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Our family enjoyed three nights over the Thanksgiving Holiday
at this beautiful and historic resort. Dating back 200 years, it is
full of rich history -- including visits by 10 U.S. Presidents --
and was just reopened in July 2007 after being closed for 20
years. It was completely renovated and restored to its historic
splendor. It boasts a top-notch spa, one of the country's first
18-hole golf courses, one of the first indoor pools, and a
beautiful interior complete with ballrooms and several
restaurants. The rooms were nice -- decorated using historic
colors but complete with modern amenities. Now...for the
FOOD. I have very mixed feelings about writing this review.
There is no question that the food was outstanding. Most
meals during our 3-day stay were buffets, including a mid-day
Thanksgiving dinner. Typically, I'm not a fan of buffets unless
the food is really high quality and beautifully presented, and
this certainly was. In fact, all our meals at the resort -- from
the wonderful breakfast spread to an elegant dinner in the
Crystal Room -- were delicious. My only reservation was the
lack of attention we received regarding our 5-year old son's
gluten-free diet. As always, I had called before even booking
our stay back in August, and I was assured that the resort
handles special dietary requests frequently and with ease. So I
was relieved and excited for our stay. I called again three
weeks before our arrival at the resort to personally talk with
the Executive Chef, Konrad Meier. He assured me they'd have
plenty of gluten-free foods available. Just as a back up,
however, we brought some gluten-free mac-n-cheese for our
son, along with a frozen g-f pizza and some g-f pasta. Our first
night we were just in the mood for something light, so we
opted for the Frontier Tavern, which is really more like a bar
with a limited bar-type menu. To keep things simple and
because there wasn't a lot other than a burger on the menu
that we thought our son would eat, we asked them to prepare
the box of mac-n-cheese we brought. That seemed to throw
the server for a bit of a loop. It was obvious she had never
heard of gluten-free diets before. So we asked to talk with the
chef. An assistant chef came out and assured us it would be no
problem to prepare the mac-n-cheese and also offered to bring
out some fruit for our son. Everything worked out well. I
figured we'd meet the head chef the next day, at the
Thanksgiving meal, but again, when we asked, they sent out
another assistant. His first inclination was to offer to cook our
son a steak, which typically would have been fine, but I had
been assured when I spoke to the head chef weeks before that
our son would be able to eat plenty from the Thanksgiving
spread. We wanted him to be able to enjoy as much of a
traditional Thanksgiving dinner as possible. The assistant chef
was fine with that and fortunately he seemed quite
knowledgeable as he walked me through the buffet, telling me
what was gluten-free and what wasn't and how they used
cornstarch, not flour, to thicken their sauces and gravies.
However, I found myself wondering just how careful the resort
is when it comes to food preparation and avoiding cross-
contamination in the kitchen. I also questioned just how much
they knew about potential hidden sources of gluten. In general
I just felt very rushed through the process and ended up
having lots of questions like was chicken broth used in the rice
pilaf? If so, was it gluten-free? Was the ham gluten-free? They
told me yes, but often ham isn't because of how it's
marinated/cured. Our son ate well but did have a stomach
ache later. Was there gluten in something? We'll never know.
In their defense, it was a busy time, and I probably should
have met with the Executive Chef at a less hectic time before
the meal. The breakfast buffets were the same, with someone
from the kitchen briefly telling me the obvious about what was
g-f and what wasn't. I had her double-check the bacon and
sausage, which she confirmed was g-f. But it just seemed that
there wasn't the level of engagement on the part of the chefs
and wait staff that you'd expect from a resort of this caliber. I
think I expected them to be more proactive in offering to
prepare something special for our son (gluten-free pancakes
perhaps?), and it always seemed like a lot of trouble to hunt
someone down for that element of special attention. We made
due just fine, and I'd recommend this resort for g-f and non g-f
diners alike. I'd just try to sit down with a chef upon your
arrival to discuss your specific needs -- especially if you want
them to prepare anything special for you.
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