Dinner at the Inn on Biltmore Estate & a Tour of the Antler Hill Farm

Inn on Biltmore Estate

After we toured the mansion and gardens of the Biltmore Estate in Asheville, NC last week, we returned to the Inn on the grounds where we spent the night and dined in the Estate Dining Room. I can tell you without a doubt that everything about it was beyond our expectations. We enjoyed the same gracious hospitality and pampering as if we were old, personal friends of  George & Edith Vanderbilt themselves.

The Inn is in an idyllic setting overlooking the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina and the Pisgah National Forest. The Pisgah forest land was originally a part of Biltmore Estate until Edith sold nearly 87,000 acres to the federal government in 1915 after George Vanderbilt’s death, creating what now is the Pisgah National Park. Mt. Pisgah in the distance is an elevation of 5,721 feet. Can you imagine once owing a national forest? It is mindboggling and impressive to me. A virtual tour of the Inn, including the beautifully appointed suites, the lovely guest rooms, the spacious lobby and library with a fireplace, and of course the dining room, is available on-line. The architecture is reminiscent of country inns of the late 19th century.

View from the Inn & Dining Room

The dining room at the Inn is luxurious and the service impeccable. It's also a coat-and-tie and little black dress kind of restaurant.  Everywhere you go in the Inn they use your name and always seem to be at your beck and call for anything and everything your heart desires.

Meakin started his meal with an appetizer of South Carolina Quail with grilled peach jam atop a black pepper waffle and mache. The waffle was crispy as expected and the surprise bite of black pepper in the waffle batter paired beautifully with the sweet peach jam, the baby lambs lettuce, and southern quail.

South Carolina Quail with Peach Jam on Black Pepper Waffle

As a main course, he ordered Rabbit Pappardelle, which is braised rabbit with tomatoes, prosciutto, olives and charred green onions served over large, broad fettuccine. As you know, if lapin is on a menu, one of us is bound to order it. The lapin was succulent and fork tender and the tomato prosciutto olive sauce brought just the right amount of moistness to the pasta.

Rabbit Pappardelle

Meakin’s choice of wine was from the Reserve List – a Biltmore Pinot Noir. It was a complex, yet elegant Pinot Noir with delicate fruit flavors and reminiscent of a French Pinot Noir. It was so delicious that we brought a few bottles home with us that we picked up at the winery the next day.

He chose a Biltmore Reserve Chardonnay for me because I’m fond of buttery, full-bodied Chardonnays. My entrée was an old classic French dish, Lobster Thermador, made for special occasions that you don’t often see on menus today and needless to say, I was delighted. The stuffed lobster was garnished with a bright green whipped pea puree, and served with a mixed vegetable succotash, and drizzled with a rich, creamy lobster popcorn butter. As you can see, it’s eye-candy on a plate. The tail was stuffed with a generous amount of Maine lobster, lightly seasoned with brandy, French cheese (probably Gruyere), and bread crumbs. It made an outstanding entrée with the buttery Biltmore Reserve Chardonnay wine.

Lobster Thermador

For dessert we shared a beautifully presented goat cheese cheesecake with a blackberry Merlot sorbet, a walnut nougetine, and blackberry jam. It was my birthday and Meakin had requested that they not make a big deal about it, so “Happy Birthday” was scrolled in chocolate above the cheesecake.

Goat Cheese Cheesecake 

After dinner we lingered over espressos and brandy and mentioned to our waiter how much we enjoyed the goat cheese cheesecake and that we were hoping to make our own goat cheese at home sometime. All excited, he said he would like to introduce us to Chef Ryba, the Chef de Cuisine, because he makes his own cheeses. We had a delightful conversation with the Chef at our table and he took the time to tell us about how to make cheese and afterwards, he brought a sample of some flavorful, sharp blue cheese that he had made. As we strolled out of the dining room, we remarked to each other that this must be how the Vanderbilt’s guests felt when they retired to their room in the evening in the mansion so many years ago.

The “Field to Table” Program at the Biltmore allows the chefs to prepare the best of what the season has to offer, featuring seasonal produce, wine from their winery, and locally grown ingredients. Much of the produce is grown on the Farm at Antler Hill Village on the grounds of the Biltmore. Antler Hill Farm is a step back in time for a hands-on legacy that was the center of Biltmore’s farming community more than a century ago. The Kitchen Garden produces lettuces, tomatoes, herbs, beans, root vegetables, berries, and squashes. Here’s a look around Antler Hill Farm.

The horse barn and farm exhibit offer a closer look at what life was like for families who lived on the Biltmore Estate in the early 1900’s.

The barn was the social and work center for these families.

It is here that they worked and visited while their children played.

Some were blacksmiths.

Blacksmith Shop

Others worked in the wood shop.

Wood Shop

While others raised livestock, tended crops, or worked in the dairy.

We’ll wander around and see the exhibits of turn-of the-century farm equipment and state-of-the art tractors of the time.

On the farm, meet some chickens, sheep, a donkey, and Belgian draft horses.

A chicken enjoys some sunflower seeds

There is so much to see at the Biltmore Estate and through the years they have added many new attractions and opened more rooms in the mansion to the public.  If you have never been or haven’t been in a while, you owe it to yourself to visit if you are in the Asheville, NC area. Christmas at Biltmore Estate is a very special time and also in the spring when 50,000 tulips and over 1,000 azaleas burst into bloom in the garden are a spectacular site to see. Allow a full day or more to tour the mansion, gardens, farm, and winery and be sure to read the tour tips. Our visit ended as we purchased wines and vowed to return soon for a complete tour of the winery – the most visited winery in America.

Wordless Wednesday from Antler Hill Farm at Biltmore Estate

A Visit to the Biltmore Estate, Gardens, & Kitchens in Asheville, NC

Biltmore Estate is a French Renaissance style chateau in Asheville, North Carolina and is referred to as “America’s largest home.” The estate sits on 8,000 acres and was built by George Vanderbilt at the height of the Gilded Age in the late 1800’s. Biltmore House is the largest privately-owned home in the United States and presents a detailed portrait of what life was like on a great 19th century grand country estate.
 
At the end of the 19th century, Asheville was a popular health resort where tourists arrived by train to enjoy the mineral springs and fresh air of the southern Appalachian mountains. One of those people was George Washington Vanderbilt, III, a member of one of the oldest, wealthiest, and best known families in America. He visited Asheville in 1888 as a bachelor with his mother and fell in love with the rugged beauty of the rural mountain setting. George traveled to Europe at age ten and visited Europe, Asia, and Africa numerous times during his adult life. But it was the mountains of western North Carolina that captured his heart.

Since no photos are allowed inside of the mansion, I hope you will enjoy our photos of the Biltmore’s grand Conservatory and the Walled Flower Gardens. Plants and flowers from the garden were important as decorations for the mansion and a special room was set aside in the basement for a floral design staff.

I’ll give you a little history of the building of the Biltmore and then, because this is a food site, some insight about how the Vanderbilt’s and their guest dined and what the kitchens were like.

Conservatory

In the late 1800’s, land in Asheville was inexpensive and George Vanderbilt began purchasing large parcels, eventually owning 125,000 acres. Here he planned to build his estate, one where he would entertain his friends, but also be a showcase for his priceless collections of artwork and furnishing from around the world. He used the large baronies in Europe as an inspiration to build a profitable, self-sustaining estate to rival those of Europe.

To accomplish this monumental task, George hired two prominent Americans. One was architect Richard Morris Hunt, who was responsible for the main façade of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York and the pedestal for the Statue of Liberty. The other was Frederick Olmstead, known as the founding father of American landscape architecture. Olmstead designed New York’s Central Park and the grounds of the US Capitol. Together with George Vanderbilt, they designed the Biltmore Estate, a marvel of modern technology that rivaled the greatest manor homes in Europe with the finest architecture, landscaping, and interior design American had to offer.

The Biltmore House consists of 4 acres of floor space, 250 rooms, 33 family and guest rooms, 43 bathrooms, 65 fireplaces, 3 kitchens, a gymnasium, and an indoor swimming pool. It also had central heat, electricity, indoor plumbing, and fire alarms – and this was in 1895. The 125,000 acre grounds contained vast wooded forests, farms, a dairy, and horse stables for the estate, a 250 acre wooded park, 5 pleasure gardens, and 30 miles of rambling roadways.

The Vanderbilt’s entertained lavishly and guests would say for weeks at a time. It was the job of Edith, George’s wife, whom he met and married in Paris after he built Biltmore, to plan the activities of the day for their guests and work with the domestic staff for meal planning. Quite a job for a new bride wouldn’t you say.

George & Edith met and married in Paris

Dinner was formal attire, served in Banquet Hall, the largest room in the mansion. Banquet Hall is 72’ x 42’ with a 70’ barrel-vaulted ceiling and has a long oak table that seats 32 with 2 gilt throne chairs for the hosts in front of a huge triple fireplace. Although massive, the room had perfect acoustics.  Two people sitting at opposite ends of the dining table can converse without having to raise their voices. A small, more intimate table is also available in front of the fireplace in case the Vanderbilt’s happened to be dining alone. A smaller dining room off of Banquet Hall serves as a breakfast and luncheon room, where a 6-course lunch was served at one o’clock. The Vanderbilt’s dined on gold-rimmed Minton china, and drank from monogrammed French Baccarat crystal glasses.

As was the custom in country estates, the downstairs level, or basement, served three purposes. It contained the recreation areas, such a gymnasium and indoor swimming pool, that were used for the family and their guests. It also housed bedrooms and common rooms for the domestic staff. But it was also where the real work of the house took place and was designed to keep domestic chores out of sight and sound of the Vanderbilts and their guests.

You could compare the Biltmore’s kitchen complex to that of a large hotel and it was designed for maximum efficiency. There are numerous rooms devoted to pantries, including the housekeeper’s pantry, which doubled as storage and an office for the head housekeeper. As extraordinary as it sounds, there were walk-in food coolers at the end of the 19th century. A separate room was provided for a pastry kitchen to keep it away from the heat. A rotisserie kitchen where pheasant, duck, venison, and other animals brought back from shoot parties, were smoked in an iron rotisserie oven, fueled by wood or coal.

Most of the cooking took place in the spacious main kitchen, which was stocked with the latest culinary equipment available. Large numbers of chefs, cooks, and maids turned out everything from the Vanderbilt’s lavish dinners to a cup of tea for a thirsty guest. Meals prepared in the basement kitchens were transported to the first floor Banquet Hall’s butler’s pantry, where they were transferred onto serving dishes. The servants responsible for this chore were called “tweenies” because they brought food between the kitchen and the dining room. Warming carts were sent upstairs from the downstairs butler’s pantry, which had two dumb waiters, one manual and one electric. The butler’s pantry was also used to store and wash china.

I’ll share an interesting little story about the head chef with you. As I mentioned earlier, the basement also housed recreation areas for guests, including a two lane bowling alley, one of the first in a private home. The rear wall of the bowling alley backed up to the head chef’s quarters. If guests bowled late into the evening, the noise from the pins hitting wall of the chef’s room would keep him awake. During the tour we were told that if that happened, guests could expect a cranky chef the next morning at breakfast.

The basement also contained a servants’ dining room, two laundries, a drying and ironing room, and kitchen staff bedrooms. Other female maid’s rooms were on the fourth floor in the main house and the male domestic staff lived on the second floor of the stable and carriage house. Servants received breakfast, dinner, supper, mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks daily, with dinner served at 12 noon. The head chef’s assistant prepared food for the servants and a dining-hall maid served their meals. The dining-hall maid was also responsible for keeping the room clean and maintaining all of the servant’s dishes and cutlery. Their meal typically consisted of a soup course, a meat course with vegetables, and dessert. The staff’s supper was around 5 or 5:30 pm, so they were available to prepare and serve the Vanderbilt’s meals later in the evening.

The Vanderbilt’s were gracious hosts and welcomed family and friends to the Biltmore where great attention was paid to each and every detail. We decided to experience what it was like to be a guest of George and Edith Vanderbilt and actually stay on the Estate. We celebrated my birthday by spending the night at the Inn on Biltmore Estate where we dined in luxury. In my next post I’ll have more about the Inn on Biltmore Estate and our dining experience.

I am linking this to Garden Tuesday at Sidewalk Shoes and Oh the Places I've Been at the Tablescaper. Be sure to drop by and see what's growing in gardens this time of the year.