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Bailey Berg
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Salamander Middleburg’s new Sheila’s Table series will debut with chef Cliff Rome, featuring hands-on cooking classes, intimate conversations, and a multi-course dinner.
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/TAL-header-aerial-salamander-middleburg-CHEFVAGETAWAY1026-81143f52bc8d47768c6b94c38fd41822.jpg "Scenic view of the Salamander Middleburg.Credit: Matt Dandy/Salamander Middleburg")
Scenic view of the Salamander Middleburg.
Credit: Matt Dandy/Salamander Middleburg
A new three-day culinary experience is coming to Virginia’s horse and wine country this November, and the inaugural gathering will be built around a chef connected to one of the country’s biggest cultural openings of the year.
From November 15 to 17, Salamander Middleburg will debut Sheila’s Table, a new series of intimate, multi-day culinary stays hosted by Salamander Collection founder and pioneering Black hotelier Sheila Johnson. Instead of bringing in a guest chef for a single dinner, the resort is stretching the experience across two nights, with cooking classes, meals, tastings, and conversations designed to give guests more time with the person behind the menu.
The first featured chef will be Cliff Rome, the Chicago restaurateur who leads Tafari’s Kitchen at the Obama Presidential Center. For the inaugural outing, guests arrive Sunday evening for cocktails and a fireside conversation with Rome. On Monday, they’ll then join him for a hands-on cooking class and lunch before sitting down that evening for a multi-course dinner at Harrimans, Salamander’s Forbes Five-Star restaurant. The itinerary concludes Tuesday morning with breakfast.
Rome’s appearance comes at a particularly interesting point in his career. The Obama Presidential Center opened in Chicago this year, with Tafari’s Kitchen as one of its primary dining venues. Named in honor of Tafari Campbell, the former White House chef who later became the Obama family’s personal chef, the restaurant uses food to tell some of the stories connected to the family and Campbell himself. Mainstays on the menu include Campbell’s ribs, the Obama family chili, and red rice based on a recipe by Marian Robinson, Michelle Obama’s mother, who lived with the first family in the White House.
Salamander hasn’t yet shared the menu for Rome’s stay, but the resort says each edition of Sheila’s Table will incorporate seasonal ingredients from Virginia farms, vineyards, and artisan producers, giving visiting chefs a chance to filter their own cooking through the region. That regional focus makes Middleburg a fitting backdrop. Roughly an hour west of Washington, D.C., the small town sits amid Loudoun County’s wineries, horse farms, and rolling countryside. Salamander itself spans more than 340 acres and has an equestrian center, spa, and dedicated Cooking Studio, where Rome’s class will take place.
Each gathering will also support a cause chosen by the visiting chef. For Rome’s edition, that means Mise En Place Chicago, a program run through his nonprofit, Rome in a Day Production Chicago, which offers hospitality training for people ages 16 to 36 to help them build careers in the industry.
Rome is the only participating chef announced so far, though Salamander says additional names will be revealed in the coming months. The inaugural Sheila’s Table is sold as a two-night package for two guests. It includes accommodations, the Sunday welcome reception, daily breakfast, Monday lunch, the cooking class, dinner at Harrimans, a resort activity, and a personalized Sheila’s Table cookbook. Prices start at $4,318 per person.
Scenic view of the Salamander Middleburg.
Credit: Matt Dandy/Salamander Middleburg
A new three-day culinary experience is coming to Virginia’s horse and wine country this November, and the inaugural gathering will be built around a chef connected to one of the country’s biggest cultural openings of the year.
From November 15 to 17, Salamander Middleburg will debut Sheila’s Table, a new series of intimate, multi-day culinary stays hosted by Salamander Collection founder and pioneering Black hotelier Sheila Johnson. Instead of bringing in a guest chef for a single dinner, the resort is stretching the experience across two nights, with cooking classes, meals, tastings, and conversations designed to give guests more time with the person behind the menu.
The first featured chef will be Cliff Rome, the Chicago restaurateur who leads Tafari’s Kitchen at the Obama Presidential Center. For the inaugural outing, guests arrive Sunday evening for cocktails and a fireside conversation with Rome. On Monday, they’ll then join him for a hands-on cooking class and lunch before sitting down that evening for a multi-course dinner at Harrimans, Salamander’s Forbes Five-Star restaurant. The itinerary concludes Tuesday morning with breakfast.
Rome’s appearance comes at a particularly interesting point in his career. The Obama Presidential Center opened in Chicago this year, with Tafari’s Kitchen as one of its primary dining venues. Named in honor of Tafari Campbell, the former White House chef who later became the Obama family’s personal chef, the restaurant uses food to tell some of the stories connected to the family and Campbell himself. Mainstays on the menu include Campbell’s ribs, the Obama family chili, and red rice based on a recipe by Marian Robinson, Michelle Obama’s mother, who lived with the first family in the White House.
Salamander hasn’t yet shared the menu for Rome’s stay, but the resort says each edition of Sheila’s Table will incorporate seasonal ingredients from Virginia farms, vineyards, and artisan producers, giving visiting chefs a chance to filter their own cooking through the region. That regional focus makes Middleburg a fitting backdrop. Roughly an hour west of Washington, D.C., the small town sits amid Loudoun County’s wineries, horse farms, and rolling countryside. Salamander itself spans more than 340 acres and has an equestrian center, spa, and dedicated Cooking Studio, where Rome’s class will take place.
Each gathering will also support a cause chosen by the visiting chef. For Rome’s edition, that means Mise En Place Chicago, a program run through his nonprofit, Rome in a Day Production Chicago, which offers hospitality training for people ages 16 to 36 to help them build careers in the industry.
Rome is the only participating chef announced so far, though Salamander says additional names will be revealed in the coming months. The inaugural Sheila’s Table is sold as a two-night package for two guests. It includes accommodations, the Sunday welcome reception, daily breakfast, Monday lunch, the cooking class, dinner at Harrimans, a resort activity, and a personalized Sheila’s Table cookbook. Prices start at $4,318 per person.