Post recognizes Inn, Three Blacksmiths

Food Critic Tom Sietsema last week recognized Rappahannock County food icons The Inn at Little Washington and Three Blacksmiths in the Washington Post Magazine’s “Fall Dining Guide,” placing both on his list of premiere destinations in the Washington, D.C. region.

Sietsema said that The Inn, now a fixture of his dining guides, and its younger staff gives him hope for the future of premium food service.

“If you hanker for, say, the painter’s palette of sorbets or world-class ice cream sundae, just ask. This is the Inn, after all. Your wish is their command,” He wrote. “Which reminds me, there’s no better place to be a regular. Other places might write happy anniversary on a plate in chocolate. This memory maker rolls up with a cart carrying an enormous dome of spun sugar hiding progressively smaller replicas inside — along with dessert and a salutation on a marzipan ribbon.”

At Three Blacksmiths, the Sperryville restaurant that recently sold to a couple from D. C., Sietsema told reservation holders ( some of whom reached out to him) that the quality of service and food on offer remains unchanged.

“Fans can rest assured that the original details remain in place and that the new hosts have ‘ no plans on making any changes,’” new coowner Jake Addeo told Sietsema. “A five- course dinner is still served just four days a week to no more than 20 people at a single, 7 o’clock seating. And this in a honey- lit, wood- bound dining room that factors in sheepskin stools for purses, local rocks to ferry the bread and tiny anvils with your party’s name written on it.”

Sietsema had been widely credited with putting Three Blacksmiths, now a foodie destination that’s become so popular that reservations must be made months in advance, on the map after praising it in his 2018 dining guide.