The Three Blacksmiths was opened in 2018 by John and Diane MacPherson who sold it to the current chef/owners Jake and Sara Addeo in 2021. (The name is in honor of the 3 blacksmiths that worked in Sperryville many years ago. ) Both the Addeos cook, pick wines and run the front of house along with the help of a sous chef and several servers. The small 20 seat place. is one of the hardest reservations to get in this country – booking out over 6 months ahead. The warm wooded room had lowered lighting, curtained windows to the street, an open kitchen and music in the background. They serve a 5 course tasting menu only, with a few surprise additions and offer 2 levels of wine pairings 4 nights a week with one seating. There is a small wine list but no full bar. They do have a couple pre-dinner cocktails as well as after dinner drinks like port and sherry. The tables are set with your evening’s menu and I loved that they have the service team’s names and photos on the back. The feel of the room is inviting and cozy but the tables are a bit far a part for cross table talk. The tasting takes about 4 hours but it goes by nicely as you feel you’re in a private home and both of the chef/owners come by to chat. We had hoped to try it when we were in the area in 2021 but couldn’t get in, so when we found an opening we jumped on it and were glad we did. It’s a fun night, where you’ll find lots of local repeat customers, some celebrating a ‘special occasion’ and others like us, just celebrating another day of fun dining. Hope you’ll get on their list and let me know what you think.
Set-up
Food
We tried their Copper Fox Old-Fashioned cocktail and it was nicely made and not too sweet. A fun way to start even though they bring all a glass of sparkler to start the menu, which went well with the first trio of surprises.
A Maine oyster was with a pepper mignonette. It was nicely spicy. A quail egg was on a tart of braised beef cheek which was also tasty. Last was a porcini shortbread cookie on rye bread topped with a chanterelle mushroom gremolata. It was very good and the favorite of the three.
We got a glass of white wine to go with the Maine Monkfish that was served with charred scallion, garlic chive oil, smoked trout roe, yuzu sake beurre blanc and uni hollandaise. The perfectly cooked fish was wrapped in chard. The pop of the roe was a fun textural accent and a great pairing with the lovely sauce. The dish had a nice balance and even better flavor.
Bread service was served with cultured butter topped with sea salt and a black garlic butter topped with bonito flakes and smoked sea salt. The breads were a rye sesame seed with sunflower seeds and a focaccia seasoned with pickled green tomatoes and Za’atar. Both breads were served warm and were well flavored in thick and thin slices. They were served on warm stones which was a nice touch.
Sunnyside Sweet Potato Soup also had black radish, coconut milk reduction and broccoli rabe salsa verde. The sweet potatoes were steamed and the black radish was on top. The radish pieces were a bit tough but the overall soup had good consistency and flavor.
Aged Acquerello risotto was made with roasted Fuyu persimmon, Meadow Creek grayson (cheese), cured Hudson Valley foie gras and burgundy black truffle. This is a premium brand of Carnaroli rice, aged for a minimum of one year, from Italy. The persimmons were cooked in browned butter and nicely sweet. The truffle flavor was minimal and the texture was more stiff than creamy. Still, the flavor was good.
Berkshire Pork loin was served with chorizo in the middle and vincotto (an Italian condiment made with reduced grape must that ends up a fruity syrup) underneath.. On the side white corn polenta was topped with Komatsuna spinach, The sauce was thick and lovely and the chorizo added needed spice and fat to the pork.
Pre-dessert was a cannoli stuffed with ricotta and topped with cocoa nibs, pistachios and powdered sugar. Some autumn olives were caramelized that seasoned the nibs. There was lots of texture in this small crisp bite. They were tasty but the powdered sugar flies everywhere.
Budino di riso was with Delicata squash gel, burnt onion anglaise and sea buckthorn sorbet. The rice pudding was baked as a tart with a burnt onion glaze. It was dense. The squash was a gel seasoned with cardomon. I found the sea buckthorn sorbet a little salty and too tart. This was interesting but overall I’d rate it only okay.
A parting gift was brought out by the chef couple. They were ginger rye cookies filled with blue cheese butter cream. They were very different and didn’t transport well.
