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My very generous boss Doreen treated us to a really lovely meal to celebrate the holidays and the six-month anniversary of Green Harvest Food Emporium, the place she owns and where I work.  She solicited our ideas about where we’d like to have dinner about a month and a half ago.  The general chatter was, “Why don’t we go somewhere we’ve all wanted to go but never have?”  Oddly enough, that’s a tall order to fill when you live in a fairly insular region and are trying to accomodate a bunch of foodies who have for years considered dining out their first choice for entertainment.

Doreen settled on Cavallo’s, a slightly mysterious villa I’ve passed by many times.  It’s considered more of an inn/event space.  It’s not quite a house, nor quite a hotel, and it’s not open regularly for dinner.  Nevertheless, the owner of Cavallo’s, Shirley, agreed to cook for us last Saturday night.  Doreen brought a selection of excellent wines along, and we arrived at Cavallo’s eagerly awaiting a special meal.

Much to our surprise, the space was open to only us that night.  The outside gate was closed after we entered the driveway.  Each table was impressively and expensively laid (a wedding was to happen there New Year’s Eve), but one was set aside for our party of six.  We settled in, all of us oohing and aahing over the odd yet grandiose surroundings.  The inside of Cavallo’s is largely an enchanting series of rooms and halls, decorated with amazing antiques and marble floors and staircases.  Shirley encouraged us to explore between courses, and thank heavens she did.  The meal she prepared was delicious, ENORMOUS, and the little walks in between were quite necessary.

Shirley began by serving us a roasted vegetable stack, a fabulous piece of homemade sausage, all accented by vin cotto.   Next came meltingly tender winter squash ravioli in a carmelized onion and muscat grape sauce.  The third course was prawns and langoustines in a lobster reduction, served with a butter-toasted baguette for scooping up the sauce.  And then came the entrees, where we all had a choice of dishes.  I chose the two-inch veal chop with demi-glace, which was just yummy.  But one of the funniest moments of the evening came when my husband’s entree was set before him.  He had chosen the half duck, which arrived in all its burnished, glazed glory on, no kidding, a PLATTER!   It was surrounded by whole roasted fruits and vegetables, easily enough food for three people.  Dessert was comparitively simple, but delicious, a fresh orange cake with lemon curd, strawberry coulis, and whipped cream.

So if you’re ever coming to Easton, PA, consider seeking out Cavallo’s on route 611.  If you’re lucky Shirley will let you in for dinner, and with advance notice you can stay in one of their suites for the night.  You’ll probably need to after the coma-inducing meal.