Inn provides elegant dining
By Jon Busdeker on Jun. 14, 2007
Jerry and Sheila Palamar are crazy — at least that’s what their friends say.
The Palamars, originally from upstate New York, gave up their “high paying, good jobs,” moved to Appomattox and opened a bed and breakfast.
Now, seven years after purchasing The Babcock House Bed & Breakfast Inn, the couple doesn’t want to leave Central Virginia.
“We’ll retire here,” Sheila said.
And that’s good news for people who haven’t discovered the casual dining spot in Appomattox.
Built in 1884, the white, Victorian mansion located on Oakleigh Avenue began as a private residence and later became a bed and breakfast in 1996.
The Palamars bought the house in 2000, after their first trip to Appomattox. They have since made their bed and breakfast into a destination for people all over the world. The guest book near the entrance of the dining room has the signatures of people from Germany, Russia, Hawaii and Alaska.
The dining room — big enough for more than 60 people — is decorated with paintings of Ulysses S. Grant and Robert E. Lee, antique dinner plates and black and white wedding photographs where not one person is smiling.
Dinnertime is a special time at the Babcock. White linens cover the tables, folded napkins are placed in the wine glasses and lit candles give the place that romantic feel.
It’s fancy, but not too fancy, Sheila said, because suits, ties and fancy dresses aren’t required to get in the door.
But reservations for dinner are a must, Sheila said. A reservation ensures the right amount of food is made each night.
“We like to keep it fresh,” Jerry, the head chef, said. “… We don’t open up cans.”
Upon entering the dining room, guests are greeted with a plate of zucchini bread already waiting on the table. The menu — printed daily — offers a limited, but well-rounded, selection of steaks, seafood and poultry.
The Roasted Duck a la Orange came recommended from a middle-aged woman staying at the hotel with her new husband.
For starters, the spinach crab bisque — dusted with a pinch of paprika — is creamy and full of flavor. But the biggest surprise is at the bottom of the cup: There are chunks of real crab just waiting to be discovered.
When the soup’s almost gone, you’ll want to tip the cup in hopes of getting every last ounce.
After a fresh salad and a basket of warm rolls, the main course arrives.
The Roast Duck a la Orange isn’t a tiny piece of poultry. The half duck — brown, tender and juicy — has a hint of orange and comes with a side of asparagus and mashed sweet potatoes. Bits of Granny Smith apples are baked into the sweet potatoes to give the side dish an even sweeter flavor.
For dessert, Sheila recommended the carrot cake. The carrot cake is special, she said because it’s made from the same recipe that was used at Jerry and Sheila’s wedding more than 20 years ago. She said all the cakes and pies are made in-house and never store bought.
Dessert is best enjoyed outside on the porch— either sitting on the brown wicker chairs or in the wooden swing built for two.
It’s the little things, like the swing, the hardwood floors in the dining rooms and the interesting antiques that make The Babcock House Bed & Breakfast Inn distinctive.
But most of all it’s the food coming from Jerry’s kitchen.
Jerry learned to cook while at Albion College in Michigan, he said, from an “Aunt Jemima type woman” who cooked for his frat house.
In New York, Jerry worked as the director of catering for the campus of State University of New York at Oswego.
When Jerry and Sheila first opened the bed and breakfast, it took awhile before people discovered the elegant dinning spot in Appomattox.
“We thought at one point we weren’t going to make it,” Sheila said.
But, almost overnight, business turned around.
“I think people just found us,” Sheila said. “… It’s not your ordinary restaurant.”
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