Fabulous Restaurants

Blowing Rock: Crippen's Restaurant At Crippen's Country Inn

Crippen's Restaurant is a hidden gem – a fine dining restaurant with a casual atmosphere located at Crippen’s Country Inn in Blowing Rock, NC. The menu changes daily, featuring a variety of homemade breads, soups, fresh seafood, prime meats, game meats, seasonal homegrown organic vegetables and homemade desserts and ice creams. All of Chef James Welch’s sauces are made from his own stocks. His talent rests in vinaigrettes, sauces, marinades and a creative ability to combine unusual flavors and textures.

The restaurant's sophisticated cuisine is one of the reasons people stay at Crippen's Country Inn. The spacious dining area offers a surprising amount of intimacy despite the crowds. You may begin with a shrimp brûlée, pan-roasted with blue-spot prawns, or a crispy duck confit with spring rolls and peanut-ginger dressing. The chef's specialties round out the main courses: chili-rubbed grilled rib-eye steak, and sesame-seared yellowfin tuna. Reservations are extremely important; the restaurant's closing hours often reflect the number of reservations it receives for the evening

Crippen’s Restaurant earned Five Stars from Greensboro News & Record’s food critic in September of 1995, just nine months after opening. They have consistently kept that status for over twelve years! Dishes are visual works of art as well as culinary ones and Crippen’s has been included in North Carolina’s Historic Restaurants and Their Recipes by Dawn O’Brien. The book includes a recipe for their signature horseradish-encrusted salmon.

Owners are Jimmy and Carolyn Crippen, formerly of Mark’s Place in Miami and the Sheraton Bal Harbour Resort. The Crippen’s run the front of the Inn while Welch has full say in the kitchen. Jimmy Crippen says “the food is the number one reason people come here” but the Inn also features nine Guest Rooms and Deluxe Guest rooms and a private Cottage for romantic or weekend getaways, and includes breakfast, complimentary wine and cheese, fresh baked cookies and complimentary beverages.

Crippen's Restaurant
239 Sunset Drive
Blowing Rock, NC 28605
(877) 295-3487

Hours
Dinner only.
November 4th – May 31st: Thursdays 6-8PM, Fridays & Saturdays 6-9PM, closed Sunday through Wednesday.
June 1st – November 3rd: Open daily, 6-8PM weekdays, 9PM on weekends.

added: December 15, 2008

updated: December 24, 2008