The Swag has several areas to eat dinner.  The first night we were on the covered open air porch.  The lighting was low and the breeze was quite nippy.  We asked to eat inside the next night as a number of the guests did and so we sat in the great room.  There is also dining in a smaller windowed room adjacent to the porch which is enclosed and we had breakfast in there both days.  The main room has a large fireplace with a bear skin over it and a stuffed bear climbing on one of the rafters.  A large chandelier made of antlers as well as small table lights make it much easier for photos in there.  Some deer mounts are also in the room which has a jigsaw puzzle set up during the day and feeds into the bar area.  My understanding is that you can reserve a dinner here and not be staying in one of the 18 rooms, suites and villas.  However, be warned that it’s not a driveway you want to navigate in the dark.  Most of the rooms have their own fireplace and they stock the room with wood.  I know you would enjoy a trip here.

Set-Up

 

Food

The amuse bouche was roasted apples, green onion, beet chips and creme fraiche.  The apples were nicely softened for a good bite.

 

Bread that night was slices of French baguette.  It was lovely and they brought around more as the meal went on.

 

Broccolini soup was accented with dukkah (Egyptian spice blend) and chili oil.  Some coconut milk, coriander and cumin also added to the curry flavor.   It was thick with a bit of crunch from the toasted nuts.  Tasty.

 

Local Squash salad also contained blue cheese, toasted pecans, roasted beets and cider vinaigrette.  The butternut squash was grown at Swag and again the salad was very lightly dressed.  The squash was sweet and the blue cheese had good flavor.  With the crisp nuts it was a success.

 

Filet Mignon was plated with pommes pave, buttered radishes, glazed carrots and caramelized onion jus.  The radishes and potatoes were all quite tasty and some fried onion strings topped it all off nicely.  There could have been more onion sauce to season the meat but otherwise a good plate.

 

Dry aged duck breast was served with sweet potato, Romanesco cauliflower, local kale and miso gastrique.  The cauliflower was barely cooked but most of the duck was cooked nicely, with much of the fat rendered leaving a crispy skin.  As the piece tapered off though the meat was cooked too much and adopted a livery flavor.  The sweet potatoes were lovely in a layered format and the kale was good.

 

German chocolate cake contained chocolate cake and coconut pecan cream chantilly.  It was okay but not spectacular.

 

Roasted apple Vol-au-vent was made with spiced apple with fig, apricot, walnut chutney, housemade puff pastry and vanilla bean ice cream.  It sounded way better than it came off.  The spiced apple was a dominant flavor and hard to eat with the puff pastry.  That said it was fine but again not spectacular.