Oyster Bread Pudding? Don't be alarmed. With Caitlin Horne running the kitchen at the Fairhope Inn, you're in good hands.
Fairhope Inn chef Caitlin Horne at work in the kitchen, with the venue's popular Tomato Pies in the foreground.One of the great joys of dining is that sometimes you find words on a menu that you never imagined you’d see in conjunction with each other – like “Oyster Bread Pudding” — and an adventure begins.
Another is that sometimes a skillful chef will kind of undersell something — a case in point being “Mushrooms on Toast” — and what sounds and looks very simple will blow you away with rich, complex flavor. One place where you can have both experiences is Fairhope Inn, where the two named dishes illustrate what Caitlin Horne has brought to the party since coming aboard as executive chef in July.In a sense this was a union of known quantities. The Fairhope Inn has plenty of history: Built in 1906, it served for decades as a residence. In addition to being “the Beckner House,” it also was known for the fish market out back. A little over 25 years ago, Tyler Kean developed it as a bed & breakfast/restaurant and in 2019 new owner Paige Dawson commissioned an extensive makeover. Horne is a native whose work as a chef includes 13 years at Guido’s in Daphne, and more recent stints at Kitchen on Main in Daphne and Café Viola in Fairhope. Outside the culinary realm, there’s a little more to it. Across the street from the Inn, she can see her old kindergarten classroom. Fairhope Inn's elegant decor -- the result of a 2019 makeover by owner Paige Dawson -- befits the venue's status as a bed & breakfast, restaurant and wedding venue.“It used to be the old high school, which is where my grandparents met when they were 15 and 17 and got married right before he went to the Pacific front,” she said. So there’s a lot that’s familiar here, to Fairhope folk and to those who’ve developed an appreciation for Horne’s skills over the years. What’s new, Horne said, is that this is the first gig in her career where she’s been given the freedom to develop the menu as she sees fit. She’s running with it. Horne said she didn’t come in with a wrecking-ball mindset. There were one or two things on the established menu that she disliked, some that she wanted to freshen up and a lot of new things she wanted to try.“I was nervous,” she said. “Not nervous, but maybe a little apprehensive because it has been here since 1997, ‘98. And the clientele, a lot of regulars … I didn’t know how often they change the menu or if there was some stuff that stayed and was like a landmark. But I kind of hit the ground running my first week, nothing crazy. I mean, everyone can still get a steak, a pork chop, fresh fish. But just the way of doing it, I wanted to add my flair.” That she has, and the clientele’s embrace has sometimes been unexpectedly appreciative. Consider the humble Tomato Pie, a seasonal treat that has taken on a life of its own at the Inn. “The Tomato Pie was supposed to be a special appetizer, and I don’t think I’ve ever made more of one thing in my life,” said Horne. “We have not stopped since the first week that I’ve gotten here. But I’m going to keep making them. … And the tomatoes are so beautiful. I get them from Greer’s, I get them fromFairhope Inn chef Caitlin Horne at work in the kitchen, with the venue's popular Tomato Pies in the foreground.Why would something so simple find such a following? Because the execution really isn’t simple at all. Horne goes through an elaborate process to keep things from getting soggy. Before loading up her butter crust, she cooks down Vidalia onions and runs them through a food processor with freshly grated parmesan cheese to create “a very delicious paste.” She pre-bakes the crust and spreads the paste inside as a barrier against moisture. She cuts the tomatoes, tosses them in salt and drains the excess liquid, which she uses in a salad dressing. After the tomatoes go in, she domes them over with a topping that contains green onions, basil, sharp white cheddar and other elements that form a tasty upper crust when the pie is baked. Transforming a seemingly simple dish by taking great care with all the details normally taken for granted is a textbook definition of elevated cuisine. The same approach pays off again with the Mushrooms on Toast, a starter course that Horne considers one of her signature dishes.a local advocate of organically sourced edible fungi; toasted baguette; and red wine and marsala. Your eyes tell you it’s simple: Despite the artful presentation, yeah, that’s some mushrooms piled on some toast.Your taste buds tell you something altogether different. The dish doesn’t look like there’s much there in the way of sauce or gravy, but every bite floods your mouth with a tide of succulent flavor. The meaty, slightly chewy texture of the mushrooms is countered by the crunchy richness of the bread, which has benefited from more than mere dry toasting.“When I cook the mushrooms, I boil them in wine, like Madeira and sherry first,” Horne said. “And then once they’ve soaked up all the liquid, then I toss them in brown butter and roast them so they’re really juicy. I’ve learned that a boiled mushroom takes tastes better than just a sauteed mushroom.” She didn’t believe it either, until she tried it. “Even if you boil it in water and then sauté it, it’s delicious,” she said. “It takes time, but I’ve got plenty of that. That’s what I’m here for.” True: The Inn has a limited schedule, serving lunch and dinner Thursday through Saturday and brunch on Sunday. That allows a lot of time for the prep work crucial to Horne’s approach. As for the bread pudding mentioned above, lay your fears to rest. The foundation is a savory bread pudding, not a sweet one; aside from having a crust, it’s not really much different from a breakfast casserole or a quiche. The words "oyster bread pudding" might give pause, but at Fairhope Inn they represent a delightful small plate -- a savory casserole-style base topped by perfectly fried Gulf oysters.“The spinach and mushroom bread pudding is something kind of that evolved with my family,” Horne said. “My mom made the spinach bread pudding with lots of garlic as a Thanksgiving side dish. We always had it because it was delicious. And then my sister added mushrooms, and we were all like, why did we never do it this way?” Her Fairhope Inn version is made with “sauteed spinach, sauteed cremini mushrooms, lots of garlic, French bread that we kind of dry out,” she said. “We don’t get really any color on it, but just dry it out in the oven. And then make a custard with half and half, eggs, a little bit of nutmeg, sharp white cheddar cheese … and it gets a little Parmesan on top.” That could stand on its own, but she takes it to the next level by piling on cornmeal-dusted fried oysters and beurre blanc and a garnish of flash-fried spinach leaves. That elevates an extremely tasty side dish into an amazingly good small plate. The overall menu includes soups, salads and starters such as crab cakes and shrimp remoulade and an impressive selection of entrée salads. On any given day you’ll find at least two fresh fish selections. One will be the fish almondine; the other might be Gulf amberjack from Fairhope Fish House, pan seared and served with ratatouille and French Beluga lentils topped with sweet corn whipped feta, or golden tilefish with smoked tomato beurre noisette, pommes puree and succotash, or something else altogether.The brunch menu includes some standards as well as some promising, slightly offbeat selections such as Bill E’s Bacon Carbonara, made withby Bill E. Stitt, and Crab Cakes and Eggs, a seafood variation of eggs Benedict. Naturally there’s a selection of brunch cocktails, including Polo Bar Punch and the Orange Dreamsicle. More good things are coming. Horne recently acquired the pasta roller she’d been coveting, allowing her to explore house-made pastas. Another recent addition is a larger ice cream freezer, which should bolster the dessert menu. “I’ve had a lot of people that have followed me from spot to spot or that knew me growing up or my parents, and have known how much I’ve loved cooking and how long I’ve been doing it,” she said. “So that’s a lot of fun, to get to see, like, my kindergarten principal and her husband and my childhood school friends and their parents coming in.” “I want people to feel special and have an amazing dining experience, that their needs were met,” she said.An Alabama chef’s tribute to his mother ‘bloomed into something really great, really fast’La Delicia in Mobile lives up to its name and brings a tasty change to a brunch-loving town If you purchase a product or register for an account through a link on our site, we may receive compensation.and agree that your clicks, interactions, and personal information may be collected, recorded, and/or stored by us and social media and other third-party partners in accordance with our
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