Blue Ridge Country - November/December 2014 - 32

From top: The Lodge at
Old Edwards includes
cottages and rooms, and
a coffee cafe and bar;
the crusted trout at Old
Edwards is a treasured
dish; the Clifton Inn sits
on 100 acres near
Charlottesville, Virginia.

seasons and cook appropriately." Here, he does the
same, serving braised meats and stews in the winter,
grilled peaches and roasted pear in summer.
The dining options at the inn include the Rooftop
Terrace, the Wine Garden with live music and craft
beers (as well as wine) and Madison's, the fine dining
space. The menu is a collaborative effort among
Klapdohr and the other chefs and cooks on property,
and the staff helps prep for each other. Decisions
include how many pigs might be needed in a week
(they make their own sausage, and their own yogurt).
There are weekly meetings with the farmer, and
changing the menu based on "what is coming in" and
also "growing for our menu - we are one step ahead."
As for the farm, "there's very little we don't grow" -
including, at least this year, six varieties of squash, six
varieties of carrots, four varieties of kale, four of beets,
three of beans. "Lots of mint - grows like weeds!"
Vegetable leftovers are composted.
At the same time, not everything is controllable -
"Nature is nature." In the summer, the staff harvests
and preserves cherries, pickles vegetables, dries sunflower seeds for roasting in the winter. "What we try
to do at Madison's is use a lot of natural ingredients,
and let nature speak. It's very recognizable food for the
guests and it's [also] very creative."
And while the meals are creative (Yorkshire pudding, corn grits with oxtail), they are also based in
tradition: historically, by necessity, "People had to
work with nature."
oldedwardsinn.com
Clifton Inn, Charlottesville, Virginia
I must admit here that I'm visiting a few of my favorite
culinary destinations - I've written about Highlands
and Charlottesville in previous issues. Both are cities
for people who love to cook and to eat. In Charlottesville
and just out is a wide range of dining spots from the
casual to the pricey and everything in between (including some of the best coffee shops anywhere, which for
me alone is reason enough to visit).
The Clifton Inn, on 100 acres just outside town,
has a history going back even further than Old
Edwards', to the late 18th century - its original owner
was Thomas Jefferson's son-in-law, Thomas Mann
Randolph, Jr., who was also a governor of Virginia.
The original property was 2,400 acres; today the views
include the Rivanna River, Carter Mountain and the
surrounding hills. During the Civil War, Colonel John
Singleton Mosby's wife and children hid at Clifton
after being forced out of Middleburg. The inn became
a B&B in the 1980s, with additional rooms added
(included converted liveries).
Chef Tucker Yoder landed in Charlottesville while
on his way to North Carolina with the idea of cooking
at a golf resort. He had a friend who worked at

32 | BlueRidgeCountry.com

Metropolitan, at the time one of the earliest fine dining
spots on the downtown mall, and he stopped for a
night and meal.
Yoder dropped the golf resort idea: "If they're doing
this kind of food in this city, I'm not going to North
Carolina." He started his restaurant work by asking
for, and getting, a job at the Boar's Head Inn and working at a few other restaurants before coming to the
Clifton Inn first as a sous chef in 2005.
"Charlottesville is a relatively small town with a
relatively massive culinary scene," says Yoder. "The
chefs at many of the other restaurants and I share a
passion for embracing the abundant agriculture in the
area and letting the true beauty of our ingredients shine
while throwing in a bit of experimentation and creativity. The culinary crew in Charlottesville is tight, and I
like to think that we continue to push each other by

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Blue Ridge Country - November/December 2014

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