Catskills: Inness

Inness, in Accord, NY, is the sort of place your Dad may remark looks like a George Inness painting—it’s true. The sprawling grounds are a spectacular exercise in discernment—wild enough terrain, like Scotland, for golf, a new spa, a thoughtfully designed store, tennis, pool, yes—but the regular draw is the restaurant. The wine list is strong and skin-contact-ample; the sweet potatoes and meats and z’atar and squash are—well, it’s an early evening in a warm-fired room with rich speakers and a mist clothing the mountains in sunset: not bad at all.

Inness is founded by Taavo Somer, who knows how to structure a standard—his Freeman’s stood for many years as a torch-bearer of Brooklyn’s Edison Bulb era. Often around the restaurant, Inness feels like Taavo’s easy, core expression.

If you’re like this writer, Inness is the only place you’ll really want to play golf—but there, the game is pure, rough, and gorgeous: always a red-wing blackbird exploding from the cattails; always an unseasonably lone Canada goose on the pond; more often than usual, a singing, quiet contact.