Savor Your Stay

CUISINE by ELIZABETH KEYSER photography by CHIP RIEGEL, ANDY RYAN and TOM CURRY

HISTORIC LEXINGTON, MASSACHUSETTS

SAVOR YOUR STAY Inn at Hastings Park offers private dining, cooking lessons, weekly menus and wine pairings

The menus are coming! The menus are coming! The legendary call of Paul Revere gets a delicious update this spring and summer at the Inn at Hasting Park with four revolutionary ways to enjoy luxurious, seasonal private dining and culinary experiences.

The bounty of Lexington, Massachusetts' farms, transformed in the hands of talented chefs, can be savored at the Whispering Angel Culinary Garden, Weekend Champagne Brunch, Weekly Tasting Menus and monthly immersive Culinary Weekends. And the Inn gives back to the community with Dining for a Cause events each month.

Inn owner and Ocean House Management Culinary Ambassador Trisha Pérez Kennealy infuses each dining experience with her passion to share her culinary training—she’s a graduate of Le Cordon Bleu in London, and holds Diplômes de Cuisine and de Pâtisserie. The Inn’s culinary offerings are grounded in Lexington’s rich and thriving agricultural history. Whether in person or on Zoom, Pérez Kennealy’s energy and devotion to excellence help create a fun, interactive atmosphere. Reservations are required.

Whispering Angel Culinary Garden

This enchanting garden reopened in spring, with tasting menus for lunch and dinner for intimate groups of six to 12. Menus reflect a passion for seasonal, locally raised food and Lexington’s agricultural community. The optional pairing of Château d’Esclans rosés includes world-class wines. The vineyard in Provence started the rosé renaissance with Whispering Angel, the popular blush-hued, dry and refreshing wine.

The rosés that accompany each course are poured into a curated selection of Bacarrat crystal glasses. Four raised garden beds filled with herbs, vegetables and edible flowers surround a big wood farmhouse table. Pale pink accents, inspired by the wines, appear in

Above:

The Inn's main house was built in 1880.

Opposite page, clockwise from top left:

Town Meeting Bistro; Freshly made pasta; Classic décor with a twist; Afternoon tea service; Pérez Kennealy in the Inn's lobby tableware, pillows and throws. In the evening, strings of Edison lights cast a gentle light and candles flicker on the table. It is a most magical space.

Whispering Angel Culinary Garden is also available for private interactive cooking instruction, complete with tasting menus.

Champagne Brunch

On weekends, the Inn at Hasting Park’s fourcourse Champagne Brunch is offered in the Culinary Garden, on the porch and inside Town Meeting Bistro. It also can be ordered to take out. Served in the rustic luxury of the Inn’s

grounds, the meal begins with tiered silver trays filled with sweet and savory treats, housebaked pastries, fresh, seasonal fruit, local cheese and charcuterie, and shellfish.

The first plated course offers salads, clam chowder or lobster fritters. Main course options include plated 48-Hour Brisket Hash, Eggs Benedict, Rory’s Buttermilk Pancakes, roasted salmon and the popular Hastings Burger.

The tiered silver platters return with dessert, an array of mini treats baked by pastry chef Shayna Shaw. They change with the season, these adorable little cheesecakes, chocolate mousse, and fruit and berry tarts. And cookies, “Guests love it when cookies are decorated for the season,” says Pérez Kennealy.

To drink, a glass of sparkling wine comes with brunch. Guests may order additional bubbles or bloodies, including the traditional Hastings Bloody, and a new spicy kicker made with jalapeño vodka, steeped in-house. Drinks can be ordered to go, with the brunch.

“The thing about brunch is, there’s always someone at the table who wants breakfast and there’s always someone who wants lunch, says Pérez Kennealy. “We make them both happy.”

Weekly Seasonal Menu

Town Meeting Bistro Executive Chef Michael Arnold is creating weekly seasonal threecourse dinners. Available for dining-in or taking-out, the menu has guest favorites like clam chowder and lobster fritters—and changes it up by exploring the cuisines and cultures that make Lexington’s community so strong, including Pérez Kennealy’s Puerto Rican and Jewish heritage. The choice of three appetizers, entrées and dessert will incorporate the freshest seasonal produce from local farms and fisheries, with lots of choices for vegetarians. “It’s fun and it gives our guests something to look forward to,” says Pérez Kennealy.

Regulars can still order beloved signature dishes from Town Meeting Bistro’s bar menu. Locals are known for coming in the same day every week for their preferred dish, like the roasted wild king salmon. And who can blame them? “We really make sure that our loyal

guests can enjoy their favorite meals,” says Pérez Kennealy.

Culinary Immersion Weekend

Each month, Pérez Kennealy hosts a Culinary Immersion Weekend at the Inn. Designed for a group of family or friends, up to eight people, it offers 20 hours of instruction, visits to local farms, meals prepared by their own hands, and a tasting and pairing menu prepared by Executive Chef Michael Arnold.

Pérez Kennealy shares the techniques she learned at Le Cordon Bleu in London, from knife skills to the building blocks of classic cuisine. Check-in is at noon Friday, and the guests dive into their first cooking session, simmering vegetables, aromatics and bones into stocks, the foundation of the soups, gravies and sauces they will later create. After a break for lunch, Pérez Kennealy teaches how to roast chicken, beef and vegetables, and to pan-sear salmon. The group makes three kinds of potatoes: roasted, mashed and sweet. Friday evening, they partake in a dinner party they’ve helped cook. “I teach them how to do all the prep so they can enjoy their own dinner parties,” says Pérez Kennealy. Guests begin the meal with a glass of Whispering Angel rosé.

Saturday morning, they start with eggs, an important part of culinary techniques, cracking them into bowls and hot pans, to fry, scramble or transform into a fluffy omelet. Last night’s roasted beef and vegetables become the basis for breakfast hash. And Pérez Kennealy teaches guests the secret to Rory’s Pancakes, an Inn favorite created by her teenage son.

After feasting on the three-course breakfast they’ve learned to cook, guests set out on an

Top row:

Pérez Kennealy offers cooking lessons, lunch and dinner at the Whispering Angel Culinary Garden.

Bottom row:

Previous dishes include corn chowder with grilled cheese and sun-dried tomato and eggplant pizzettes.

agrarian tour, visiting two farms where the Inn sources ingredients. They visit Wilson Farm, a family farm since the 1800s, which grows a bounty of greens, vegetables, tomatoes and corn. At Codman Farm in Lincoln, heritage breeds of chickens and pigs are raised by sustainable methods. After a tour, guests enjoy a ploughman’s lunch of local cheeses and charcuterie, packed in a handmade Peterboro picnic basket.

Back at the hotel, the group can relax over afternoon tea, a tribute to Pérez Kennealy’s training in England. In the evening, the participants resume their role as guests and enjoy the chef’s multi-course tasting, served with pairings of distilled or brewed spirits.

Sunday morning’s last lessons focus on brunch, making short crust for quiches, learning salads and vinaigrettes, as well as what Pérez Kennealy describes as a “straightforward cake,” with a variety of glazes. The Culinary Immersion Weekend has become popular with guests, as tourism within 50 miles of home surges in popularity. Each weekend event highlights a seasonal theme.

Top:

Seasonal vegetables are sourced from local farms.

Bottom:

Private groups of six to 12 can try tasting menus at The Whispering Angel Culinary Garden.

EVENTS FOR FOOD LOVERS

Culinary Immersion Weekends

April 23-25: Springtime cooking with craft cocktails May 14-16: Family meals with mocktails June 4-6: Grilling with summer cocktails September 17-19: Tailgating with bourbon tasting October 8-10: Octoberfest with beer tasting

Dining for a Cause

Each month, the Inn at Hastings Park partners with a local nonprofit for a fundraising dinner. Whether on-site or as a virtual event where guests pick up meals to go, Pérez Kennealy and her staff design three-course menus that include signature drinks. (A special sangria for a Puerto Rican-themed meal.) Half of the proceeds go to the nonprofit. Beneficiaries have included MAZON, a group dedicated to ending hunger. “It’s a way for us to get out into the community and help struggling nonprofits,” says Pérez Kennealy. Check innathastingspark.com for upcoming dinners and menus.

Virtual Cooking Classes

With families unable to travel to spend holidays together, Pérez Kennealy works with hosts to design menus, and organizes delivery of ingredients to each guest’s door, with an instruction booklet outlining a few prep steps. Then the guests join an interactive online cooking lesson that leads to a delicious dinner. She sets up the Zoom, teaches the class, and then steps off when the time comes for guests to sit down to enjoy dinner together. She’s organized a virtual event for six families, and for corporate groups in lieu of on-site team building. “We so want you to be here with us,” says Pérez Kennealy, “but if you can’t get here, we can bring the experience to you, and work with you virtually.”

Farm and Vine Dinners

Since 2014, the Inn has hosted a series of dinners with vintners from across the country. Look for updates at innathastingspark.com.