Flora, fauna, and funga are integral to Longwood Gardens’ lush landscape. However, the trio also appears on the menu of 1906, the fine-dining restaurant that reopened in October on the conservatory’s lower level. Here, flora refers to a flower salad with sunflower sprouts, bee pollen, and honey vinegar or baby beets with pistachios, navel oranges, and yogurt. Fauna covers proteins from the land and sea, and funga are dishes made from mushrooms, including soup and lasagna.
The concept is clever, and the elegant space overlooking the fountains is stunning. But 1906 must be more than a pretty face, especially during “A Longwood Christmas,” which runs until January 12, and the summer fountain extravaganzas. Efficiency counts as much as quality.
Many museums resort to a cafeteria-style or counter-service format, which is quick and requires a smaller staff. Happily, the new 1906 proves that a full-service restaurant in a major tourist attraction can be a destination unto itself, and it might remain open even when the gardens are technically closed. “There is a good opportunity,” agrees Gareth Tootell, regional director of operations for Restaurant Associates, which manages Longwood’s food and beverage program. “It’s a very relevant conversation.”
For now, 1906 has been finding its footing during one of Longwood’s busiest seasons.
From convenient service to dining showpiece
The restaurant’s name honors the year Pierre du Pont purchased the property to save its trees from a lumber mill, but it would be nearly 80 years before Longwood Gardens had a restaurant—there wasn’t even a vending machine.
The Terrace, built near the conservatory, underwent a 2009 renovation that divided the space into 1906—a 78-seat fine-dining section with a 50-seat terrace—and a café, which boasted three dining sections and a patio. The 1906 menu items included mushroom soup, jumbo lump crab cakes with corn chow chow, and pan-seared Amish-raised chicken with cheddar grits.
Designed by Weiss/Manfredi, the new 1906 and the nearby Fountain Room, an event space, reside in excavated space under the conservatory terrace. The 6,100-square-foot restaurant has an impressive 240 seats, including an 18-person private dining room defined by two indoor growing cabinets filled with verdant herbs and microgreens.
During fountain season, music is piped into the rooms, and visitors can watch the show through nearly floor-to-ceiling arched windows. Those sitting in the back can watch the activity in the arched mirrors. The curved shape repeats behind the bar, on the barreled ceiling, and in doorways.
Yes, there is a full-service 24-seat, granite-topped bar—and a 40-seat lounge. The first-come, first-served seating has an abbreviated version of the main menu and snacks, such as lobster beignets with smoked tomato and chive.
In sum, it’s a stylish space with plush velveteen pillows, cushy sage-green banquettes, sleek midcentury modern furniture, and tables made from fallen Longwood tree wood. (The Delaware-based Challenge Program, a youth vocational training program, built the custom tables.)
Experiential and experimental
The menu has also undergone a transformation, but there are familiar faces under the toques. For instance, Brown, the director of culinary, was 14 when he became a Longwood Gardens busser. He returned to Restaurant Associates after graduating from the Culinary Institute of America. Although he had jobs in Atlanta and Philadelphia, he came home about 12 years ago and was 1906’s executive chef before taking his new role.
Brown, who grew up near Longwood, clearly knew its fame. But executive chef George Murkowicz had never heard of the gardens. He grew up in Arizona, where he cut his culinary teeth at Zinc Bistro and the Royal Palms Resort and Spa. He worked in Santa Barbara before becoming kitchen manager and expeditor for Outstanding in the Field, which organizes farm-to-table experiences.
When Murkowicz toured Longwood with senior leaders, he remembers thinking: “Oh. My. Word. And I hadn’t seen the kitchen yet.” Certainly, the kitchen is a sight to behold. The central area has a 6-foot cooking line and “dream” equipment with “all the bells and whistles you could imagine,” Murkowicz says. “You can tell everyone is energized, and for the first time in my career, I feel like the sky is the limit.”
The lunch and dinner menus prove that the team is reaching for the stars. Consider a mushroom Wellington with cremini duxelles, porcini, and baby greens, and Atlantic halibut with ruby orbs of roe in a miso-beurre blanc sauce.
There is even a novel take on mushroom soup, the famous Longwood dish. The revised dairy- and gluten-free soup includes hen of the woods, chanterelle, and black trumpet mushrooms, and the bisque is poured tableside over a mound of mushrooms. “It’s 2.0,” Brown says. (The previous incarnation is still available in the café.)
A sense of place
Guests of 1906 won’t likely forget where they are, but if they do, they need only look at the table. Many plates, cups, and bowls are earthenware, which suits the setting—and there is no shortage of them. You might have five different patterns for five courses. Reminders that you’re in Longwood are everywhere. For instance, dried flowers and sea salt flakes adorn the swirl of butter, and seeds stud the pull-apart brioche resembling a bronze chrysanthemum. (Undoubtedly, the cleaning staff and servers curse the kitchen; seeds get in every crevice.)
On one visit, a tiny purple orchid accented the Herbal Highball, concocted with vodka, autumnal herbs, and house-made tonic water. So, do guests pinch the floral garnishes? “Yes, and I don’t blame them,” Tootell says. “We were clipping a purple flower to put on a martini glass for a sparkling wine cocktail, and my first thought was to put it in my buttonhole.”
There are more than 600 rosemary, sage, and thyme plants in beds along the front of the restaurant and event areas, and the ornamental kitchen garden boasts 200-plus fruit, vegetable, and herb crops. In cool weather and busier months, Brown says the team will initially rely on area partners for produce and other items.
While the team is tasked with delivering delicious food and superior service, the people make 1906 exceptional, Brown maintains. Along with the culinary staff, the stakeholders include the gardeners and local vendors.
It helps that the new restaurant is breathtaking. Brown agrees: “We have a beautiful kitchen space where people can come, be themselves, work hard, be comfortable, be safe, and do what they love to do.”
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