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692 Federal St., Paris, Va.
(540) 592-3900
Hours of Operation and Prices
Dinner: W-Sat 6-9; Entrees: $16.50-$22
Brunch: Sun noon-2:30, $19
Closed: M-T
Other Information
• Credit Cards: MasterCard, Visa
• Reservations: Required
• Dress: Casual
• Parking: Free
• Handicapped accessible
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This small inn has been the fulfillment of a typical Washington dream: Its proprietors, Roma and John Sherman, gave up jobs on Capitol Hill to run a country inn with a few rooms for overnight guests, yet close enough to Washington to draw those who merely want to dine. They change the menu daily, keeping it close to the season, and grow some of what they serve. John Sherman's passion for wine shows in the personalized and decently priced list.
You can dine on a terrace overlooking the garden, on an enclosed porch, or in rooms that look like colonial dining rooms or a tavern. The furnishings have a New England simplicity, turned romantic by hurricane lamps. The menu, too, shows restraint: not too many choices, nothing complicated. The vegetables shine on their own, in a roasted corn chowder or a buttery spinach accompaniment to a grill or a roast. A plain roast chicken is crackling and juicy, a memorable bird. And the region's local rockfish is served brown and crusty, silky inside.
This is not flashy cooking - it shows considerable reserve - and its plainness can highlight the flaws. But if you order whatever is most local, most seasonal and most simple, dinner is likely to be as satisfying as it is soothing.
© Copyright 1998 The Washington Post Company
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