The Best US Hotel for Food and Drink Is on a Farm in Tennessee

The biscuits.

That might be the first thing you hear when you tell any of your will-travel-for-food friends that you’re making a pilgrimage to Walland, Tennessee, to visit Blackberry Farm. The Relais & Châteaux hotel has cemented a legendary reputation for itself in a variety of categories — service and interior design among them — but its impressive culinary program may be what drives the most guests to this bucolic pocket of the Great Smoky Mountains. Mealtime here isn’t just what you do in between outdoor activities like fly fishing or horseback riding, it’s the primary activity.

When the biscuits arrive at your table, they’re fresh out of the oven. As you sit at your cozy perch at the Main House, gazing out at the fog that’s slowly dissipating into the foothills of Eastern Tennessee, steam also rises from the rich gravy studded with bits of sausage that’s been ladled over top. “It’s made by someone who truly loves sausage gravy,” says executive chef Cassidee Dabney. “I know that sounds ridiculous, but when someone has a connection to something like that, they’re gonna make it better than anyone else.”

By that logic, the kitchen staff loves every dish on the menu here. A lot. Other standouts at breakfast include fluffy griddle cakes topped with a dense, slightly savory brown sugar sour cream. For something (a touch) lighter, eggs fresh from the on-site farm, can be paired with a side of the famed — and local — Benton’s country ham.

You will want to make sure you have a chance to explore the 4,200-acre property once you wipe your plate clean (an embarrassingly large percentage of my visits are dedicated to working up an appropriate appetite between meals). But whether you choose to melt into a Himalayan salt stone massage, head out to the Smoky Mountain Sports Club for sporting clays, or simply find a rocking chair with a good book, there is plenty to keep you occupied for the morning hours.

Lunch, which is also normally served at the Main House, is a two-course affair. Don’t miss the cheese plate, which is stocked with a rotating selection made right at the farm, and Dabney’s go-to, the fish of the day. In these late winter months, it’s a grilled swordfish slicked with a brown butter-miso sauce and served in a warming tomato broth.

To keep with the epicurean theme, afternoon activities can encompass tastings of both American and international whiskies, or scheduling time with the sommelier team, who can ably guide visitors through an impressive wine collection that currently stands at 160,000 bottles.

No time of day is more magical at this property than dinner at The Barn. A bright red, turn-of-the-century structure, the interior has been reimagined as a temple to both traditional and elevated dishes of the Southern canon. While the menu changes nearly daily, you can expect preparations that both comfort and surprise, like a grilled Wagyu hanger steak served with equally meaty bacon-braised potatoes, or foie gras and spring onion custard whose unctuousness is cut with a zingy champagne vinaigrette.

Regardless of what you order, one of the qualities that sets Blackberry Farm apart is the enthusiasm of its staff. They seem just as excited for you to try that biscuit as you are to eat it. “We have a lot of local people here who truly love hospitality,” says Dabney. “They love making people’s days.”

Global Tastemakers is a celebration of the best culinary destinations in the U.S. and abroad. We asked more than 180 food and travel journalists to vote on their favorites, including restaurants and bars, cities, hotels, airports, airlines, and cruises. We then entrusted those results to an expert panel of judges to determine each category’s winners. In many categories, we’ve included a Plus One, hand-selected by our expert panel, to shout out more culinary destinations we don’t want our readers to miss. See all the winners at foodandwine.com/globaltastemakers.