Some dinners are about nostalgia. This one’s about curiosity…
On Wednesday, December 17th at 6 pm, The Beaumont Inn (Dallas, PA) will host a Wild Game Dinner that reads like a field guide turned love letter to winter cooking in Northeastern Pennsylvania. If you grew up around the Back Mountain, you know the Beaumont: that old-soul property on 309 where wedding parties spill onto patios and locals toast birthdays in rooms that still feel like NEPA — not some anonymous “concept.” It’s polished, sure, but the bones are honest. Fireplaces. Stone. A river bend and a lot of sky.
This dinner leans into that honesty with five courses that don’t apologize for being what they are: wild, seasonal, and a little audacious.
The menu…
Smoked Venison Tartare
Venison, raw and smoked, is a balancing act: silky but resolutely lean. The rye and juniper are a nod to Pennsylvania pantry staples — deli counter meets deer camp — finished with a cool whisper of forest from the crème fraîche.
Rabbit Confit Raviolo
This is Italian Sunday in NEPA dialect — the brown butter smells like your nonna’s best intentions, the sunchokes carry that earthy hum we crave in December, and the guanciale adds the kind of salt that makes you pass your plate forward for another spoonful of sauce.
Hazelnut Panko-Crusted Pheasant Breast
Pheasant can be shy; here it struts. The nutty crust and warm, sweet leeks do the heavy lifting, while the walnut oil ties it back to the woods we grew up around.
Elk Loin with Red Wine Reduction
Elk is like beef that went to the gym and read poetry. The parsnip’s gentle sweetness and that tart huckleberry edge bring it right into the pocket — rich, but not heavy.
Chocolate Hazelnut Bread Pudding
This is the curveball dessert that still lands squarely in comfort: smoky-sweet bacon crackle, winter fruit, and a bourbon hush that lingers just long enough.
Price: $89 per person plus tax and gratuity.
Why this matters here…
NEPA does meat and potatoes as well as anywhere — pierogies, Old Forge trays, church picnics with kielbasa so good it shuts you up for a minute. But there’s room in the calendar — especially in December, when the nights are long — for a dinner that asks you to lean forward and pay attention.
The Beaumont’s wild-game lineup isn’t shock value; it’s craft. It’s the kitchen saying, let’s see how far we can take local sensibility without losing it.
And the setting helps. The Inn is one of those spots we point visiting friends toward when we want to prove that our dining scene has grown up without forgetting its accent. You get the polish — the kind of service that actually watches your table, cocktails made like someone’s reputation depends on it — but you also get the familiarity. Staff who recognize regulars. A dining room where you can relax in a chair and talk. On a Wednesday in December, that’s exactly what you want.
Background, for the uninitiated…
The Beaumont Inn has been a Back Mountain fixture for decades — the kind of place locals use as a landmark (“meet you past the Beaumont”) and couples use as a milestone. Weddings, patio seasons, big-deal birthdays.
The property straddles that line between country-inn charm and modern dining room: gardens and lawns outside, a kitchen inside that’s comfortable cooking both classics and the occasional flex like this wild-game night. If you’ve eaten here, you know the throughline — clean flavors, thoughtful sourcing, plates that feel generous rather than fussy.
The Playbook…
If you’re game (sorry, had to), book early, build an appetite, and bring someone who likes to share tastes. This menu is a conversation — about smoke and sweetness, about the woods and the pantry, about where NEPA cooking has been and where it’s going.
And it happens on a Wednesday — which, in our part of the world, is exactly when you need a reason to get out, shrug off the cold, and remember that dinner can still surprise you.
Event Details
Wild Game Dinner
Wednesday, December 17 • 6pm
$89 per person + tax & gratuity
The Beaumont Inn, Dallas, PA
See you in the Back Mountain. Bring curiosity — and maybe a flannel under that sport coat.
