Bygone restaurant: Hanover, PA’s Sheppard Mansion [classic article]

Sometimes, with change, all we are left with is our memories. Long before one of Nashville’s star chefs — Andrew Little — became nationally renowned, he was the genius behind Sheppard Mansion. The place was an historic inn owned by one of his childhood friends. Little shone a light on the produce and meats of southern Pennsylvania, as well as re-imagined Pennsylvania Dutch and Amish recipes. The restaurant is gone, but my memories remain.

Rabbit and baby veggies with a mushroom cream sauce at Sheppard Mansion in Hanover, PA Photo by Tamar Alexia Fleishman

You know how to get to Hanover, PA, right? It is an hour from Baltimore and minutes from Carroll County, MD and Baltimore County, MD ‘burbs. So that’s how to get yourself to one of the most exquisite dining experiences you’ll ever have at the Sheppard Mansion. As you drive up, you will see its stately gorgeousness. Inside different rooms have different shapes, such as Ladies’ Parlor. There are working fireplaces in the dining rooms and the big band / crooner music plays quietly in the background. People were dressed ranging from elegant casual to cocktail party. The palace is still in the hands of the family, and the restaurant is in the hands of the chef Andrew Lille.

Chef Little born and bred in Hanover, but also spent years in Virginia – working for places like Inn at Little Washington. In its recipes, you can find a true love for local fare – he even has a veggie garden on the spot – along with a touch of South. Variants are a mix of upscale / innovative with secret comfortable favorites. Service at the restaurant is first class, fine dining all the way.

I was lucky that could be to be able to try his wine tasting menu. As I happily rubbed, I looked around and up the stairs to the B & B rooms, thinking, “This is how royalty eats. I’m sure.” So I daydreamed about how I could live there and eat there every day …

If you follow his blog, you will quickly discover his passion for food. He spent the snowy winter perfecting the macarons. Did you know that they are different from macros? Well, yes, they are completely different. Now you know. He grows his own fresh herbs and baby vegetables, eels her own butter from Adams County’s Apple Valley Cream.

With the wine tasting menu, start out with more “snacks” – a generous take on the amuse bouche concept. This evening started with cheddar gougieres: a little light biscuit, with garden herb dressing, as it had a cucumbery, light flavor.

The next snack was a morello stuffed with bone marrow: a meaty treat! The cream downstairs was a big contrast. It was also served with little baby onion rings. How funny!

The next snack was the garden asparagus, French fries like a lollipop, Serrano ham and radish. If you have not had frogs – or you had them elsewhere – it’s very tender and mild. Like chicken wish it was! These must be baby frogs, so delicious. The contrast of spices is the perfect foil.

Among the bread of course – as the chef is a little considering as deep as the rest of the menu – includes a soft homemade pastry roll with flaky salt on top. So Pennsylvania!

The next course – and by that way, is just the right size – was a fork tender rabbit cooked sous vie with thyme, served with crispy baby veggies from the garden, baby gnocchi, and a little bit of a creamy mushroom sauce. It was also mild and sweet, the best rabbit I have ever had … and I have had award winning rabbit dishes while judging food competitions. The kid gnocchi was like little mini tater tots – gourmet favorites!

This was followed by the chef’s personal favorite: yellowfin tuna served with flakes sea salt, locally pickled mushrooms, and edible flowers. The tuna was perfectly seared, fresh as could be and the flakes sea salt added pleasant piece of texture. Do not think of the local Amish market jarred mushrooms, either. These are meaty and big. The flowers go with the dish in a cool, fresh way.

Next on tasting, Virginia redfish was wrapped in land ham, served on Collard greens. The rockfish was very firm, mild, and fleshy. The Virginia Rock season starts earlier than ours in Maryland. Collards were cooked to modern tenderness, not cooked to dissolve old South style. They were fresh and not greasy.

The entree was crisp veal cheeses served longostino risotto and cabbage. Veal was unctious, rich-rich, fleshy. The crisp paneling was the right contrast. And who would guess that Langostino would match veal cheeks? Their sweetness goes well with veal.

Then came a generous slice of a really good Stilton, with a thick red wine / onion marmalade and mache. I tasted a light lemon dressing on mache. I guarantee that if marmalade was sold in jars, I would buy it, would you buy it, we would all buy it.

The pre-dessert dessert was an intense passion fruit sorbet. It was not icey or flavorless. It was much more than a palate cleansing: it had snap.

Then a rich peanut butter mousse cup was enrobbed in dark chocolate. It was served with a lively cotton swab of salted caramel and fresh banana ice cream. It’s a rich dessert without being goopy, silly, or too sweet.

I have also tried another dessert that is a favorite of the house: fried apple crisp with homemade skirt. It is a dessert that does not take a backseat for other desserts, the way fruit desserts sometimes do.

The meal ends with a mini cookie tray: strawberry macarons with marmalade, peanut butter macarons with Nutella, and then pork dipped in white chocolate! Would you believe it? They were so outrageously good, I rubbed them all up before taking a picture.