2000 Fearrington Village Center
Pittsboro, NC 27312

(919) 542-212

(September 2007) Rain and a Friday night traffic snarl were putting us further behind by the mile. We had a 9 p.m. dinner reservation at Fearrington House, the final seating of the evening, and our car’s navigation system estimated our arrival at 9:17.

We called the restaurant and explained our dilemma. Since we were staying the weekend at the inn, and had a reservation for Saturday too, we suggested that perhaps we should just write Friday’s meal off.

Nonsense, the cheery voice on the other end told us. “You need a nice meal after that drive. What do you feel like eating tonight?” she asked. “I’ll go over the menu with you.” So, as we slogged through the rain, she went through the menu, describing one delectable dish after another and adding suggestions.

The weather cleared, and we walked through the door at 9:05.  We were greeted warmly by name and escorted to our cozy, elegantly appointed table.

We hadn’t tasted a morsel of food and the Fearrington House already wowed us.
And that was only the beginning.

200-YEAR OLD FARM
The Fearrington House Country Inn and Fearrington House Restaurant are the heart of Fearrington Village. A working farm for more than 200 years, Fearrington Village, located off U.S. 15-501 in Pittsboro, about eight miles south of Chapel Hill, now is home to a variety of shops and businesses, a booming housing development as well the Inn and Restaurant, one of less than 20 AAA Five Diamond hotel-restaurant combinations worldwide, a designation it has held for more than a dozen years.
Developer R.B. Fitch, a Chapel Hill native, and his wife, Jenny, bought the 640 acres of rolling farmland in 1974. Fitch loved this piece of land, having driven by it all his life. He intended to build homes there, to create the look and feel of the English villages he remembered from his days on an Air Force base in the British countryside. He’s accomplished that and much more.

He’s almost doubled his original purchase, expanding Fearrington Village to more than 1,200 acres. Surrounding the restaurant, inn, shops and gardens are more than 1,000 homes. The farm’s original outbuildings are now shops in the Village Center. The old barn is still standing and now booked on most weekends for lavish wedding receptions.

The original farmhouse is home to the Fearrington House Restaurant.  Our rainy-night dinner, of course, was fabulous. The service was attentive and prompt, servers magically appearing but never hovering. Executive Chef Graham Fox’s menu was fresh, innovative and beautifully presented – exactly what you would expect from the only restaurant in North Carolina to earn AAA’s coveted Five Diamond designation.

FRESH AND LOCAL
To get us started, our server appeared with an amuses-bouche, a rabbit wonton with tomato gravy, perched on a crisp white rectangular plate, dotted with a carrot-golden raisin salad. It was the perfect way to whet our appetite for the first course, four large North Carolina white shrimp sharing a plate with small squares of juicy watermelon, spears of scallion and a drizzle of scallion puree and maple-soy sauce.

It was difficult not to fill up on bread. Our stealthy server offered three choices – garlic knots, honey-wheat rolls and a Kalamata olive ciabatta –and we tried them all. The selection varies daily – all are outstanding.

Among all this top-drawer innovation, the Fearrington House staff manages to be supremely professional, but not at all stuffy. “Fresh weapons,” our server whispered with a smile, as he brought us clean flatware just before yet another course arrived at the table.

Second course celebrates Fox’s commitment to using the very best local foods. We selected a tower of goat cheese from Celebrity Dairy in nearby Siler City, which uses Alpine and Saanen goats to produce a cheese that is sold only to local restaurants and select grocery stores. Infused with lavender and wrapped in a whisper-thin slice of potato, the delicate, tasty chevre was served with onion marmalade, tomato preserve and balsamic vinegar.

Choosing a main course was challenging – everything sounded intriguing. The choices are varied; the emphasis is on fresh, with three fish choices, a vegetarian selection, rabbit (Chef Fox’s personal favorite, it almost always has a presence on the menu) and lamb. We decided on Copper River Salmon, served with a vegetable ratatouille, Swiss chard and a delicate hibiscus sauce, and the Niman Ranch beef tenderloin, served atop braised oxtail with a beet puree and a drizzle of blue cheese. Niman Ranch cattle are raised on independent family farms and ranches with a protocol of vegetarian feeds and no added hormones and antibiotics. We had heard that this approach results in tender, flavorful beef, and we were not disappointed in our fork-tender selection.

SWEET ENDING
As we contemplated dessert, our server made a firm suggestion: “You have to try the Hot Chocolate Soufflé.” So far, every recommendation had been perfect. We were willing to take a chance – after all, how risky is anything chocolate?

The soufflé is not Fox’s creation. It’s homage to its creator, Edna Lewis, the esteemed former Fearrington chef, who was often called “the Julia Child of the South.”

The suggestion was perfect. Somehow, this dessert manages to be smooth, decadently rich and inexplicably light, all at the same time. Brought to the table straight from the oven, the soufflé rises above the ramekin with a brittle crust that the server punctures into a heart shape with a spoon. As steam rises, warm fudgy sauce is poured over the soufflé.

The heart shape is an apt metaphor for a night at the Fearrington House. As its name implies, it is a home, built in 1927. Entering the house from its columned front porch, you walk into a small entry hall, and off that, rooms that were once parlors and living rooms and are now a bar and lounge, with overstuffed couches and chairs for easy conversation. The dining rooms, with a gold, cream and berry color scheme are small, perfectly suited for romantic dinners with antique floor lamps and well-placed wall sconces providing soft, low light. Windows abound, allowing diners to enjoy the Fearrington’s beautifully manicured English gardens.

The leisurely pace of dinner at the Fearrington House makes it a destination for celebrations, evenings when diners want to savor the moment. “Lots of birthdays, anniversaries and engagements,” Fox said, and he was correct. Several of our dining room neighbors exchanged gift boxes and clinked wine glasses; among those Vaishali and George Escaravage, physicians from nearby Durham, celebrating their fifth wedding anniversary with a night at the Fearrington.

“It is so beautiful here,” Vaishali said. “ It’s so close to home, but it feels like you’re somewhere really far away.” (Updated September 2007)