This designation is awarded by Yankee’s editors and contributors who name select restaurants, lodgings and attractions in New England to the exclusive list.
WEST BROOKFIELD –A visit to Salem Cross Inn is more than a dining experience, it is a travel experience.
The menu focuses on the use of local ingredients, including herbs and vegetables from the inn’s gardens. Prime rib is cooked in a fieldstone fireplace using a roasting jack, a device that dates back to the early 1700’s; chowder is cooked in an antique iron cauldron.
But there’s more to this restored colonial home on 600 acres than what is presented on the plate. Horse-drawn wagon rides or sleigh rides (weather permitting) through the valley delight visitors to the Fireplace Feasts that take place November-April. Other special events include Drovers Roasts on Father’s Day and this year on Sept. 8 and Christmas Memories dinners.
“We meet people from all over the world; it’s so interesting,” said Martha H. Salem, an owner.
Yankee Magazine’s 2013 Travel Guide to New England’s recognizes Salem Cross Inn as an “Editors’ Choice” winner. This designation is awarded by Yankee’s editors and contributors who name select restaurants, lodgings and attractions in New England to the exclusive list.
For 37 years, Yankee Magazine’s Travel Guide to New England has been the most widely distributed and best-selling guide to the six-state region, providing readers with a comprehensive vacation-planning tool and daily reference.
The award was unexpected, and Salem said she had no idea the inn was being considered. “It was a very, very pleasant surprise for us.”
Yankee Magazine’s Travel Guide to New England “is like the summer Bible in my house,” she continued. “For (our inn) to be part of that is a pretty neat thing.”
“Every one of the 300-plus places we highlight contains an untold back story about someone striving for perfection, having a dream and having the vision to make a difference, whether it’s a small artisan’s studio or a lobster-in-the-rough shack or a dressed-up steakhouse on a tree-lined Boston street,” said Yankee Editor Mel Allen. ”While it may be hard to create a business, the true challenge is in making it work, being good enough that it endures and brings people back. Those are the qualities we look for and reward when we say ‘Best of New England.’”
Salem Cross Inn was a private home dating to the early 1700’s it was owned by the White family for eight generations.
Henry Salem bought the old farm in the 1950’s, and he and his brother, Richard, restored the building to its original beauty. The restaurant, still owned and operated by Henry Salem’s family, opened for business in 1961. A herd of polled Herefords and Black Angus cattle grazes in the yard.
“Salem Cross Inn is what many people think of when they remember their visit to New England,” said Nancy Salem, part of the Salem family who still owns and operates the quintessential New England restaurant. “We strive to offer the best that we can. We remember that we are a traditional restaurant so we will always have traditional offerings in addition to food that is more current with what is going on in the food world.”
Executive Chef Robert M. Thackaberry learned about other cultures and their food while on mega yachts traveling the world for more than 10 years. “You get to know ingredients,” he said. “Everywhere you go people have a deep appreciation of all things edible.”
He likes to prepare foods that are simple and elegant, and he uses herbs and vegetables from two gardens on the property. “When I come to work, I look out the window and see what’s growing and use that,” he said. “It’s instantly inspired cuisine.”
Thackaberry also buys local produce, which tastes better than that which is grown elsewhere and shipped in. “The things I pick (to use in foods served at the inn) are fresh and at the peak of flavor.”
Salem Cross Inn is located on Route 9, 260 West Main St., in West Brookfield.
For more information and tickets to special dinners, visit www.salemcrossinn.com.