I have always been a history buff and have lived in some of the most historical cities and small towns in the States, from Charleston, SC to San Francisco, to Appomattox Court House and Pamplin, Virginia to the cobblestone streets of Calumet, Michigan. I love the history of everywhere I ever go…
This week I had the honor to have my travels land me in a little town outside of Madison, Wisconsin called Mineral Point. The history and the passion in Mineral Point’s restoration projects are absolutely overwhelming.
On one of my food message boards on the internet someone had posted a question:
“What would you do with a recently restored 150 year old hotel?”
Jokingly I replied,
“…I’d ask Chef Mike to send me his resume…”
So we took that one step further and Mr. Joe Dickinson and his lovely bride, Susan had sent the totally unpredictable CheffyBoy up to my newest favorite town, Mineral Point, Wisconsin.
The Dickinson’s had bought the Old Walker House Hotel in historic Mineral Point and have been working day and night as of late to get the doors open of this old railroad hotel, circa 1836, that has not been open in over twenty years...
The Walker House Needs A Chef
So they investigated Cheffy…man, this guy sounds like fun...
Joe and I had communicated both via email and telephone for a couple days and he got me pretty excited about his family project…the goal is to open up the doors of this critically acclaimed haunted house; the Walker House, and serve unbelievable food that is going to be an imagination destination both culinarily and historically in their recently restored Cornish Inn.
So I wound up taking a couple days off of work and the Dickinson’s flew me up to Mineral Point to see their passionate dream.
Words couldn’t express the feeling of stepping into yesteryear that I felt.
Before I got there I told Mr. Dickinson to have his wife go out shopping and find Cheffy something to cook, don’t care what it is, you just aren’t allowed to tell me what it is…
This “…don’t tell me what it is…” turned into Cheffy cooking a nice dinner for me ,the Dickinson’s, Henry, (the Dickinson’s good friend and roofer), the first night, just stuff I found in the freezer and reach-in…Flounder with roasted garlic-tequila butter sauce, Confetti Rice and some kind of veggie, I don’t remember…
Up to feeding a bunch of my new friends in Mineral Point, most of them on the Historical Society and involved with the restoration of Mineral Point that welcomed me with open arms, and I haven’t even talked about accepting a job yet…heck, I was just cooking supper...
Anyway, Joe tells me he bought a pork loin,
assuming that I saw it…
I didn’t…
Anyway, you know how the Cheffy mouth never sleeps…
“…a whole loin or tenderloin?...
Reealllly, why don’t you just invite some people to dinner?”
Anyway, I cut the loin into steaks and wound up with twenty and told him to invite twenty people to dinner…Now he’s excited…his wife on the other hand (I think) was a little more apprehensive then Joe and I were…This means that we need to turn the construction zone of one of the dining rooms into a dining room…I must admit that I was not much help, the Dickinson’s along with their son Paul and other members of the family turned the work zone into a dining zone, it took them most of the day, but they succeeded and was pretty awesome…
They set up a twenty top down the center of the dining room so that everyone was at the same table with Cheffy at the head of one end with Joe and Susan’s youngest grandbaby at the other...
The Menu:
I only did two courses since we were so pressed for time, I didn’t get into the kitchen until the afternoon, Joe and I were running around most of the day checking out produce markets, organic farmers (both vegetable and protein), local meat markets and butchers…that was fun…
For breakfast that morning, reminiscent of my Bed and Breakfast days, I cooked an Italian Herbed Frittata with smoked salmon and Hook’s Two Year White Cheddar. Flanked with Crisped Cinnamon Bacon. Yum.
Dinner was fun, even if I didn’t have time to do the dessert…
The fresh herbs I used throughout the day came from a Walker House flower pot…
Mesclun Salad with fresh basil, tarragon, oregano, dried fruit with marinated grape tomatoes and cucumbers finished with Hook’s award winning twelve-year Cheddar Cheese. Served with a Creamy Pesto Salad Dressing.
Italian Grilled Flatbread (home made)
Chef’s favorite- whole grain bread infused with roasted garlic, basil, thyme, oregano & honey, grilled and sliced into triangles.
Soy and Roasted Garlic infused Pork Loin Steaks
with herb scented brown sauce
Riced Potatoes with Garlic and Cheddar Cheese
Succotash Vegetables sautéed in Basil Infused Olive Oil then deglazed with Raspberry Beer…
I originally planned on serving dinner at 7:00 which would have given me time to throw together a dessert, but Joe threw a wrench…one of the things that I love about this business…sometimes…
There was the council meeting, a historical meeting, travel writer in town and the list was endless…no one could make it for dinner at 7 but they could be here at 5:30…hmmmm…
And the question is what…?
Heck its only 3:30 if I can’t pump out two courses in two hours for twenty people by myself I guess I just failed my job interview…ha ha…
But you know me…failure is never an option…
“But they ain’t gettin’ no dessert and I need a dishwasher…”
Mr. Dickinson found a oneness with the dish tank while hanging out with the dude who was pumping out a function for twenty of the town folk in a kitchen that has not pumped out food in twenty years…many of whom have not even set foot in the historic Walker House in twenty years…
Anyway…
I think I passed my job interview.
The hotel is just awesome, my first day Joe thought I was going to run away because I was pretty much speechless and overwhelmed with the experience. He thought something was wrong…I was just speechless and overwhelmed; trying to soak it all in…I was in love…
So, now that both of us pretty much decided that we found what we wanted we started on menu ideas, listening and interpreting the dreams of the Dickinson family, Willie Caffee (resident spirit), the Walker House Cornish Inn and the historic hideaway, Mineral Point, Wisconsin…
The Walker House found a Chef…
So if you live in Mineral Point and are reading this let me put the rumors to rest…
Yes, the Walker House is re-opening as a Cornish Inn with lodging and full food service. They have hired Chef Michael Hayes of Knoxville, Tennessee to be their Executive Chef.
No, the Pub is not gone…it has been refinished to meet building specs and is destined to be one of the coolest pubs in Mineral Point. The pub is going to host a variety of beers and wines until such time as a liquor license can be obtained. The pub food will focus on Cornish, Italian and Americana pub foods including gourmet pizzas.
There are three additional dining rooms available at the Walker House for dinner service. The two upstairs dining rooms will be open every evening at 5:00, only opening the third dining room when necessary for overflow.
The current estimation is that the Walker House can seat 160 people.
Although the Pub menu is available throughout the restaurant, Chef Mike and his team will design special menus to change periodically based on supply and demand from the farmers local to Southern Wisconsin.
Although we have filled out credit applications with local food service providers, I don’t favor seeing a truck in the Walker House driveway with availability that the local farmers, meat markets and butchers have to offer. As of November 15th, the can opener at the Walker House no longer exists and aside of paper products, things like salt, sugar, yeast, and boxes of printer paper for our Point of Sales system I really don’t want to see a box…
The evening dining focus is going to cover a variety of cuisines that includes Cornish, Italian, Mediterranean, and Chef Mike’s fun versions of fusion. All of the protein will be purchased locally from local farmers, as will majority of the herbs, vegetables and fruits.
We are projecting opening on New Year’s Eve 2007.
Understanding the diversity of the world of permits, inspections, fire marshals etc. this may or may not be the truth, this is only a projection.
My heart feels comfortable making a life’s decision with a community that has willingly embraced my spirit.
I think Cheffy is going to do Mineral Point for a long time...
