Red Barn Dinners

Woodstock Inn & Resort announces a full plate of new dates for this season’s farmto-table Red Barn Dinner Series. This year, the experiences have been expanded to include two separate services highlighting community-driven partnerships on select Thursdays and family-style affairs on Sundays. Both will continue through September.

Reimagined by seasoned Executive Chef and Director of Food and Beverage Matthew McClure, each meticulously crafted multi-course menu will be anchored by Vermont’s seasonal harvest, all grown at the Inn’s own Kelly Way Gardens helmed by Master Gardener Benjamin Pauly. Hyper focused on incorporating the freshest ingredients in each recipe, the menus will feature dishes like artfully crafted charcuterie and garden grazing boards, entrees such as five-spice pork belly porchetta and coffee braised short ribs to desserts like Kelly Way Gardens Rhubarb Tart.

“We’re excited to create memorable experiences for guests that truly showcase the depth of Vermont’s culinary ecosystem, from our own offerings at Kelly Way Gardens in partnership with Benjamin and his team to our standout community partners.” says Chef McClure. “It’s what makes the Red Barn Dinners and the meals we create here at the Inn one-of-a-kind.”

• Highlighting the program’s homegrown nature and usual artisanal flare, each Thursday will pair a different regional purveyor, featuring their product as a centerpiece in the four-course dining experience. The collaborative services will bring together fellow gardeners, craftsman, local farmers and seasoned Chefs including self-described bean evangelist, Joe Bossen of Vermont Bean Crafters; “I Am From Here” author and James Beard Award-winning Chef Vishwesh Bhatt of Snackbar in Oxford, Mississippi; and Chef Roshara Sanders, the first Black female chef instructor at the Culinary Institute of America and a Food Network Chopped Champion Chef. Beginning with cocktail hour starting at 6:00pm, dinner service will follow at 7:00pm. The experience is $160 per person, plus tax and gratuity, with expert-led wine pairings included. This series kicks off on June 6 with reservations available online. Subsequent event dates available through September.

•Reminiscent of a traditional supper club, Sunday dinners will bring guests together over a three-course family-style meal that will feature a grazing course alongside seasonal soups or salads and entrees that honor local purveyors, topped off with a dessert made by the resort’s own French Pastry Chef and his team. Similarly, the evening will begin with cocktail hour in Kelly Way Gardens at 6:00pm, followed by dinner in the Red Barn at 7:00pm. The experience is $140 per person, plus tax and gratuity, with expert-led wine pairings included. Reservations available online for June 16 dinner service with additional dates through September.

Housed in refurbished 19th century red barn, the 11,000 square foot Red Barn Culinary and Garden Studios make the perfect backdrop for these Chef-driven experiences. The intentionality presented in each dish carries through to the design elements found throughout the Red Barns, like the white pine tables crafted using ethically harvested wood from nearby Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park.

Paying homage to the conservation legacies of the Rockefeller and Billings families, Kelly Way Gardens serves as a holistic produce source for the Inn. Spanning more than three-acres, the garden acts as the culinary inspiration to the resort and culinary team, comprised of more than 200 varieties of vegetables, 50 varieties of herbs and edible flowers, 75 varieties of berries, and features its own mushroom glen. Guests and visitors alike can tour the garden grounds, enjoy tastings and even partake in gardening classes.

Over the course of his lauded 20-year career, Chef Matthew McClure’s culinary prowess has earned him multiple nominations like Best Chef South by the prestigious James Beard Foundation and awarded Best New Chef 2015 by Food & Wine. Prior to joining the team at Woodstock Inn & Resort as Executive Chef and Director of Food and Beverage in 2022, he held leadership positions at Harvest Restaurant in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and most recently The Hive, a restaurant at the 21c Museum Hotel in Bentonville, Arkansas.

Learn more about Chef McClure’s culinary philosophy for the Woodstock Inn & Resort. For more information on the services, menus and to make reservations for both Thursday and Sunday evening dinners, please visit the Red Barn Dinner

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