Laura and Tony Moskwa moved from California to Maine in 2017 to take over possession and operation of The Bradley Inn and Restaurant with their son and chef, Ross Moskwa. (Nate Poole photograph)
Like many enterprise house owners in Bristol, The Bradley Inn and Restaurant’s Tony and Laura Moskwa shutter the home windows of their 15 rooms and dedicate themselves to bettering the property in preparation for the summer time season.
Nevertheless, in service of these Lincoln County residents who proceed to excavate themselves from their properties via the winter months, The Bradley Inn opens its restaurant for themed dinners by reservation each different Saturday, persevering with Feb. 12 with a Valentine’s Day menu.
Constructed across the flip of the twentieth century, The Bradley is a full-service inn positioned on the Pemaquid Peninsula. The Moskwas bought it in 2017 after over a decade spent in California. Now almost 5 years into proudly owning and working the inn with their son, Chef Ross Moskwa working the kitchen, the household remains to be studying how you can turn into higher inn house owners yearly.
“It’s a tough enterprise to be in,” Tony Moskwa mentioned on Jan. 31. “You’re at all times studying how you can deal with totally different conditions, how you can react if there’s an issue. So, for me, it’s ongoing.”
Significantly difficult is balancing the varied sides of the enterprise. Between 15 rooms, a restaurant and bar, a spa cottage, and a present store, there’s loads to juggle.
The Bradley Inn at Pemaquid Level contains a cozy, nautical themed tavern and quiet eating room the place company can get pleasure from a drink and a style of connoisseur, from-scratch delicacies courtesy of Chef Ross Moskwa. (Photograph courtesy Laura Moskwa)
“It’s not like your two-room, three-room B&B,” Tony Moskwa mentioned.
Whereas the inn itself is closed for renovations till mid-Might, an vital a part of the inn’s success within the final two years has been staying linked to the group within the winter months with themed dinners.
The Bradley Inn serves connoisseur, from-scratch delicacies within the informal environment of the inn’s cozy eating room and tavern, typically accompanied by music courtesy of Joe Lane, co-owner of The Lobster Haul in Damariscotta.
With a background in Caribbean delicacies, Ross Moskwa presents menus in contrast to anything one can discover on the peninsula, together with Mexicali, Caribbean, and Asian.
“We provide individuals a heat and welcoming place to come back the place they really feel like they’re going out in the course of the winter and having a superb meal and nice drinks,” Laura Moskwa mentioned.
“It’s a good way to remain linked to the group,” she added. “I imagine that we’ve gotten extra common diners via the season due to it.”
One thing else that The Bradley Inn presents is in depth and typically completely gluten-free menus, a specialty that may be traced again to the chef’s early training.
In highschool, Ross Moskwa was identified with celiac illness, an immune response to consuming gluten that creates irritation that damages the small gut’s lining, resulting in medical issues.
Bradley Inn Head Chef Ross Moskwa searing shishito peppers. (Photograph courtesy Laura Moskwa)
The one therapy for celiac is a restrictive eating regimen that excludes gluten, which is mostly present in wheat, rye, and barley. For Ross Moskwa, this meant that consuming out with mates was abruptly a problem. The choices on menus have been so minimal that he started cooking together with his mom, who additionally can not tolerate gluten, so he might make the meals he couldn’t discover elsewhere.
For his senior venture, the burgeoning culinary skilled created a gluten-free cookbook. It was not lengthy earlier than he attended the Artwork Institute of California in Sacramento for culinary arts, later taking programs at a culinary institute within the Napa Valley and spending time as a sous chef at a Caribbean restaurant.
To date this yr, The Bradley Inn has launched a Valentine’s Day menu for Feb. 12 and a Caribbean menu for Feb. 26, and each are utterly gluten free. This isn’t a sequence restaurant gluten-free menu, rife with ready-made dough or microwave desserts. Whereas the inn’s menu does provide gluten-free bread choices, its themed menus typically concentrate on flavorful salads, soups, and meat dishes served with creativity and zest.
This creativity is a product of the collective expertise of Ross and Laura Moskwa, who perceive the battle of going out to dinner and discovering out the one factor they will eat is a salad.
“After we bought out to eat and it’s like, ‘We have to eat gluten free, what can we’ve got on the menu?’ And so they say, ‘Nicely, you’ll be able to have the salad;’ it’s sort of like, ‘That’s it?’,” she mentioned.
In his kitchen, the chef is very cognizant of how you can prepare dinner with out cross contamination.
Chilled beet soup and shishito peppers served at The Bradley Inn. (Photograph courtesy Laura Moskwa)
“Many instances, individuals don’t perceive that utilizing the identical knife or the identical slicing board or the identical toaster could possibly be detrimental to someone that may’t eat it,” Laura Moskwa mentioned.
When somebody with a extreme peanut or shellfish allergy involves the restaurant, the kitchen workers goes so far as to alter their garments earlier than making ready their meal. The method is demanding and will be tense when orders are available from a number of prospects with allergy symptoms, however their dedication has turn into an instance for different members of the hospitality business.
Because of their dedication, the Moskwas have a loyal cohort of shoppers who return to the inn for his or her consideration to their buyer’s wants and gluten-free delicacies. They’ve delivered displays on cross contamination and meals allergy symptoms at nationwide hospitality conferences.
“There are some individuals which were blown away. They’re like, ‘Oh, my gosh I can’t imagine this, I haven’t been sick the entire time,’ and so they’ll come again once more,” Laura Moskwa mentioned.
The Moskwas additionally supply as lots of their components regionally as they will, with most of their in-season greens coming from Excessive Hopes Farm and their meat from Broad Arrow Farm.
The Bradley Inn at Pemaquid Level is usually closed through the winter months for renovations to the property’s 15 elegant rooms, however it opens each different Saturday starting Feb. 12 for themed dinners. (Nate Poole photograph)
Particularly widespread, Tony Moskwa mentioned, are Ross’s soups which regularly have a spicier twist derived from his background in Caribbean delicacies.
On Feb. 12, The Bradley Inn’s kitchen will probably be serving roasted beet soup topped with crème fraîche, a sort of thicker and creamier bitter cream.
Though Might is just a few months away, the Moskwas have fairly a bit of labor forward of them as they put together to reopen with a number of newly renovated rooms and a brand new outside seating space. That mentioned, the couple is happy to welcome new and acquainted faces again to their adopted dwelling.
“Speaking to individuals within the morning at breakfast with their first cup of espresso (is my favourite half). When you get your first cup of espresso, that’s the happiest individuals are within the morning,” Tony Moskwa mentioned.
“What I actually recognize is how welcoming this group has been,” Laura Moskwa added.
To ask for a menu and reserve a desk for dinner at The Bradley Inn on Feb. 12 or one other date, electronic mail the inn at info@bradleyinn.com. For particulars go to bradleyinn.com/dining.
