthorne Inn, as with the baked Alaska,
you can’t judge a book by its cover.
The Hawthorne Inn, 2421 Berlin Turnpike, Berlin, 860-828-3571
www.hawthorne-inn.com