Meredith Eateries Unveil New Winter Menus

Dinner at Lakehouse Grille

The official beginning of winter is just around the corner, and colder temperatures outside bring longings for warmth and comfort inside.  Thoughts turn to cozy fireplaces, hot cocoa, and rich, satisfying meals.  In this quaint NH village, the partner restaurants of the Inns & Spa at Mill Falls and have created new winter menus to reflect the changing seasons and offer guests some imaginative new and traditional dishes that bring warmth, comfort, and contentment inside and out.

“We always roll out two new fresh menus a year, one based on the winter season and one based on the summer season,” says Sean Brown, General Manager for Camp, Lago, and Lakehouse Grille from the Common Man Family of Restaurants.  “We never change the whole menu but we certainly change a decent portion of it.  With the wintertime menus, we’re definitely focusing on heartier dishes, dishes with a little bit more of a wintertime theme.”

At Camp, the fun and casual eatery at Chase House, the menu continues its theme of classic comfort food, only better!  “Campers” can get New England Style Pot Roast, Lobster Mac and Cheese, and even Shepherd’s Pie (made tastier with a Gouda cheese sauce).  “The mozzarella planks that we have are great,” says Sean.  “We take fresh mozzarella, season it, bread it ourselves, and give it a quick fry—it’s fantastic!”

Looking for some hearty Italian food?  Try Lago, located at Bay Point.  Says Sean of the new winter menu, “One of our favorite new dishes that we have on our menu for appetizers is Bacon-wrapped Chicken Livers.”  This item features bacon from local North Country Smokehouse to wrap the chicken livers, which are served with a red wine mustard sauce.  Sean also recommends the popular small pasta dish, Ragu alla Bolognese, featuring “beautiful” Pappardelle noodles.

The new menu at Lakehouse Grille will go into effect this coming Monday.  On it are a couple appetizers Sean and his crew are really excited about, including Pork Tacos. “We’re taking pork belly, giving it a quick cure, and then we slow braise it for about 7 hours.”  The pork belly is then wrapped in a warm flour tortilla with apple-bacon slaw.  “It’s really out of this world—it’s a great appetizer,” says Sean.  “Another appetizer at the Lakehouse that we’re excited about is our Bloody Mary Mussels.” he continues, explaining that The Common is famous for their Bloody Mary mix, which they’ve been bottling for years.  “We’re doing a take on that with our seasonal mussels—we get really fresh, really beautiful PEI mussels, and they are steamed in our Common Man Bloody Mary, and served with some grilled celery stalks and some lemon-pepper crostinis.  They’re really fun!”

When asked what his favorite new item is, Sean chose the Lakehouse Cottage Pie that’s going on the Lakehouse dinner menu. This dish features beef short ribs that are braised overnight until they’re “falling apart delicious,” layered with a caramelized onion jam in a rich crust of Yukon Gold potatoes, parmesan cheese, roasted garlic, and Swiss cheese.  “It’s sort of a really, rich, delicious, filling wintertime dish,” says Sean.  “I’d say if the snow is coming down and you’re sitting by the window looking at the lake, it’s definitely the dish you’d want to be enjoying.”

All the restaurants also offer vegetarian and vegan options, such as the hearty new Butternut Squash dish at Lakehouse.  The squash is hollowed into a bowl and roasted in olive oil until it’s golden brown, then filled with a citrus-quinoa pilaf that’s tossed with roasted root vegetables and drizzled with locally made maple syrup.  The whole thing is then put back in the oven to meld the flavors.  “It’s really out of this world,” beams Sean.  As a bonus, this dish is gluten-free as well!

At all the Common Man restaurants, buying locally produced ingredients is a priority.  In the summer, an abundance of local fruits, veggies and herbs can be found on the menus, and in the wintertime, the restaurants keep strong partnerships with other NH sources, such as The Sandwich Creamery, which makes a variety of fresh cheeses, and Portsmouth Lobster Company, which provides the fresh lobster for the Common Man raviolis.

This winter, the warm and hearty meals served at The Inns are worth the trip by themselves, and are even better when enjoyed as part of a little getaway to the Lake.  Bon Appetit!

Carrie Reed
The Mill Falls Blogging Team