Sampler at Rafters
If you’ ve noticed the brand spankin’ new sign outside the venerable Seasons hotel, you should know that it is welcoming you to the completely refurbished dining room for a gustatory experience that is both new and comfortably familiar.
I have always had a bit of a soft spot for the dining room at the Seasons, with its long bank of windows overlooking the Salt Creek Valley. Over the years, I’ ve enjoyed many a fine meal parked at a table by those windows, taking in the lofty view.
The pandemic lockdown affected businesses everywhere, with restaurants in particular taking a massive hit. But, up at the Seasons, they wisely used the downtime to completely remodel and create a new watering hole called“ Rafters.”
In the restaurant sampling game, if you want to get a glimpse into the real soul of a restaurant, show up at one of their peak hours, when every table is full and the staff is stressed to the point of being overwhelmed.
I chose a busy early Sunday afternoon, when the visitors crowd in for one last Brown County dining experience, and church-goers eat after being released from their religious duties.
The resulting dinner rush nearly fills the spacious and nicely appointed dining room, as well as the comfortable tables on the bar side of the room.
I am of the church crowd, and I arrived at the Seasons fresh from the pulpit, having completed my Sunday chores as the pastor of a small Baptist church.
62 Our Brown County Sept./ Oct. 2022 photo courtesy Roy Knoy
Many years ago after a church homecoming dinner, I visited with several older preachers who had gathered to reminisce and swap pulpit jokes.
One of them said,“ Back in the old days, when a young man expressed a desire to become a preacher, the other preachers would sit him down and ask him one burning question,
“ Are you willing and able to eat fried chicken for every meal, morning noon and night, so long as you live?”
Each Sunday the preacher would take his dinner at the home of one of the congregants. When the preacher came for dinner, people cooked the only