Just about everyone who lives in, works in, or visits Middleburg needs to eat sooner or later. Recently, we came to realize that this little town has 16 eating establishments ready to meet those needs.

We learned early on when we began our research and interviews for this series, that each restaurant has its own identity, its own specialties and, of course, its own human story. We also realized that, in Middleburg, there is a good meal for every budget.

We hope readers will let us know their thoughts and opinions after they visit the restaurants we feature. What could be more fun than dialogue about eating?!

Initiating The Spice of Variety series in this issue we present three distinctive Middleburg restaurants: The Red Fox Inn, Market Salamander and The Goodstone Inn and Estate.

We heartily thank each of the chefs and staffs for their cordial cooperation in helping us bring their establishments and talents to Middleburg Eccentric readers.

The Red Fox Inn

www.redfox.com

The Red Fox Inn rests on more than 200 years of history and, currently, is the cherished endeavor of three generations of the Reuter family. Matriarch Nancy Reuter bought the Inn in 1972. Family members including her son Turner and his wife Dana have managed the Inn until just this year when the new Reuter Team stepped up to management. Third generation family member and front house manager Matilda Reuter, (daughter of Turner and Dana), back house manager Jonathan Engle, and executive chef Becky Croft comprise the collective management committee. This is a new concept in food service which they learned while in training in North Carolina. Rather than specific chef designations the collective management committee plans the menus.

This splendid old Inn now showcases today's dining experiences with today's fresh from local gardens and farms selections served with the friendliness and poise of today's family of professionals.

Matilda smiles when we ask about the three most popular items on the menu. "Could I pick four please?" she asks. We assure her she can and we scan today's menu which features Appetizers, Soups & Salads, Tavern Fare and an extensive list of Entrees. Her list of four guest favorites includes:

Appetizer – Broken Arrow Ranch Venison Sausage

Soup – Red Fox Peanut Soup - World famous

Tavern Fare – Middleburger Angus patty - all the trimmings

Entree – Surf and Turf – Angus filet, Red Fox crab cake

Matilda, Jon and Becky escort us through the upper gallery rooms where we have chatted while admiring wonderful art from the family collections. We move down to The Tavern and Dining Rooms on the first floor which are gracious in size yet comfortably intimate. The exquisite old paneling announces historic vintage throughout.

Matilda suggests we go outside for photos where the stone exterior of the Inn frames our photos. The Red Fox Inn has been one of Middleburg's most valuable historic sites since the 1700s. The Reuter family has respected, protected and continued those traditions into the 21st Century.

Market Salamander

www.market-salamander.com

Market Salamander has grown to be many a family's favorite food resource. Certainly the blue Market Salamander truck is familiar at hunt meets and diverse equine events in the region through most of every year.

In town, full menus most days for lunch and dinner at Market Salamander have created a new need with locals. Time allowances in their schedules to "Pick Up" the next meal to take home. Career families and all of those ungifted kitchen shunners of domestic chores, such as cooking, appreciate and support Market Salamander menus.

We walk over to the Market to meet Chef de Cuisine Vaughn Skaggs and are treated to the pleasure of watching him prepare two beautiful, fresh garden vegetable specials which our camera insists we shoot. Ambidextrous Chef Skaggs grills asparagus spears (which are served with a roasted pepper relish) while tossing the bright leafy Salamander Farm Swiss Chard which is sautéed with roasted garlic. We asked Chef Skaggs about three (or four) menu favorites and after consulting with his staff he named the following:

Sheila-Turkey Ruben, Judge Newman Bourbon Chicken Salad, Pincher Crab Cake and Slow and Low Pork

Market Salamander offers seating both inside and on the wraparound patio on the north and west sides of the Market. Beautiful buffets of the prepared specials and desserts with accompanying menu (cook to order) lists are easily referred to by patrons as they move through the interior core of Salamander's food presentation area. Staff members assist in selecting and serving orders.

The Market is part of Sheila Johnson's group of businesses that began with BET in Washington DC then grew far and wide. Included here, in addition to Market Salamander, are Salamander Farm just south of Middleburg and, just north of Middleburg, Salamander Resort and Spa which is slated to open in 2011.

Green Houses and gardens at Salamander Farm provide fresh produce and other ingredients for Market Salamander's menus. The Market has included local, fresh farm ingredients since it opened more than five years ago.

Goodstone Inn & Estate

www.goodstone.com

The 265 rolling acres of the Goodstone Inn and Estate, just a few miles north of Middleburg are a feast for the eyes this summer. The gardens are full, the assorted livestock are well fed and content and the Inn's open fields beckon visitors out for country walks or healthful jogs.

Goodstone Inn clearly represents the close ties between local fresh food resources and local menu offerings. Goodstone accesses not only their own farm resources but also those of other farms including Ayrshire Farm, Crooked Run Farm, Over the Grass, Oak Springs Dairy and numerous others. Among many others, wines from Linden Vineyards are served.

Chef Tarver King has welcomed us to the Inn and he takes us on a tour of the grounds and gardens where our camera records his obvious pleasure in nature's contributions. Goodstone is indeed a fully functioning farm with barns and a silo and pigs and chickens and all manner of farm inhabitants.

The Inn, cottages and residences at Goodstone offer old world elegance with new world amenities. Here, modern luxury is balanced with rustic elegance and quiet privacy. Some guest accommodations are discretely placed around the Estate for guests' seclusion and relaxation.

A few of the current "Progressions" menu offerings at the Goodstone restaurant are:

Mulligatawny, curry, rice, fried onion, hyssop, accompanying wine: Pearmund, Viognier, VA. 2007

Polenta with nine embellishments, accompanying wine: Dr. Pauly, "Noble House", Riesling, Mosel, 2004

Beef on a stone, potato, malt, stilton, accompanying wine: Robert Sinskey Vineyards, Merlot, Carneros, 2004

Goodstone Inn & Estates restaurant is open to the public Wednesday through Sunday. Limited seating is available - reservations are requested.

Next month in the Eccentric the Spice of Variety will feature three Middleburg restaurants located right in the center of town. They are French Hound, Back Street Café and Mello Out.