NEW MARLBORO

If you're an obsessive-compulsive home chef, you start worrying about Thanksgiving dinner the day after the goblins have finished trick-or-treating.

Roasting the vegetables, preparing the wild rice, cooking the soup and baking the pumpkin or apple pie are all chores I would like to complete three weeks ahead of time. No one will know that they've been stuffed into the freezer a month early and unearthed at the appropriate time.

This aberrant behavior and course of action are not recommended except as an extreme attempt to greatly reduce your stress level. There is a simple cure for TDS, (Thanksgiving Dinner Syndrome): Treat your family to dinner OUT.

Having just dined at The Old Inn on the Green & Gedney Farm, I couldn't recommend a better restaurant.

Peter Platt, recently departed from Wheatleigh, has taken over the helm at the Old Inn and how lucky for us, he stayed in the Berkshires to practice his craft.

As a matter of fact, I think all holidays should be celebrated at the inn.

Down the proverbial winding country road and nestled in the cliched rolling Berkshire hills, six miles outside of Great Barrington, you'll find the Old Inn on the Village Green.

Its richly veined

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history goes back to 1760 when the inn served as home and hearth to the passing stagecoach travelers who needed a bed and sustenance for themselves as well as grain and shelter for their horses.

Surviving extinction several times, the inn was restored in 1973 by owner Bradford Wagstaff when it became once again, in modern parlance, a bed & breakfast.

The estate encompasses three buildings on 250 acres (the Old Inn, a 20th-century Normandy barn, and a 19th-century stone, turreted country hotel) that are used for catering, dining and lodging.

Plans are in the works to build a 14,000-square-foot spa to open this coming summer. With the addition of the latter, The Old Inn might be a place that you will never want to leave.

Platt, the new executive chef, joins Chef de Cuisine Jeffrey Waite and a very able kitchen staff, including Wagstaff's wife and business partner, Leslie Miller, as one of the pastry chefs.

For the first few inaugural months of Platt's tenure, and that could mean anywhere from three to six, the menu will be Platt's creation.

What you can expect is a style that is "more refined, cleaner and more user-friendly, i.e., more for the customer" he said, talking about the changes taking place. Translated into food bites, that means that you will be treated to several amuse bouches (French for taste teasers) punctuating various courses and a "pre-dessert" dessert.

We got to try a salmon tartar atop a chilled cucumber round and a tapanade on a buttery and crisp quarter-sized, homemade melba toast.

On another visit, we had an herbed chevre on toast that just melted in your mouth, leaving you wondering if dinner could possibly be as good as these little taste treats.

The answer was YES.

The Inn on the Green is one of the few restaurants around whose staff still bakes their own bread. This is both good and bad. It's hard to resist a warm, out-of-the-oven, crusty French baguette and therefore, I didn't.

As compensation, I asked the waiter to take his time between courses so that we might be hungry again when the entrées came.

The service is professional and friendly and our waiter was not only accommodating but also extremely knowledgeable about the menu and the wine.

Dinner on Saturday night is prix fixe; $62 per person and well worth it. An a la carte and tasting menu is available all other evenings.

Perhaps one of the best appetizers I've ever had was from the a la carte and tasting menus -- Maine diver scallop (called such because it was harvested by a scuba diver) and lobster.

From the bottom up, the dish is layered with a saffron sauce in a ring of basil oil, a dollop of sautéed spinach, the scallop, a morsel of butter-poached lobster and topped with some Bramble Hill micro greens.

The textures and the flavors all merge into a delicious culinary rainbow with no one sliver greater than the whole.

Chef Platt is fond of round and somewhat high food compositions on his plates, although this is nothing compared to the trend of "high food" that took hold in the culinary world during the early '90s.

There are four authentically appointed dining rooms with wide plank pine floors, shallow brick fireplaces, graceful iron chandeliers and wall sconces.

True to historic detail, candles light the entire room, which is both romantic and frustrating if seeing the menu or the finer details of what you're eating is a high priority.

Therefore, when my appetizer of Yellowfin Tuna Carpaccio with soy, ginger, sesame oil and a fresh herb salad arrived, I thought I was being served a thin fillet of a strawberry fruit roll-up.

Carpaccio is Italian for a thin shaving of raw beef, though in this case, it was fish. It only succeeds if you use very high quality cuts. The Old Inn's version was a sushi grade tuna that was delicate and subtle with lightly seasoned Asian accents.

If you're a dark meat fowl fan, as my dining partner was, try the terrine of duck confit and foie gras with baby greens and a warm fingerling potato and shallot salad. He cleaned his plate muttering "yum" and "mmm."

Personally, give me raw fish any day.

"This is like a lollipop", our neighboring diner exclaimed.

Although the tables are generously spaced for privacy, his culinary review definitely got my attention.

He was talking about the rack of lamb available on the tasting menu. I'm not sure that the metaphor works but I'm glad he was enjoying himself.

The vegetarian choice, wild mushroom gateau with vegetable demi-glace and tiny vegetables, was, in true Platt form: round and high as well as quite good.

An assortment of mushrooms, chopped and lightly sautéed, was layered with thin scalloped potatoes and served with a sprinkling of haricots verts, baby carrots and turnips.

Among the superlatives of the evening was the filet of Maine halibut, (poached in a lobster broth), with mussels, clams and baby bok choy in a spicy green curry broth.

If you think that drinking the broth from the serving bowl is unattractive, you can try sopping up the delectable liquid with the warm French bread -- if there's any left.

Desserts are the exclamation point of any meal but to me, sometimes a period will do by way of a nice assortment of fresh fruit and cheese or a dish of creamy ice cream.

One of the desserts was somewhat disappointing. The apple galette could have been crisper and the homemade cinnamon ice cream a little creamier.

I never even got to taste the Southern pecan tart with rum raisin ice cream that my husband ordered, so I assume it was more than satisfactory.

The addition of Peter Platt in the kitchen at the Old Inn seems to be a comfortable fit. Platt is a big supporter of Berkshire Grown, an organization that promotes use of locally raised food, flowers and plants and creates programs to build partnerships between farmers, chefs and consumers.

The Old Inn uses locally grown produce whenever possible which is good for the Berkshires and good for us.

If you're lucky, there may still be a few openings for Thanksgiv-ing dinner. I just might keep my frozen dinners in the freezer and show up with our gang of 15!


Restaurant Review

The Old Inn on the Green & Gedney Farm, Route 57 New Marlboro, (413) 229-3131. Web site www.oldinn.com

Style: "Inventive American."

Dress: Casual.

Prices: Appetizers and salads, $8.50 - $15.50; Entrees, $22 - $24; Desserts, $4.75 - $5.50.

Smoking: No smoking

Hours: dinner only -- Wednesday - Sunday, 5:30 - 9:30.

Credit cards: All major.

Reservations: Recommended.

Handicapped accessible.

Lodging: 40 rooms available.

Special: Local produce used when possible. Cooking classes coming this winter and a spa next summer.

Nov. 20, 2002