A night out for an elegant, expertly prepared meal can be the perfect remedy for the winter doldrums. Pan-seared lump crab and lobster cakes with lobster sauce might sound tempting, or you can combine the seafood with a petite filet mignon served with Jack Daniels sauce.

If you’re sticking to your New Year’s resolutions, Elston Inn executive chef Glenton Goodwill’s Vegetarian Rasta Pasta is a toss of angel hair pasta, avocado, mango, tomato and feta cheese, all seasoned with cilantro, and rosemary- and garlic-infused olive oil.

These are a few of the original dishes Goodwill created for Tusculum, a new restaurant experience the Elston is offering Friday and Saturday nights beginning Feb. 1 for a limited time.

The idea behind Tusculum is “showing off Glenton’s talents as a chef and providing the opportunity to have a fine-dining restaurant on this side of the James River,” said Pat Hutto, manager of the Elston Inn and Conference Center on the campus of Sweet Briar College.

The concept also takes advantage of a seasonal lull in banquet business. Hutto and Goodwill anticipate keeping Tusculum open as full-service restaurant until mid-March.

Goodwill, a native Jamaican, combines his Caribbean roots, culinary training in the European tradition and pure imagination to develop his menus. He says guests can expect three things from his kitchen.

“There will be nice presentation, a lot of seasoning, and you’re going to get a lot of seafood. I love fresh seafood.”

He enjoys tinkering with words a bit, too. His Rasta Pasta plays on Rastafarians’ preference for vegetarian cooking, while the ingredients reflect his countrymen’s love of avocado and fresh mango.

He tests his recipes, but trusts his gut.

“It seemed to me like everything meshed together,” Goodwill said of the pasta dish. “I believe in it.”

His Virginian Pot-Au-Feu borrows from a French-style bouillabaisse usually made with meat. His version combines marinated chicken, jumbo shrimp, lump crabmeat and Chorizo sausage for a hint of spice in a generously herb-seasoned broth. He plates the savory stew around a mound of pan-toasted couscous and tops it with fresh julienne vegetables.

Goodwill mixes and matches sides, vegetables and sauces to vary the entrees. Coconut and Macadamia nut-crusted yellowtail snapper is accompanied by mushroom risotto and asparagus and served with a sauce of mango, pineapple and habanera peppers. To create another dish, he dresses up the risotto with Madeira truffle jus to go with a parmesan-crusted pork loin chop that’s paired with caramelized apples and braised red cabbage.

There’s something for beef lovers, too. His twist on a Black Angus cowboy steak – a 16-ounce bone-in cut – is a crust of sun-dried tomatoes and his own “tobacco onions.” The word “tobacco” came to him from the preparation, which calls for marinating sliced onions in liquid smoke before deep frying them.

The menu includes lighter fare for smaller appetites, as well as low-carbohydrate and healthy choices. Nightly specials also will be featured, and a children’s menu will be provided. Appetizers, such as the Calypso Shrimp or Seafood Martini – featuring crab, shrimp and bay scallops with soba noodles and cilantro-lime remoulade – are as original as the entrees.

Seating for Tusculum is from 5:30 to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday evenings beginning Feb. 1. Reservations are recommended and may be made by calling 381-6448 or e-mailing Pat Hutto. Please leave a call-back number.

If you’d like to preview of a recipe from Tusculum’s menu, Goodwill suggests his Calypso Shrimp Appetizer.

Calypso Shrimp Appetizer

Ingredients:
2 ounces olive oil
1 ounce fresh garlic
1 ounce shallots
¼ cup green onions, sliced thin
¼ cup Pernod
12 ounce weight shrimp, medium size, peeled and deveined
¼ teaspoon salt
¼ teaspoon pepper
1 cup shrimp broth
½ cup heavy cream
½ teaspoon jerk seasoning
Fresh herbs such as thyme, rosemary and basil
4 tablespoons tomatoes, diced to ¼-inch
Zest of one lemon
Capers to garnish (optional)
Mesclun salad

Preparation: Heat a skillet with the olive oil. Add the shallots, green onions and garlic. Pan sear for about three minutes. Deglaze with Pernod. Add the shrimp broth and cream. Bring this to a boil and reduce until the sauce starts to thicken slightly. Add salt, pepper, jerk seasoning and fresh herbs, and cook for an additional two minutes. Serves four.

Serving suggestion: Arrange Mesclun on four plates, top with shrimp and garnish with diced tomatoes, lemon zest and capers.

About the name
Tusculum takes its name from its association with Sweet Briar College, which owns and operates the Florence Elston Inn & Conference Center. The original Tusculum, a late 18th-century plantation, was the family home of Maria Antoinette Crawford, who was the mother of the College’s founder, Indiana Fletcher Williams.

Until recently, the Crawford family’s 3,500-square-foot home stood a few miles north of the College in Amherst County. The circa 1750s wooden structure was meticulously deconstructed by restoration experts in 2006 and moved to storage to await reconstruction on Sweet Briar’s campus.

About the chef
Goodwill came to the Florence Elston Inn & Conference Center in 2006 from The Pointe Restaurant and Conference Center in Huddleston, where he was executive chef. He was educated at the Caribbean Institute of Hotel Management in Bermuda, Herbert Morrison Technical College in Jamaica West Indies and Bethel Vocational Training School.

He also has worked as executive chef at Boonsboro Country Club, The Homestead Resort and the Grand Hotel on Mackinac Island, Mich.

In all, he has been working in food service for more than 30 years.

A native of Jamaica, Goodwill lives in Lynchburg with his wife, two sons and a daughter. He and his wife also own the Drowsy Poet coffee shop in Given’s Bookstore.