I was lucky enough to be a part of the inaugural trip of the Hotel Versailles AmuseBUS roundtrip experience for a dinner reservation at Silas Creative Kitchen + Cocktails. Every Thursday through August 31, you can ride the luxury Mercedes-Benz Executive Shuttle, enjoy pre-dinner welcome drinks of their housemade wine and spirits, while they whisk you away to the rural setting of this boutique hotel and restaurant.
As many of you may remember the 150 year old hotel was destroyed by a fire in 2019, but they have rebuilt and expanded the property that is sophisticated and surprising, friendly and fancy, modern and memorable. As you enter the building you are greeted in a small lobby and then proceed to the bar\dining room that runs the entire length of the property. It’s bright and airy with an array of booth and table seating. The dining room seats 68, with a a private dining room for 12 and and another 50 or so patio tables are available for al fresco dining.
Chef Aaron Allen
As we sat down we were greeted by Executive Chef Aaron Allen, who trained under Chef Anne Kearney for five years at Dayton’s Rue Dumaine. You could hear the passion in his voice as he described how he crafts the menu using seasonally available ingredients that are sourced directly from the property’s 85 acre Sycamore Bridge Farm, with meats supplied through local partnerships with Winner’s Quality Meats and King’s Poultry Farm. In the menu you’ll even find a list of all the local purveyors used by the restaurant.
I shared a meal with 4 others and we decided to dine family style, ordering many dishes but sharing them all so we could taste as many items as possible. We started out with a homemade bread plate which came with an assortment of focaccia, corn bread and milk bread served with butter and lava salt, all made in house by their pastry chef.
We also enjoyed a charcuterie tower which included an assortment of house-cured meats, pickles, preserves, bread, and Ohio artisan cheeses. We all agreed that the charred carrot salad with pickled beets, salted pistachios, arugula chevre and coffee crumbs was a table favorite.
Other hits of the night included the roasted pork belly bao buns, the chicken schnitzel, the waygu short ribs, the pan seared scallops and a spice rubbed NY strip steak.
My personal highlight of the meal was the herb crusted elk loin with English pea butter, wild mushrooms, white asparagus, whipped chevre, citrus, cherry jus. It truly melted in my mouth, and was not gamey at all like I thought elk might be. Chef explained he sous vide’s it until tender and finishes it on the grill for just a few minutes to create that texture.
And no meal is complete without desserts, and we enjoyed tiramisu, a lemon posset with a blueberry and rhubarb granita and lemon shortbread, their version of an ice cream sandwich and a frozen peanut butter trifle, pictured below.
After dinner we headed to the bar where the signature cocktails was filled with options, many of which were derived from the history of Versailles and highlighted the local distilleries. I chose to end my night with a bourbon experience.
After a fantastic evening of great food, drink and hospitality I took advantage of the Ohio Staycation package to reserve an overnight stay and return chauffeur service the next morning. Reservations for the experience can be made by calling the hotel concierge at 937.526.3020.
For those wondering, the average check for dining at dinner runs about $75.
