Here’s Where Farm-to-Table Actually Lives Up to the Hype

When I first was given the opportunity to spend a night away at a boutique farm-to-table hotel in Vermont, I’ll admit, I was not sold on it being a life changing experience. For context, I live on a farm in Vermont where we produce our own vegetables, flowers, and meat for restaurants and our community. I also have two little kids so the thought of having to arrange overnight childcare and farm animal coverage for a night away to a place seemingly like my home wasn’t a draw.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

On the two-hour drive to the southern Vermont town of Weston, my husband and I have the opportunity to pretend like we’re newlyweds again and to ease into what turns out to be one of our favorite getaway experiences of the year.

The Weston, named for the 77-person village of the same name, is a small high-end hotel about a half hour from Stratton Mountain and Manchester. It boasts gorgeous rooms, fantastic food, impressive wines and cocktails, and the attention to detail so rarely seen in the “make-it-all-the-same” era of decor (ahem all-white kitchens). This isn’t surprising once I learn the backstory: The property’s owners are essentially hotel royalty. The Sharp family, known for The Carlyle and Gramercy Park Hotel in New York City, as well as the Beverly Wilshire in Los Angeles, apply their same exquisite taste to every angle of The Weston. From the heavy brass laser-cut room keys to the luxurious plush towels and slippers, every moment is thought through by someone who knows what superb service means.

The visual and tactile appeal is not the most impressive part of The Weston, though. The food, the drinks, and the people we meet are truly top notch. Malin Reina, the general manager, and her husband Matt Reina, the food and beverage manager, are no strangers to the intricacies of hospitality. Though moving to a tiny town comes with its quirks, it’s clear that they’ve brought their talents while still embracing a Vermont life. “You run into everyone at the post office,” says Matt. “You can’t go expecting to not have a conversation with someone with an opinion.”

That might not be the environment everyone wants to live in, but executive chef Bretton Combs says it was the biggest appeal. Combs has led kitchens for celebrity chefs Emeril Lagasse and Cat Cora, but the pandemic pushed him to search for a new place to bring his talent. He had interviews at several places in New England but canceled them all once he interviewed at The Weston. “There’s something special here,” he says. “Peter [Sharp, the owner of The Weston] works at the local butcher shop on Saturday mornings. Toni [the farmer], knows more about vegetables than anyone I’ve ever met and will step in to help with the dishes if we’re short someone in the kitchen. I bought a house here as soon as I could.”

The Weston is introducing a 50-acre farm helmed solely by Antoinette Kessler, or Toni as everyone calls her, an incredibly impressive farmer who has held many jobs from home economics teacher to agricultural educator to seed saver at West River Seeds. When we meet her, she is moving the soil wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow to not disrupt the top layer of the soil beds with heavy equipment. Her rows of vegetables, herbs, and flowers are so carefully placed and planned that only someone who spends half their time farming (ahem, my husband) could understand the specifics. Chef Combs might be really good, but Toni’s care for the soil and plants makes his food better.

Over dinner at the on-site restaurant, The Left Bank, the most memorable dish of the evening is a simply perfect celeriac remoulade. Julienned tender and buttery celeriac is served in a creamy remoulade sauce with the perfect amount of herbs and tang from lemon juice and capers. Then yellow and green haricot verts are served with caramelized cipollinis and a fried squash blossom, which is still toothsome and sweet at the end of the season. Scallops, deeply browned on the outside and just barely firm on the inside, are served with a creamy tomato coulis and chewy farro. And for the bouillabaisse, the buttery fennel tomato broth is so deeply flavorful that the seafood is almost secondary to the rouille-slathered crusty bread dipped into the broth.

The food shines even more with Matt’s wine pairings. We start with a glass of Steininger Grüner Veltliner, a solid citrusy pour made more fun from a double magnum (3-liter) bottle. A 2018 Chenin Blanc from Habit Wine Co. in Santa Ynez Valley, a 2015 Bergstrom Sigrid Chardonnay, and a 2012 Kiralyudvar Tokaji Aszu 6 Puttonyos dessert wine from Hungary follow. Our server, Charma Bonnano, makes sure to tell my husband, an associate dean at the University of Vermont, that her son is a student at the school — a sly note that this team has done a little research before hosting us.

Many other media outlets have written about the beauty of the Weston’s rooms and the spa services, but as impressive is how deeply the staff is connected to the mission of the hotel as well as the community. That ethos is baked into the fabric of the stay.

Trying to describe what it means to live in Vermont is virtually impossible — as us locals say, you have to experience it. While you can say the Weston delivers fine farm-to-table-dining, and it does, Vermonters would simply say "what's in season and what's for dinner?" And that is what The Weston answers. The people who work at The Weston take pride in their work because they are part of the community, contributing to what makes Vermont so appealing. If you want to know why Peter Sharp is betting on a tiny inn in Vermont rather than another place in a large city, then you’ll have to step foot in a town with no cell service. I promise, it’s worth it.