Blackinton Inn.
The Colonel Blackinton Inn
Owner: Antony Canova
Location: 203 North Main St., Attleboro
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Type of Business: Restaurant; bed and breakfast
Employees: 40 to 45
Annual Revenue: N/A
For the first time in memory, the city of Attleboro is home to a fully realized
upscale restaurant – and a restaurant with a twist, no less.
The twist? The facility isn’t really new, occupying, as it does, the ground
floor of a rambling, converted dwelling built in the mid-19th century by one
of early Attleboro’s most prominent citizens.
For all of its latter day elegance, the Colonel Blackinton Inn has retained
its name and, in fact, its traditional function as a bed-and-breakfast-cum restaurant.
The difference lies in the stem-to-stern renovations initiated by Antony Canova,
the new owner and son of Luciano Canova, whose Luciano’s Restaurant in Wrentham
attracts clientele from throughout the region.
There’s already evidence that the area is ready for a new fine-dining experience.
When the revamped inn opened its doors on a Monday night in late October – with
virtually no fanfare – about 100 people showed up. The next evening, 120 people
turned out, credit cards at the ready.
Canova, at 27 already a veteran of the business, said 120 is just about the
restaurant’s capacity.
“We could do more,” he said, “but by limiting reservations and walk-ins, we
keep the kitchen from getting too frantic.”
Most of those who make the cut can expect to be ushered into one of five smallish
rooms, each containing four tables. In addition, there’s a small alcove that
contains two tables, and another room, larger than the rest, that has a table
for eight and a couple of smaller tables, as well as a new fireplace. There’s
also a fully stocked bar with wall-to-wall mahogany appointments.
The rooms throughout are brightened by an eclectic array of artwork, ranging
from murals by Ron Dabelle and prints by Richard Ragno to a colorful collection
of paintings contributed by Luciano himself to his son’s new venture.
“Dad went to an art show and went crazy,” Canova said. “We had to use a truck
to bring it all home.”
For all of the bright décor, the attraction must, of course, be the cuisine,
and it, too, is eclectic. While the menu features steaks and seafood, it also
includes some of the Italian dishes that highlight Luciano’s menu – lobster
ravioli being one such item.
(The same ethnological mix is subtly evident in the presence of a couple of
Mediterranean scenes interwoven among the early American images that adorn the
walls and stairwells.)
Helping Canova put together the city’s new “fine-dining” experience is a team
with impressive collective credentials. The owner himself was educated at UMass
Amherst and the Culinary Institute of America. He formerly owned the Café Assissi,
an “upscale pizza business” in Wrentham, and has worked at the Four Seasons
in Boston – two years as a restaurant manager –and the El Conquistador in Puerto
Rico.
His general manager is Kim Jordan, a graduate of Cornell’s School of Hotel
and Restaurant Management who has also worked at the Four Seasons and at Luciano’s.
One of the chefs came to Attleboro from the Ritz Carlton in Boston; another
from the Red Lion Inn in Stockbridge. Two others worked at Luciano’s. Most of
the waiters, Canova said, have worked at Luciano’s and other area restaurants,
and bring a minimum of five years of fine-dining service to the table, so to
speak.
To enhance the experience, the inn offers free valet parking during the dinner
hours and asks its patrons to dress properly (a term that’s undergone considerable
change since the days of the jacket and tie, but still precludes downscale styles
like jeans and non-collared shirts).
The restaurant, incidentally, is open seven days a week – for lunch Monday
through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.; dinner Monday to Thursday from 4 to
9 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 4 to 10 p.m. On Sunday, an a la carte brunch
is served from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Besides the restaurant, the inn offers 12 overnight rooms, eight on the second
floor, each with full bath, and four on the third floor with shared bath facilities.
Rental includes a complimentary continental breakfast. Carpeting has been replaced
by gleaming hardwood floors, and the rooms are all soundproofed.
The inn’s namesake was Colonel Willard Blackinton (1800-1877) a prominent
Attleboro manufacturer and public servant who earned his military title as an
active member of the Massachusetts militia. (And “active” is a proper word for
the colonel: He died of a heart attack at 77 while presiding at a local bank
directors’ meeting.)
“He built the house for two of his sons,” Canova said. “Since it was divided
down the middle, it was called the double house.”
The Canova interests bought the inn from Steve and Barbara Withers last May.
The Withers, in turn, had acquired the property in 1996 from two prominent Attleboro
residents, August and Allana Schaefer, who had purchased the inn from Elwood
and Mary Washburn in 1985.
“There has always been a family in residence,” Canova said.
Of the inn and an outbuilding that’s available for small functions, Canova
said the structures were “in great shape. The changes are cosmetic.”
All of which means that if Colonel Blackinton were to make some kind of spectral
visit, he might recognize the old homestead, even with its new coat of paint
and freshly installed picket fence.
At least until he stepped inside.
Dick Sherman is a contributing writer to PBN.
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