Chowning’s Tavern in Colonial Williamsburg

The polished wooden tables gleam in the candlelight.  The air is rich with the mingled aromas of meaty, 18th-century fare and the plentiful colonial libations of beer, ale, and rum.  A roving musician plays the fiddle.  The wooden chairs’ woven seats give only slightly as my companions and I settle in for dinner.

Chowning’s Tavern is a rebuilt ale-house at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia.  It offers three beers, three ales, two ciders, and seven wines.  It also has fortified cocktails ranging from a “Classic Mint Julep” to the rum-based “Witches Revenge”.  If you feel like sharing, Sangaree and Fish House Punch are available by the bowl.  My family and I enjoyed the latter, twice.

The reasonably priced menu includes dishes based on 18th-century recipes, and it even provides brief descriptions of the preparations.  On my most recent visit, I enjoyed the Onion Pye, made with layers of pared potatoes, onions, and apples, “strewing seasoning between”, and baked under a “good crust”.

A stand-out appetizer is the Welsch Rarebit, made with cheddar cheese, mustard, and “good wine” and served with “Mr. Chowning’s bread” and fabulous “country ham”.

An intriguing dessert is the “Snow Eggs”, custard sauce topped with meringues, based on the recipe of Thomas Jefferson’s chef James Hemmings.

Josiah Chowning opened his Tavern in the late 16th century.  It was a popular spot until it was torn down before the Civil War.  Colonial Williamsburg built the authentic reconstruction in 1941.