Photograph courtesy Hotel Versailles
Silas Creative Kitchen may be located in a small town, but it has big farm-to-table flavor. Named after Versailles’s founder, pioneer Silas Atchison, the restaurant focuses on sustainably sourced ingredients and creative culinary takes. Although it’s located inside of a boutique hotel, the place easily shakes off the “hotel food” label.
Guided by Aaron Allen, the former executive chef at Coppin’s Restaurant and Bar in Covington, the menu starts with small plates worth sharing. Like the apple and walnut salad, a healthy plate of arugula tossed in vadouvan walnut butter and roquefort mousse with an unexpected scoop of green apple sorbet for a flavor combo that’ll make your tastebuds sing. The squid ink pasta and the red shrimp in the seafood spaghetti made a lovely pair, the shrimp’s briny taste wrangled into submission by garlic, olive oil, and chili flakes. And don’t miss out on the housemade Bavarian pretzels; the red dragon mustard, beer cheese, and honey mustard give them a spicy kick that you won’t want to pass up.
Photograph courtesy Hotel Versailles
On the entrée side of the menu, there’s more seafood than one would expect for a restaurant that’s not too far from the Indiana-Ohio border (Heron Point crab cake, grilled sea bass, pan-seared scallops), all of which is a testament to fresh ingredients. But if you’re looking for the dishes with more bite, go for the Snake River Farms Wagyu short rib or the chorizo and cornbread–stuffed chicken thigh with Appalachian style dumplings. They will make the beef lover in you proud.
Silas Creative Kitchen, 21 W. Main St., Versailles, Ohio, (937) 526-3020
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