Gathered: Homespun gifts - Homegrown goods

Exploring Front Royal - Old Town Shopping

Gathered

201 E. Main Street

There's a new kid on the block in Front Royal!  While some old favorites (like Second Chance) may have passed into memory, several promising new enterprises have added to the charm of Front Royal's historic district this spring.  Right off of Main Street you'll find Gathered, a boutique whose quality homespun gifts and artistic jewelry and housewares are a delight to browse.

Although Gathered has a Main Street address, the entrance is located on Church Street.

Proprietor and Savannah native Caydn Speziale feathers the Gathered nest with hand-crafted items ranging from the whimsical to the elegant.  These items are produced by skilled artisans, many of whom are local and regional craftspeople.  This is a wonderful option for those who want to buy local and support the community's artistic talent.

Creativity is a family-affair for Cayden.  She and her husband, area native Andrew Speziale, are both artists who met at the Savannah College of Art & Design.  Caydn'sintricately beautiful bead-embroidered cuffs and jewelry can be seen in the case up front, and although his work is not for sale, one of Andrew's amazing pen-and-ink illustrations hangs on the wall behind the counter.  The work of Caydn's mother (a crocheted and twisted wire jewelry artist) and her father (a photographer), both teachers at the art college, is for sale in the store.

Caydn Speziale's bead-embroidered cuff (top right) and wire-and-bead cuffs made by her mother, Deborah Cherry Mosch.

Gathered offers three rooms of carefully curated merchandise including refurbished furniture and vintage housewares, linens, prints and wall art, fiber crafts of all shapes and sizes, greeting cards, leather journals, pottery and sculpture, baskets, cloth handbags, natural bath and body products, and several styles of jewelry in addition to those already mentioned.

Eli the Goat (left) is just one of several felted finger puppets for sale at Gathered.
Another of Caydn's embroidered cuffs (top) and a beautiful selection of hand-crafted rings.

To complement the bricks-and-mortar store, Gathered has recently launched an online shopping venue which allows you to browse more of their stock and buy online if you cannot make it down to the boutique.  One of my favorite product lines in the shop is a selection of little felted finger puppets by Connecticut artist Jocelyn Gayle (Petit Felts).  I purchased Eli the Goat (above left) for my niece at the shop, but there are several other characters -- Willa the Lamb, Cookie the Hen, and Ben the Fox-- that can be viewed and ordered online.   

Beaded bracelets, notecards and rustic little stuffed bunnies!

Gathered is open Tuesday through Saturday from eleven to six, and Sunday from noon until five.  Visit the website to see a complete list of artists whose crafts are represented, along with informative biographies and additional photos from the shop.  The grapevine section of the site will keep you informed about upcoming events and sales, and you can also follow Caydn's blog to learn more about her work.

Top lef:  fox sculpture by Front Royal artist John Urbanski IV; Bottom left:  pottery by Front Royal artist Kimberly Webb;
Top right:  basket of linens; Bottom right:  felt work.

Gathered: Homespun gifts - Homegrown goods
201 E. Main Street
Front Royal, VA 22630
(540)-635-1559

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Andrea Carmona French Macarons

Valley Environs

Andrea Carmona Macarons

Hagerstown, MD

We're ranging a little far afield today, right up to the very top of the Shenandoah Valley and just across the Potomac, so let me give you a little background on what inspired this journey.

For some inexplicable reason I've found myself doing a lot of reading about France this year.  I'm not entirely sure why.  I'm not exactly a Francophile. I've never been to France, nor had much desire to go (at least not until now).  All of this armchair adventuring started by accident when I stumbled across the book Paris, in Love by Eloisa James, and from there I began following the blogs of several expats in Paris and Provence.  Now I get a vicarious daily dose of France, and I've noticed a recurring theme across blogs: macarons.

Macarons are typically made from almond flour and filled with ganache, buttercream or jam.

I'm certainly no macaron expert (they really haven't caught on here in the states and freshly-baked ones are about as hard to find as hen's teeth), but here's what I can tell you.  A macaron is a sort of little French Oreo cookie, only a good deal more colorful, more delicate, more flavorful, and more expensive.  (So nothing like an Oreo, really.)  Macarons are made from almond flour and are rumored to be quite tricky to do well.  The filling can be ganache, buttercream or even jam.  I got the impression from the salesperson at the establishment where I bought mine that ganache is preferred by discriminating macaron connoisseurs, but being a macaron neophyte, I would not presume to offer that as definitive information.

After some extensive Googling, I discovered that the nearest macaron bakery is an hour and ten minutes north of Front Royal.  Technically, there are two other sources nearly equidistant in the DC metro area, but I selected Andrea Carmona Macarons of Hagerstown, Maryland, because there seemed to be a consensus online that their macarons are superior. Macarons had become such an object of fixation in my mind that an hour and ten minutes seemed reasonable enough.  Saturday before last I checked my watch and decided that I had just enough time to get up to Hagerstown and back before a dinner engagement.  I was off like a shot up I-81, hot in pursuit of French pastry.

The Andrea Carmona macaron kiosk is located in the food court at the Hagerstown Premium Outlet Center in Hagerstown, MD.

Andrea Carmona sells their wares from a glowing little kiosk in the food court at the Hagerstown Premium.  I had not anticipated that I would be including a food court in my explorations of the Shenandoah Valley, but there you have it.  Artisanal macarons.  In a food court.  Fortunately the outlet center is easily accessible from the highway, only about two miles east from 81 on I-70.  I had budgeted precisely ten minutes to conduct my macaron business and the helpful gentlemen behind the counter made things easy for me.  He informed me that they had a limited selection on the day of my visit - only eight flavors - so I asked for two of everything...to go...quickly, please.

The Andrea Carmona website showcases a brilliant array of flavors including the deep violet Valrhona Dark Bitter Chocolate Super-Fruity Macaron, and the blinding yellow Lemon Curd Macaron.   There is an enticing duotone Mascarpone Raspberry Macaron and a pale pink confection that appears to be raspberry flavored.  (How do I know this?  It has actual raspberries sandwiched between the cookies.)  I was a little disappointed that they didn't have any of the lovely saturated berry hues, but they did have the object of my keenest desire - the almost Caribbean-turquoise Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Macaron.  Magnifique!

Elegant presentation of a quality product.  

The staff carefully arranged sixteen of the fragile little sweets in a smart black box:  two Dark Chocolate Sea Salt, a pair of Pistachio, two Coconut, a couple of Columbian Coffee, two Salted Caramel, two Triple Vanilla, two Chocolate Mint, and two Chocolate Mousse.  He tied up the package with a little gold-embossed ribbon and handed it over the counter in an elegantly monogrammed black shopping bag.  Niiiiice.  It has been my experience that you get what you pay for.  In this case I paid roughly $30.00 for sixteen cookies, fast, friendly service and top-shelf presentation.  Not cheap, but I was paying for the experience.  The macaron fantasy.  I can live with that.

As it turned out, the restaurant where my husband and I were meeting the neighbors for dinner was not serving dessert.  Happily, I happened to have a box of sixteen exotic little macarons at hand!  Much thoughtful consideration of the glossy little fold-out flavor guide ensued around the dinner table.  The neighbors agreed that they preferred the caramel and coconut varieties.  My husband liked the chocolates.  My personal favorite, as expected, was the Dark Chocolate Sea Salt.  To my surprise, although I'm not generally a fan of mint, the triple-mint chocolate was a close second.

Although I'm not usually a big fan of mint, these triple-mint chocolate flavored macarons were a close favorite, right after the Dark Chocolate Sea Salt. 

So the moral of this story is, if you find yourself in the northern part of the valley and feeling peckish for something French, head for Hagerstown and try some of these top-shelf macarons!

Incidentally…does anyone else notice that Carmona is an anagram of Macaron?

Andrea Carmona French Macarons
Hagerstown Premium Outlets
495 Premium Outlets Blvd. - Food Court
Hagerstown, MD
(240) 500-5066

Email: info@andreacarmona.com

Element Casual Bistro Restaurant

Exploring Front Royal - Old Town Dining

Element Bistro (for lunch)

206 S. Royal Avenue

Element Casual Bistro Restaurant is one third of a 3-pronged dining and shopping enterprise owned and operated by executive chefs David and Stacy Gedney, who, according to their website, met at the celebrated Inn at Little Washington.  It isn't clear to me from their site whether they were working at the Inn when they met, or if they met there by chance as fellow diners, but if the quality of their food is any indication, I'd wager my money on the former.



Based in a converted 2-story green stucco house within easy walking distance of Main Street in Front Royal's Old Town, Element shares space with the Wine Shop, and Apartment 2g, the fine dining branch of the establishment which serves a five-course prix fixe menu on Saturday evenings.  Potted plants flank the street-level entrances, and to one side a path winds past a kitchen garden, currently a profuse tangle of late-season tomatos, Russian Sage and bright orange 'Mums.  The path, incidentally, leads to a long-awaited outdoor dining area due to open this fall.

Left:  entrance to Wine Shop and Element.  Top right:  Element menu on wine shop counter.
Bottom right:  selection of wine in the Wine Shop.

Even though Element has its own entrance, I usually pop in through the Wine Shop next door and have a quick peek at the stock of wine and gourmet items.  Hundreds of bottles of wine glow invitingly, the shelves upon which they rest threaded with fairy lights and back-lit by large picture windows fitted with stained glass panels.  Since I know very little about wines, I will not pretend to judge the offerings, but will only say that they seemed numerous, were attractively presented (always important to the aesthete in me), and I expect one bottle would probably do the job as well as the next if you ingested enough of it.  There is something to be said for the ability to pick a really good bottle of wine, so I might do well to avail myself of the wine classes and tastings offered by the Wine Shop!  

Moving right along...

The cheerful host, Andrew, left his post at the shop counter and lead me through to the adjacent bistro.  Although Element is quite small, there is a separate bar area sectioned off by a rustic iron gate.  Art glass pendants and track lighting accent the striking color scheme of the dining space:  the floor is tiled with a mellow brown flagstone, the walls are a dark cadet blue, and the ceiling and accents are a warm metallic copper.  Windows are frosted with a reverse of the Element logo, and the entrance is swagged with complementary drapery.  While there aren't a large number of tables, the bench seating along one wall makes the area feel relatively spacious.

Top left:  detail of bench seating.  Bottom left:  detail of wine bottles.  Right:  bistro dining room.

Since I try to manage my carbohydrate intake, I am always glad to find a lunch menu offering options other than the standard selection of soups and sandwiches.  This is not to say that Element doesn't have soups and sandwiches - they do, in spades - but my favorite dish is the Quiche of the Day, accompanied by a generous house salad.  I have got to the point now that I don't ask Andrew what the quiche is - doesn't matter, I'll have it.  This time, for the record, it was ham and Swiss.  Absolutely perfect.  Although I knew I should push the flaky crust to the side, I didn't have the willpower.  The little crackers garnishing the salad proved too tempting as well, but I could enjoy the chunky blue cheese dressing and the rest of the food on my plate completely without guilt.

There are plenty of other lunchtime offerings for those lucky enough to have metabolisms that don't screech to a halt at the mere sight of a bread roll or a slice of pie.  If I were among those lucky few, I could have enjoyed any one of a number of locally themed sandwiches like the Shenandoah Ranger (spinach, artichoke hearts, cream cheese), the Royal Avenue Request (roast beef and Brie), or the Old Rag Mountain (ham and Smoked Gouda).  Soups include a Tomato Crab Dill and the more seasonal Soup of the Day.

Left:  house salad with chunky Blue Cheese dressing.  Top right:  bar as seen through iron gate divider.
Bottom right:  ham and Swiss Quiche of the Day.

The dinner menu changes, but I had a peek at the current one before I left.  Among seven starter selections were a Lobster Bisque, Beef and Black Bean Quesadilla, and Mussels with a White Wine Butter Sauce.  Entrees included Pan Roasted Chicken, Shrimp over Basmati Rice, Shoulder Steak, a stuffed squash dish for vegetarians, Scallops with Shitake & Oyster Mushrooms and Rosemary Roasted Pork Chops.  For dessert you can select from Grand Marnier Chocolate Pavlova, Apple Caramel Cake, Caramel Walnut Cheesecake, or Creme Brulee (among others).  Sample menus can be downloaded from the Element website.

The restaurant has garnered good reviews on Yelp.com, with a cumulative rating of 4.5 stars.  One diner was was so inspired by her experience that she penned a poetic tribute.  Another commented "I love the idea of having a little influence of The Inn at Little Washington right in Front Royal," and more than one reviewer expressed surprise at finding such a quality gourmet dining experience in our small mountain town. 

Front Royal is surprising that way.

Element - J's Gourmet 
206 S. Royal Avenue
Front Royal, VA 22630
(540) 636-9293 ‬‎ 

Restaurant Hours:
Tues-Sat 11am - 3pm
Tues-Sat 5pm - 9pm