Pleasant Dining around Lake Rabun
The bottle is just as pretty as the wine inside…
AUTHOR: ARTSY CHOW ROAMER
Pleasant Dining
AROUND LAKE RABUN
Easter Sunday was so beautiful I felt like we had to get out for a road trip so we chose to pack up and head to Lake Rabun. One of the prettiest lakes in Georgia, it offers lots of places to eat, stay and enjoy fun water sports. It’s the perfect kind of spot for afternoon walks and watching early evening sunsets with a good bottle of wine wherever you’re staying.
I had heard some great things about Lake Rabun Hotel & Restaurant and thought we might see if they had dinner and a room available on a busy holiday weekend. Luckily they did and we snagged the last room with a 6:00 early dining time as well. This post will give you a nice review of what you can expect to eat if you visit the restaurant.
A quirky little property with personality and a pleasant dining room
QUIRKY PROPERTY WITH ATTITUDE
We pulled in with glorious weather, blue skies and warm temperatures inviting us outside. There are many opportunities for that all around the property from the front entrance to the second floor patios or the small private two topper just outside our room on the 3rd floor.
After settling in we asked for an ice bucket and made ourselves a martini from our own stash and popped out to the patio to read and enjoy the outdoors until our dinner reservation. There was a coffee and snack station right outside our room if you needed a little help to tide you over.
NICE SEATING AND SPECIAL WINES
We changed into our fancy dinner clothes (read not casual shorts with loafers and no socks here) not that there’s anything wrong with that-no judgement! We just always want to feel different from dining on the patio at home ya know what I mean?
The manager welcomed us warmly and took us to a nice table with a lovely “treehouse” kind of view. Even though it was early they were already busy indoors and on the screened in porch. They do offer outdoor dining in season but it was not open yet for this visit.
My husband looked over the wine menu and was happy to see two choices of Riesling as he had a taste for it and wanted to go with seafood for his dinner. He decided to go with the Affentaler Winzer Eye of the Monkey. The striking bottle design was just another wonderful surprise for an excellent wine with full body taste and not overly sweet; perfect compliment to items on the dinner menu.
We were super happy with this wine choice…try it soon
FRIENDLY SERVICE
Our server was young, energetic and friendly. After delivering and opening our wine he came back with scones and butter for us to eat while sipping. He hastily scooped up our menus with limited choices (out of season menu maybe?) and informed us that the Chef would like to do a tasting menu for us if that was alright.
I almost said no as we already had our eye on several things offered but I do like to give chefs a chance to show their creativity and try as many things as possible. So we said OK and sat back to relax and wait for what wonderful things might appear.
The music was pleasant, the crowds were chatting happily and the atmosphere was casual and laid back. I liked their lighting choices and the screened in porch is great for bug season. There was a nice bar with seating that would make a great drink spot for folks eating elsewhere or just getting off the lake after all day water sports.
SCONES AND FIRST COURSES
About those scones I mentioned above; I’m not sure what kind they were. I mean I knew I was eating baked flour goods but that was about it. They simply had no flavor beyond that and were very dry. Even the butter was not helping much.
They definitely could have benefited from less time in the oven and fresh herbs like rosemary and thyme in a compound butter. I would later discover from the Chef that they were baked off property but they still need flavor help. A better choice might just be something like an easy Southern cheese biscuit.
Our first course was delivered and we were pleased to see it was what we would have ordered anyway-Lobster Bisque. The flavor was intense, rich and creamy like you want it to be. There was a good drizzle of a green herb sauce around and a nice dusting of fresh pepper making it a pretty presentation.
There were several large chunks of lobster which I could have lived with or without quite honestly. If for no other reason than the fact I found a couple small pieces of shell that should never make it’s way into a soup. Other then that small cleaning error-it was a solid tasty dish.
Next course up was our salad. Chef chose to highlight veg and fruit instead of using typical salad greens. The unusual combo of cucumber and cantaloupe was presented with a lightly sweet dressing and a dusting of sweetened nuts.
I thought the idea was a winner. The tasty dressing, the texture added with the crunchiness and sweet nuts was a nice warm evening kind of idea. I’m just not sure that the two choices went well together. I might have preferred the peppery flavor of arugula in that salad with the sweetness of fruit as a balance.
THIRD & FOURTH COURSES
Next up was probably the hit dish for the evening. Crispy crunchy fried chicken livers with creamy sauce that had a good hit of spice. They were just the right doneness and the only criticism I could offer was the plating with just a small amount of lettuce underneath. Maybe a shmear of a colorful green sauce might have been prettier?
A sort of palate cleanser dish came next which was a rather tasty goat cheese done in balls and rolled in some of those sweetened nuts with some cantaloupe chunks on skewers. Again, the idea was solid but I’m thinking cantaloupe was not a strong enough choice to stand up to that cheese.
The last dish was a plate of ribs. A pretty big portion of them. I’m not sure if it was the normal portion but after the other courses we had to send much of it back. The meat next to the bones was tender and flavorful. The crust was a bit too hard and smoky for my taste but most would be happy with the dish served with veg and small potatoes.
THEY DO BREAKFAST & BRUNCH TOO
While they offer dessert we opted to just do espresso and brandy. They have a wonderful Nespresso machine that puts a lovely amount of foam on top and they offer a nice assortment of after dinner drinks.
Breakfast is included in your room charge and changes often. Ours happened to be eggs the way you wanted with a nice chubby link sausage, grits, fruit parfait and banana nut bread. We had a good cuppa Earl Grey tea and espresso afterwards. A hearty meal to hit the road with.
Sunday Brunch menu offers items like Crab Oscar with Hollandaise, shrimp and grits, chicken with waffles and Pimento Cheese Fritters. It is popular so get a reservation instead of just dropping in.
MEETING CHEF
I was happy when the Chef came out to meet us and sat down for a chat after dinner. He wanted to get my input on the dishes he served because he is working on a new menu and that usually requires some testing and getting involved in the food ordering process to make those changes. He told me he was working on three new dishes for the menu that he would send me photos of when complete the next day.
I show those above and they look rich, tasty and colorful. The first is a tile fish with black beans and rice. Chef prefers this mellow fish to almost anything he said. The second is a beautiful green presentation of stuffed collard leaves; nice Southern touch.
Last up is scallops with a pimento cheese gnocchi as the carb of choice. I think you would agree that these dishes will most likely hit it out of the ballpark.
Lake Rabun Hotel & Restaurant is a super weekend destination
CONCLUSION
While Chef is still working on his menu he continues to improve the dishes the hotel has been serving for awhile now. I think he is a positive addition to the staff and will tackle the things that I critiqued in this review with solid experience and quality ingredients. Give him a little time and go visit.
If you enjoyed what you read, you might enjoy other restaurant reviews and food posts under Edible Fare on my blog. A particularly good post on North Georgia will give you more info about the area as well. If you prefer watching videos over reading just take a look at the short sweet tour above!
As always, don’t be a stranger. Let me know what you thought of the review and if you are planning a visit to Lake Rabun soon. Look for more posts about the property and other restaurants you might want to visit coming in the future. Until then…
Cheers,
ArtsyChowRoamer
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TO MY READERS: This post was updated with additional information on 8/6/21-Chef Simmons is no longer with the property and will be moving on in his career to an unknown location.
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