Twin Oaks Country Inn
Precise Attention to Innovation and Detail in a charming country Victorian
Wilmot, Wisconsin clings tenaciously to its small strip of real estate along the Fox River. Founded back in the 1800s heyday of our state's logging industry, the Wilmot of today is primarily home to a few antique stores and a small ski hall, and in the noble tradition of rural communities, a rugged, unshakable civic pride. The cash register at the local Amoco cheerfully boasts "Welcome to Wonderful Wilmot," and the sentiment clearly reverberates through the town and its people.
With that atmosphere and warm welcome in mind, chef Richard Knox and his wife Gina made their escape from Chicago thirteen years ago to establish the Twin Oaks Country Inn. Pursuing their ideal of casual fine dining and elegant banquets in a country Victorian setting. Richard and Gina have carved a niche for themselves through painstaking attention to detail in the quality and creativity of their cuisine and a location that's just out-of-the-way enough to make getting there seem part of some grand adventure.
Housed in a grand Victorian home constructed in 1891 atop a hill originally settled in the 1830s by A.W.Benham, the founder of Wilmot, and surrounded by a stand of oak trees that date to Benham's time, Twin Oaks is an irreplaceably integral part of the surroundings. From the 1940s through 1967, the building served as the Holy Name Convent and parochial grade school, and since then as two other restaurants prior to Richard and Gina's extensive renovations in late 1990. The old school addition connected to the house has been renovated into banquet space for groups up to 200, and has been renamed Heartwood Hall. There are two unique dining areas; one for smoking, one for not, and a charming and well-stocked bar located in the former formal dining room of the house.
Richard's approach to cooking is one of untiring innovation focused by relentless perfectionism. With tenures at the prestigious White Hall and Park Hyatt hotels in Chicago, he is intimately acquainted with premiere American cuisine, drawing influence from all corners of Europe and around the globe.
My friend Andrew and I stopped in on a Wednesday evening to sample their board-of-fare. I invited Andrew because he knows his wines far better than I, and as Twin Oaks has won Wine Spectator Magazine's Award of Excellence for the past two years. It couldn't hurt to bring my own navigator to their list of over 130 available wines.
I'll admit it took us rather a while to make our selections from the menu; each option seemed fascinating in its own right. In fact, we had to wait until after the appetizers to determine exactly what we were in the mood for. Twin Oaks is an establishment that may require repeat visits for the chronically indecisive. Making things even more delightfully difficult, the daily Specials are continually evolving as Richard experiments with new Innovations. The menu also goes through several permutations in cycle with the seasonal changes each year.
The appetizer menu reads like a declaration of war against the bland and banal. Each offering here, ranging from Frog Legs with Saffron Risotto to Braised Vegetable and Basil Flavored Goat-Cheese Terrine, is comprised of unique combinations of exotic flavors and techniques, presented in the fashion of a traditional and proper First Course as opposed to the finger-food snack-a-thon prevalent in mainstream American dining. For starters, we eventually settled on the Smoked Duck Breast Carbonara and, from the specials, the Maryland Crabcake.
Twin Oaks' crabcake is superlative, in presentation as well as taste and texture. Andrew, being well-versed in crabcakery, took particular note of the delicate golden-brown crust, which he's found virtually impossible to achieve in his own experience. The crabcake came served in the center of a pin-wheel of Béarnaise, sweet red pepper, and yellow pepper sauces, and this is where we experienced firsthand Richard Knox's classical French culinary training. This is a man ho knows intimately the art of the sauce. I doubt you'll find a more expert manifestation of Béarnaise elsewhere, but for my palate, I was most drawn to the sweet red pepper as a compliment to the crabcake; extremely flavorful but not particularly hot, it never upstaged the subtle nature of the crab.
Readers, on my recommendation, take heed. It is absolutely necessary for you to order the Smoked Duck Breast Carbonara. Prepared with bacon and fresh vegetables over angel hair pasta with a light alfredo sauce, this is an appetizer dish that you won't want to miss. Duck is something of a
specially at Twin Oaks-how many places can you think of that actually feature as a main course a Duck du Jour, offered with the head chef's daily choice of sauce? Coupled here with the pasta, which is made in-house daily, and the other ingredients, the effect is almost symphonic.
At this point we'd finally pegged down our wine selections, which in turn helped finalize our main courses. As a recent convert to the merits of the Beaujolais, I was particularly pleased to find a Prosper Malloux Beaujolais Nouveau on their list of featured wine selections. This is an extraordinarily well-balanced red, light on its feet and capable of accenting quite a wide variety of food. Andrew, after some deliberation, chose a Pighin Pinol Grigio from the Fruit region of northeastern Italy, considered to be a balanced, virtually ideal pinol grigio with sweet spices accompanying the fruity nose.
Wine in hand, I was finally able to deckle on the Svickova, pronounced Svitch-kova, which is Bohemian-style beef tenderloin marinated and simmered with sour cream and fresh dill served over fettuccini. Regarding the meats, it should be noted that nothing offered at Twin Oaks has ever been frozen. Despite the distance between, Richard has never forgotten his Chicagoan roots or his close ties to the fresh produce and meat markets there, and travels there himself several times a week to hand-select the ingredients. I was mindful of this when my entree arrived, and I truly believe that they gave me the best tenderloin Chicago can offer. Svickova is a Czech word, and a dish, by origin. However, Richard ha filtered it through the best of his pan-European influences to create a unique expression via the emphasis of the dill and the addition of fettuccini. All in all, I found it a hearty and thoroughly satisfying meal.
As Andrew's pinot grigio originated in the northeast corner of Italy, so too, he thought, should his main course. Thusly, the Lobster and Shrimp Gnocchi was a natural choice. Gnocchi is a pasta dumpling made of potatoes and flour, usually with cream and Parmesan added, and is a result of Austro-German influences crossing the Italian border. With just the right contrast to bring a fruity acidity to the shrimp and lobster while sweetening the potato gnocchi, wine and food were an excellent match, and Andrew stated he had not savored gnocchi made as well since enjoying it on the Ligurian coast of Italy several years ago.
We closed off the evening with espresso and a butterscotch Madeline; the butterscotch made fresh in-house with of course, real scotch and accented with succulent blackberries and raspberries the size of grapes. Where one gets berries like that this time of year I have no clue. Suffice it to say, dinner was simply fabulous, and our server took excellent care of us as well.
Over the course of the meal, Andrew related to me an anecdote regarding some duke or baron of legend who, when asked his opinion of a particularly splendid feast, succinctly told the chef, "The wine was excellent." Certain members of his entourage were puzzled. Was this an insult? But the chef understood and accepted it as a high compliment, for even the best of wines will sour with subpar food, but truly superior food can only make a good wine better. I say without reservation. Richard, the wine was excellent.
Twin Oaks Country Inn is located at 30807 11th St. in Wilmot, which is half a block west of Hwy. W on Hwy. C. The easiest route from most points north, and a winding, picturesque one at that would be to take Hwy. W south from Hwy. 50, which is the next intersection eastward from the junction of Hwys. 50 and 83.
Luncheons are available for groups of 15 or more Tuesday through Friday 11:30 AM to 2:00 PM, call for information. Dinner hours are 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM Tuesday through Thursday, extending to 10:00 PM Friday and Saturday. On Sundays, dinner is served from 1:00 PM to 7:00 PM in winter months, extending to 8:00 PM in the summer. Most dinner entrees are priced in the low-to-mid $20 range; lunches and appetizers run just below $10. Reservations are recommended; you can phone or fax Twin Oaks at (262) 862-9377.
* Prices and items may have changed since the publication of this article. *