Innkeepers Ellen Grinsfelder and Terry Lingo have very kindly offered the prize for my first Hungry Woolf competition – A five course dinner for two at The Inn at Cedar Falls in the Hocking Hills. I was lucky enough to be invited to the Inn for a wonderful bloggers getaway weekend and now you have a chance to experience the charm and delicious food that the Inn has to offer for yourself.
The Inn at Cedar Falls is situated right in the heart of Hocking Hills with easy access to the major attractions and hiking trails. Local activities include canoeing, ATV trips and Canopy tours. If you prefer something more sedate (or need to recover) the Inn also has its own spa. The Inn is open for lunch and dinner, private events and accommodation and you do not have to be staying there to dine there. Apparently a lot of people come for a spa treatment and dinner, or come for lunch pre or post hike. If you are the lucky winner, here is a taste of what you can expect:
Each entree selection comes with three set preliminary courses (plus dessert for the lucky prizewinner!) The meal starts with a selection of crackers, olive tapenade and one of the Inn’s signature Wisconsin cheese balls. Both were tasty and did not last long at our table. Next was the soup of the day. In our case this was a spaghetti squash soup made with local squash and decorated with onion blossoms. It came with soft white homemade bread.
The third course is a salad and ours had a perfectly roasted Roma tomato. Even the non-tomato lovers at our table commented on how good it was.
There is a choice of six or seven entrees, including one vegetarian option. The chef’s choice of vegetable and starch change daily. Between the eight diners at our table we covered almost the full range of entrees. I would say that the beef and lamb won the most accolades. Pictured from top left are the Peking roast duck, the filet mignon, Lake Erie perch en papillote and the lamb chops. The filet mignon was really good and will probably be my choice when I go again.
There was also a choice of desserts including a chocolate torte, blueberry creme brulee and a mixed berry cobbler with vanilla ice cream. I chose the cobbler and it was delicious. The topping was surprisingly light and the fruit was not overly sweet. 
The Inn has an open kitchen and it is always a good sign when you see one of the chefs coming in from the garden with a handful of fresh herbs for dinner that evening. The Inn grows a lot of their own herbs and sources as many ingredients as they can locally. I was pleased to see that they were showcasing some Ohio wines. We enjoyed two Ohio wines from the Kinkead Ridge winery, particularly the white Viognier Roussanne which I had not tried before .
The Inn has a series of small dining rooms so there is an intimate and cosy dining experience. We were there on a beautiful summer evening so chose to eat outside.
Now that I have whetted your appetite here are the five questions. All of the answers can be found on the Inn at Cedar Falls website. Please email your correct answers to hungrywoolf at hotmail dot com. The closing date for the competition is August 31st and the winner will be selected randomly from all of the correct entries. The winner will be announced on hungrywoolf.com and will be notified by email. You will be sent a gift certificate directly from the Inn at Cedar Falls.
1)Which year did the Inn at Cedar Falls open?
2) Who was the founder (and also the first cook) at the Inn?
3) What is the name of the current chef?
4) How many people does the restaurant seat?
5) How many cottages does the Inn have?
If you can’t wait and want to visit the Inn it is located at:
21190 State Route 374, Logan, Hocking County, Ohio, 43138.
You can also read more about the bloggers getaway on Columbusfoodie.com and see more photos here. There will also be a Columbus Foodcast with owner Ellen Grinsfelder coming soon. I will try to add links from the other bloggers as I spot them.
