Clarksville Station Restaurant at Overlook Farm creates wonderful meals with locally grown ingredients.
By Joe Pollack

"My father used to tell me that this part of Missouri was a combination of England, Vermont and Virginia," said Nathalie Pettus as we strolled across a lawn longer than a football field. An overlook at the end of the bluff provided a wide-ranging view of Clarksville, Mo., and the fields, farms and woods that surround it. The Mississippi River gleamed in the distance. Dad might have had a point.

Above: Clarksville Station, now a fine restaurant, once was a gas station in Clarksville. Below: Nathalie Pettus enjoys the view from the overlook for which her farm is named. Ann Lemons Pollack photos

Behind us stood a home being renovated as the third of three hilltop residences that make up the bed part of Pettus' bed-and-breakfast and restaurant called Overlook Farm.

January is the peak of eagle-watching season in Clarksville, located about 70 miles north of St. Louis via Interstate 70 to exit 220, then north 43 miles on State Highway 79. This area is one of the favorite spots for the majestic birds to gather in winter and early spring, nesting, fishing and soaring on the winds. At the peak of the season, with naturalists, writers and bird-watchers in abundance, the riverbanks are so crowded with photographers "it looks like the sidelines of an NFL game," noted a local farmer.

The Pettus family has lived in Pike County and in St. Louis for more than 150 years, and the one-time family home, Rackheath House, now is for guests. The Greek Revival house dates to the 1860s and was named for the Pettus' English manor. Cedarcrest Manor, built by riverboat captain Ben Clifford in the 1840s, is the other house on the hill.

Tim Grandinetti, once the chef at the Renaissance Grand Hotel in downtown St. Louis, is in charge of the large, comfortable restaurant at Overlook Farm called Clarksville Station. Grandinetti's great-grandfather arrived in New York from Naples at the end of the 19th century and the family operated a restaurant, La Bella Napoli, in Hudson, N.Y.

Many chefs–and diners–prefer fresh, local and organic meat and produce, so Grandinetti will be right at home in Pike County. Just up the hill from the restaurant is Vesterbrook Farms, where Mike and Carol Brabo raise grain-and-vegetable-fed Bourbon Red turkeys for special order at Thanksgiving. The family also produces lamb that we ate at Clarksville Station and a wide variety of organic vegetables, including more than a dozen types of tomatoes, many lettuces, beautiful Chioggia beets, crisp radishes, turnips, red Russian kale, red cauliflower, and herbs. Vesterbrook also is home to a huge Great Pyrenees who watches the sheep, a Sicilian donkey whose bray alerts the neighborhood, and Nellie, a golden retriever who will munch happily on cherry tomatoes and lettuce leaves if you offer them.

In addition, the Pettus property produces berries, rhubarb, apples and honey. Mushrooms are picked nearby, although no wild mushroom hunter will divulge his or her favorite spot.

The Clarksville Station menu is a genial Midwestern mix of sandwiches and a few daily specials, with excellent breakfasts. On weekends and for groups, Grandinetti brings out crab cakes seasoned with lemongrass and lime for a hint of Asia, or a slow-braised lamb shank with couscous and a tart, nippy sauce that involves pomegranates and chives. A marvelous smoked pork belly from a Berkshire hog came from Newman Farms in tiny Myrtle, Mo. Served with white beans and wild mushrooms, it was special. Desserts included cherry clafoutis (fruit topped with a batter and baked) with a lavender-infused crème Anglais. Service was charming and efficient, a tribute to whatever training technique Pettus and Grandinetti use on a young and inexperienced staff.

Afterward, we moved to a large patio, where there's a bar with a pizza oven and a huge fire-pit, some 12 feet in diameter. A large bonfire blazed while we nibbled Brie cheese and sipped Bordeaux.

Clarksville’s main street offers a glassblower, some local artisans and artists in galleries or shops. A chair lift that ran from 1962 to 1996 to the top of the bluff sits idle, although Pettus and Jo Anne Smiley, Clarksville's mayor, are trying to reopen it. But watching the eagles soar and the Mississippi River wend its way southward while reading, writing or sitting on the grass is a wonderful way to recharge a winter-drained battery.•
Joe Pollack is a contributor from St. Louis, Mo.

Before you go
Clarksville Station is at 901 S. Highway 79. For more information, call (573) 242-3838 or click on www.overlookfarmmo.com.
To visit Clarksville, first stop by your nearest AAA service office for maps, reservations, TripTiks® and TourBook® guides. Order free information about Missouri through online Reader Service at http://midwest.ai-dsg.com.

Smoked pork belly served with white beans and wild mushrooms makes an interesting winter dish. Ann Lemons Pollack photo

What’s Cooking at Clarksville Station

Hobo Picnic Sacks $14
A great lunch that’s ready to travel
Oven-roasted turkey on marble rye dressed with apple wood smoked bacon and cranberry aioli

Marinated, grilled chicken BLT

Curried chicken salad croissant

Clarksville kolache with pork, cumin chili roasted potato, cream cheese/chipotle honey dipping sauce

All served with choice of: potato salad, pasta, black bean provençal, Asian rice noodles, plus a cookie and seasonal fresh fruit.
Served January through mid-February.

Valentine’s Dinner $80
per couple, Feb. 12–15 only
Lobster ravioli bisque or roasted West Indian pumpkin soup

Bibb or baby spinach salad

Seafood, pork, beef or surf & turf choices for entree

Chocolate buffet dessert extravaganza