Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
resort on 20 acres (8 hectares) in the Green
Mountains of Vermont, not far from the
mellow shores of Lake Champlain, NECI
students run two acclaimed restaurants:
the fine-dining Butler's Restaurant and the
casual Tavern. For the inn's guests, there's
another draw—NECI chef-instructors lead a
host of cooking demonstrations and hands-
on classes on site.
Sure, the resort also offers golf, tennis,
a swimming pool, and other resort ameni-
ties, but the specially outfitted demonstra-
tion theater (a 10-person private dining
room) signals how important these culi-
nary classes are to the resort. Their on-site
gift shop sells professional kitchen tools
alongside the usual maple sugar candies
and other Vermont souvenirs, and the
resort's gardens showcase fresh herbs
and vegetables. It fully earns its marketing
tag line, “Vermont's Culinary Resort.”
Wednesdays through Sundays, they
almost always offer at least one class, from
1 to 2 hours in length. These aren't just
cutesy frippery but serious small-group
classes that range from a knife skills primer
to a sushi-making lesson, a seasonal soup
workshop, a lecture on healthy eating, a
crash course in sauces, or special holiday-
oriented recipe bashes. Even better is the
Chef “Inn” Training concept, where you get
to help cook your own three-course dinner
with a skilled chef-instructor. Best of all are
the 3-day Culinary Boot Camps, with an
intensive 5
1
/
2
-hour class each day; it's lim-
ited to six participants and held only a few
times a year, so scope it out and book in
advance.
All of these culinary activities require a
separate fee. Like the two restaurants, they
are open as well to visitors who aren't stay-
ing at the inn. Prebooking is highly advis-
able, as some of the classes do sell out.
70 Essex Way, Essex Junction (
&
800/
727-4295
or 802/878-1100; www.vtculinary
resort.com).
(
Burlington International (7 miles/
11km).
L
$$
The Inn at Essex,
70 Essex Way,
Essex Junction (
&
800/727-4295
or
802/878-1100; www.theinnatessex.com).
$$
The Willard Street Inn,
349 S. Willard
St., Burlington (
&
800/577-8712
or 802/
651-8710; www.willardstreetinn.com).
Cooking Schools for Travelers
105
The Greenbrier Culinary Arts Center
Resorting to the Kitchen
White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia
In 1778, when the Greenbrier first opened
as a spa resort in the mountains of West
Virginia, its upper-class guests weren't
interested in cooking—they had servants
to do that sort of thing (mostly slaves, in
fact, this being the antebellum South). It
took 2 centuries of changing times and
tastes before the Greenbrier—now a 6,500-
acre (2,632-hectare) National Historic Land-
mark—added cooking classes into the rich
mix of recreational activities for guests.
That mix today includes an almost bewil-
dering array of golf (three courses), tennis,
fishing, shooting, rafting, kayaking, horse-
back riding, swimming, hiking, bowling,
movies, billiards, horseshoes, falconry, and
croquet, but the cooking classes are never-
theless more popular than ever.
Launching this program in 1977 was a
prescient move; someone at the Green-
brier must have guessed that cooking
would develop into a serious hobby for
many folk among the resort's well-heeled
clientele. With a huge brigade of skilled
chefs already on site to run the Greenbri-
er's three cafes and elegant main dining
