Just weeks before Kevin and Jen opened, their chef resigned. The owners had to scramble. Jen placed an ad on Craig’s List. Brian Anderson, who had once owned a restaurant in Maine gutted by fire, answered. Though he was employed at a prestigious Maine inn, he sought a new opportunity.
“A week from opening, we met for an interview,” Jen recalls, “and here was this passionate, humble person who was focused on local, creative cuisine with Asian and Italian inspiration. My gut told me this guy would be fabulous.” He turned out to be that and more, nabbing state-wide Best New Chef honours earlier this year from New Hampshire Magazine.
Brian, who’s cooked for such celebrities as Dustin Hoffman and the Doobie Brothers, works with local farmers to source much of the produce he uses in such dishes as braised short ribs, Moroccan style lamb lollipops, and garam masala duck. Kevin cooks the hearty country-style breakfasts himself.
Jen tops up innkeeping duties by running Garden Dreams, located on the property. The business makes artisan skin care products, including soaps, massage oils, even insect repellant. My wife, Oxana, bought a slew of jars as souvenirs for friends, but she managed to snag a couple of items for herself, including a lavender-laced hand lotion.
Not surprisingly, then, the inn’s flower gardens are lovely. A local gardening club helped Snowvillage split its perennials last spring, and benefited by selling the surplus plants – from Victorian shoes to moss purses – to support its scholarship fund.
Kevin jokes that the hospitality business is “more like 25-8 than 24-7.” But it’s clearly in his blood. He originally bought the inn in 1994, then sold it in 2005 to become a consultant and manager at other properties. But he missed interacting with clients; when a subsequent owner wanted to sell Snowvillage in 2012, Kevin bought it back.
As it turns out, he isn’t the only former owner haunting the grounds. When the first, Greta Pluss, died, her husband Maxx buried her ashes on a knoll behind the inn. A later innkeeper moved the urn; Greta’s ghost started appearing in a nightgown. “When the urn was brought into the kitchen, all hell broke loose,” Kevin recalls.
They’ve placed Greta back on the knoll. She now rests easy. You will, too.
Snowvillage Inn
Eaton, N.H.
603-447-2818
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Inns E-Magazine / Winter 2013