1. Hopkins Inn
City: Warren, CT
Category: Accommodations
Telephone: (860) 868-7295
Address: 06777
Description: This 1847 inn serves as a central location in the Litchfield Hills, but Lake Waramaug is a destination itself. The inn has 11 rooms and 2 apartments available, and features parlors and porches aplenty. The lake often features regattas and races, which you can watch from the private beach down the hill or from the chairs on the lawn. Certainly don’t forget to stop in for a tasting at the winery next door. Serving breakfast, lunch, and dinner, the inn has a popular Austrian restaurant with some unique dishes, always surprisingly busy despite the rural location. Try to get a room overlooking the lake, but if you don’t, don’t be disappointed. You’ll see plenty of it while you’re here.
2. Hopkins Inn
City: Warren, CT
Category: Restaurants
Telephone: (860) 868-7295
Address: 22 Hopkins Rd.
Insider Pick:
Description: High on a hill overlooking Lake Waramaug, this beautiful old 1847 inn serves Austrian and American cuisine. A tank of live trout peeks at you from the barroom, ready for you to choose their fate as pan-fried trout meunière with demi-glace. Inside, weathered wood-plank walls and door, fireplaces, and woodstoves lend a rustic, colonial feel without becoming kitschy. The server comes around and offers delicious fried rösti potatoes and small fresh loaves of perfectly crusted bread. For your main course, you could try an Austrian specialty like Wiener schnitzel, or if you’re in the mood for something different, veal kidneys Dijonaisse or sweetbreads Viennese. To accompany your meal, be sure to pick an Austrian Riesling or a local bottle from Hopkins Vineyard next door. Have a Toblerone chocolate sundae to finish off your meal. If you’re there in the summer, sit on the wide stone porch underneath the huge iron chandelier, which gives off a glow that can be seen from across the lake.