Pengguna Tetamu
23 Julai 2024
There’s a ton of obvious reasons to recommend the Inn at Newport Ranch (stunning views, beautiful rooms, expansive grounds), but the reason I’m writing this review — and this is the first time I’ve ever bothered to leave a review of any hotel — is that the staff here is hands-down the most talented and capable group of people I’ve ever had the joy of receiving hospitality from. I’ll start with the food: every meal was fresh, innovative, and perfectly prepared. Most of the ingredients are grown on-site, with everything else procured locally, and the kitchen staff knows how to make the ingredients shine. Even the lettuce was memorable, and lettuce isn’t good at being memorable. B&B breakfasts are usually forgettable, but here they’re distinct and exuberant: steamed eggs with a hint of soy sauce, wood-fired king mushrooms, house-made jams and jellies, soft almond tarts, dizzyingly fresh sourdough, salted butter served at the perfect temperature. Dinners were even better. Expertly prepared fresh sablefish straight from the boat, locally raised lamb chops, a strawberry tart made from fruit grown just yards away. There’s no conventional bar or dedicated bartender, but even the cocktails were five-star quality. My martini was cold as ice (a good martini is the best measurement of a good bar), and the speciality cocktails were perfectly balanced. As good as the food was, the service was even better. Our server for most meals, a young man whose name I sadly can’t recall, was either professionally trained in hospitality or had a preternatural talent for it, if not both. He noticed every detail, and brought a sense of casual, homestyle friendliness to the table even while maintaining a crisp fine-dining atmosphere. It was impressive to watch, and it's the kind of attention to detail that seems to have disappeared in the post-Covid hospitality world. But the highlight of my stay — and the reason I’ll come back — was the stellar tours of the grounds and garden given by Otis and his spouse Felicia (I hope I've recalled their names correctly). My partner and I wandered into the garden as Felicia was working, and she dropped everything to teach us about the plants, the design of the garden, and the different culinary and medicinal preparations of what she was growing. It was all a genuine work of art, and it was so lovely to hear directly from the person who was growing some of the best produce I've ever eaten.
The next day, our last day at the Inn, we took Otis’s 2-hour ATV tour of the grounds. It was easily the best and most memorable tour I’ve ever taken in all my travels. Like his wife, Otis grew up nearby and has deep, rich knowledge of the plants, history, and culture of the area. I was stunned at how much he knew about the culture, history, and life ways of the Yuki people who once called Newport home, and he had impressive stories to tell about the more recent logging and industrial history of the area. He also knew that I'd been under the weather
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