In addition to costumes, candy, and breast cancer awareness, October is also National Apple Month. Yes, this is the month to show your appreciation of one of the most popular produce products in the US.
If you’re apple fans like we are, you may ask yourself, “But how and where can I celebrate this glorious occasion?” Here is a compiled list of some great destinations and recipes from coast to coast to give you some ideas:
Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa | San Diego, CA
Spanning 45 lush acres of gardens, trails, olive groves, casitas and more, Rancho Valencia Resort & Spa is a Mediterranean inspired, all-suite property offering the finest accommodations, service and programming that San Diego has to offer. In Fall 2012, Rancho Valencia—Southern California’s only Relais & Châteaux property— reopened to guests after a 10-month, $30 million property-wide renovation. As part of the renovation, major efforts were focused on the reconceptualization of its food and beverage program. Two new additions to Rancho Valencia include the resort’s signature restaurant, Veladora, and The Pony Room, which features a bar and outdoor patio with fire pits. The Pony Room offers unique cocktails including their signature The Rum Diary for National Apple Month.
The Rum Diary
- 1 ¾ oz. Black Strap Rum
- 2 oz Fresh pressed Apple juice
- ½ oz. Lime Juice
- 3 drops House made Mole bitters
Serve on the rocks with a lime wedge garnish.
Caramelized Apple Tatin
Vanilla Bean ice cream quenelle served with fresh apples in a brown sugar streusel, and topped with caramel sauce.
**Vanderbilt Grace in Newport, RI is offering a Fall Apple Harvest Package allowing guests to pick their own apples from a near by farm and later enjoy fall-inspired apple cocktails at the properties’ restaurant, Muse by Jonathan Cartwright.
– 2 night stay at Vanderbilt Grace
– Transportation to Sweet Berry Farm, just 10 minutes away, where guests can pick their own apples and pumpkins and explore the farm
– Guests can enjoy fall-inspired apple cocktails and other seasonal options at Muse by Jonathan Cartwright
Available September 24-October 31, 2013 from $950 per couple
Windham Hill Inn in Southern Vermont also offers an Apple Tart with Vanilla-Bourbon Ice Cream, Walnut Toffee and Red Wine Caramel Sauce on their extensive dessert menu. Located on 160 acres of land set amongst the Green Mountains, Windham Hill Inn offers guests a true New England experience with a hearty 3-course breakfast, exquisite dinner, trails which run across meadows and streams and “New England’s Coziest One Room Spa..”
If you’re headed to the Northeast, Sotto 13, the Italian tapas gem in the heart of New York City’s West Village has recently rolled out their new dessert pizza menu, including an Apple Pie Pizza, complete with cinnamon gelato à la mode. Sotto 13 is focused on what the owners call ‘social Italian’ – a simple concept built around a social dining experience with a focused menu of wood-fired pizza, Italian-style tapas and great cocktails. The menu features traditional rustic ingredients in signature items like chickpea fries, wild mushroom pizza and fennel sausage with polenta, and will provide customers with an authentic neighborhood restaurant experience.
The Surrey’s exclusive cocktail program brings new, locally-distilled spirits to guests in the comfort of their Salon or Suite. From Brooklyn’s Due North Rum to Baby Bourbon Whiskey from the Hudson Valley, The Surrey now offers New York’s finest for in-room imbibing. Guests choose the liquor, and an expert mixologist will concoct the first round before leaving the guest to enjoy. The menu features choices of classics such as Moscow Mule, The 76th Street, Dark and Stormy and Vanilla Old Fashioned, to name a few. Guests can then mix the additional rounds themselves or request the service again – the choice is theirs. The mixologists will leave all the ingredients and tools required for 4-5 perfect drinks. The service starts at $60.
New to the menu is the Apple Rickey, made with Cointreau, lime juice, soda, apples and fresh rosemary, perfect to sip all year round, but particularly festive during the holiday seasons. The bitter and sweet orange oils found in Cointreau complement the tart apple and fresh rosemary perfectly, while also fortifying the cocktail with an 80-proof strength.
Apple Rickey
- 2 oz. Cointreau
- 1 oz. Fresh Lime Juice
- 3 slices of a tart Apple
- 7 leaves of fresh rosemary
- 3-4 oz. Club Soda or Seltzer
Muddle the apple and rosemary in the bottom of a glass. Build cocktail with remaining ingredients and ice. Stir briefly. Garnish with a fan of sliced apple and a rosemary sprig.
Spur Restaurant & Bar in Teton Mountain Lodge & Spa | Jackson Hole, WY:
For National Apple Month, Chef Kevin Humphreys has incorporated the season’s most colorful apples into the following dishes that will be featured throughout the Spur menu:
Granny Smith Apple Salad: organic mixed greens, lark meadow farms “Dulcinea”, toasted pecan vinaigrette
Julienned granny smith apples tossed with greens and vinaigrette, topped with finely grated Dulcinea. (Dulcinea is an award winning aged sheeps milk cheese produced by Larks Meadow Farms in Rexburg, Idaho)
Apple Parsnip Soup with smoked scallops
Finely pureed soup, garnished thinly sliced smoked scallops, turmeric oil, match stick apples
Maple Baked Granny Smith Apples
Stuffed with dried cranberries and currants, candied ginger, frangipane, served with buttermilk ice cream
JRDN at Tower23 Hotel | San Diego, CA
Overlooking the Pacific Ocean, JRDN Restaurant in the beachside Tower23 Hotel is San Diego’s hottest spot for dining and lounging, offering a unique experience in a modern an elegant atmosphere. Executive Chef Warner’s menu of California fresh cuisine features hand selected ingredients, all-natural meats from Meyer Ranch and the finest seafood from sustainable sources and organic and locally grown produce. Committed to using the season’s freshest produce, Executive Chef Warner will be offering the following delectable dishes for National Apple Month:
- Apple Fritter: spiced apple, candied walnuts, cheddar cheese ice cream
- Kale + Apple Salad: local apples, pomegranate, pistachio, cornbread, goat cheese, cranberry vinaigrette
Searsucker San Diego | Downtown San Diego and Del Mar, CA
Searsucker from Executive Chef Brian Malarkey offers a menu of New American cuisine with playful twists. Located in the Gaslamp Quarter and Del Mar in San Diego, Searsucker pays homage to the menu’s love of the ocean and embodies Malarkey’s personality: gregarious, mischievous, fun-loving and authentic. For National Apple Month, Chef Malarkey has incorporated the season’s ingredient in unexpected ways to create:
- Honey comb apple and olive oil cake with makers mark ice cream
- Pan seared duck breast, roasted Fiji apples, fingerling potatoes, and charred red onion.
True Food Kitchen – San Diego, Newport Beach, Santa Monica, CA
In line with the menu based off nutrition guru Dr. Andrew Weil’s anti-inflamatory pyramid, True Food Kitchen serves seasonal cocktails made with the freshest possible ingredients. The Spiced Apple Sidecar was introduced to the menu this October and is made with house-muled brandy, freshly pressed apple juice and lemon.
Katsuya San Diego – Downtown San Diego, CA
The dynamic pairing of Master Sushi Chef Katsuya Uechi and internationally renowned designer Philippe Starck, Katsuya San Diego is known for specialty cocktails that are equally innovative, beautiful and delicious. The newest cocktail to hit the menu is the festive Le Grande Saint Rosé Apple Press, created with Le Grand Saint Rosé sparkling vodka, hand muddled fall apples, freshly squeezed lemon, simple syrup and topped with soda and sprite.
Le Grande Saint Rosé Apple Press
- 1.5 ounces Le Gran Saint Rose Sparkling Vodka
- Muddled apple slices
- .75 ounces freshly squeezed
- .75 ounces simple syrup
- splash of Sprite
- splash of soda
Shake. Add Sparkling Vodka. Stir. Strain over ice into a rocks glass. Top with a splash of soda and a splash of sprite. Garnish with an apple disk.
“IPApple a Day” cocktail at The Mix uP Bar at Royal Palms Resort and Spa, Phoenix AZ:
Guided by acclaimed master mixologist, Kim Haasarud, The Mix Up Bar is Royal Palms newest addition, showcasing inventive mixology and an unexpected “mix” of the season’s freshest ingredients. Haasarud’s garden to glass cocktails are created with products from the surrounding areas, including fresh produce and herbs grown in the new T. Cook’s garden. For the fall season, The Mix Up Bar highlights one of fall’s “it” ingredients, the apple, in the IPApple a Day cocktail. Made with an in-house apple cider, Laird’s Applejack, Dry Curacao and Dogfish Head IPA 90, the unusual cocktail gives resort guests and locals a reason to return again and again.
The Mayflower Inn & Spa Apple Picking
The Mayflower Inn & Spa has partnered with Averill Farms for a day filled with autumn apple picking where its guests can gather delicious red and green apples as well as sample freshly pressed apple cider on the farm while enjoying New England’s fall foliage. After a pleasant day of apple picking, guests can sip an apple martini or enjoy apple themed desserts in the Tap Room at The Mayflower Inn.
Averill Farms provides bags and walking directions to the areas where the apples are ready and guests can pick as many apples as they want. The cost is $1.50 per pound for most varieties, with some other, limited availability varieties priced at $2.00 or $2.50 per pound.
Henrietta’s Table at The Charles Hotel, Cambridge, MA
A favorite in the community, Chef Peter Davis’s honest to goodness New England cooking at Henrietta’s Table in The Charles Hotel brings seasonal goodness to plates daily. This season, Bar Manager Liam Coughlin complements the fall flavors with a Baked Apple Margarita, featuring baked spiced apples soaked in tequila, Grand Marnier and fresh squeezed orange juice.
Located in the famed coastal community of La Jolla, Herringbone from Executive Chef Brian Malarkey will be serving an Old fashioned twist on a whiskey apple cocktail that includes house-made infused apple cinnamon whiskey, cherries, and bitters.