Few People Know One Of The Nicest Restaurants In America Is Hiding In Small-Town New Hampshire
By Ken MacGray|Updated on February 15, 2024(Originally published January 17, 2023)
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Ken MacGray
Author
Hey! I'm a freelance writer and guidebook author. I've authored "New Hampshire's 52 With A View - A Hiker's Guide", serve as editor of Appalachian Mountain Club's "Southern New Hampshire Trail Guide", and and am co-editor of the "White Mountain Guide", also for AMC. I'm currently beginning work on the 6th Edition of AMC's Southern New Hampshire Trail Guide, which will be published in 2025. I live in southern New Hampshire and can usually be found wandering throughout the state's mountains and forests.
The town of Mason, tucked down along the border with Massachusetts, is a sleepy spot in New Hampshire. It’s said that the inspiration for the iconic Uncle Sam character was inspired by a local meat supplier here. That’s a bit of New Hampshire trivia that most people may not know about. What they may also not know is that Mason is also home to a magnificent restaurant that you must try. Pickity Place in Mason is like stepping into a fairy tale more than it is a restaurant. The gardens, the grounds, and the imagination surrounding this spot make it truly a one-of-a-kind place where you get to experience it as much as taste the delicious cooking.
Pickity Place resides in a cottage that was built in 1786 on a hilltop in Mason. Illustrator and author of children's books Elizabeth Orton Jones was inspired by the cottage for her illustrations for Little Red Riding Hood, published in 1948.
Just looking at this property it is easy to see how it could inspire that timeless classic tale. The whole area is perfectly manicured and the historic nature of the cottage mixes beautifully with the surrounding plant life making it feel as if you have stumbled into an enchanted grove far off into in the woods.
While at Pickity Place, take a stroll through their themed gardens (butterfly, silver, oregano, bird, healing, and moonlight). It is within these gardens that the inspiration arises for their creative and delicious recipes. What grows here is harvested directly for the meals.
Freshly picked herbs bring the dishes to life and bring people around from all over to taste and experience the magic at Pickity Place.
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Herbs from the garden are used to make the restaurant's delicious entrees, including, pasta, meat, and vegetable dishes. Pickity Place serves a set small menu each month which is published on their website.
The simple rotating monthly menu offers a perfectly curated mix throughout five courses. For kids, they lean into the Little Red Riding Hood theme and provide them with a little picnic basket called Grandmother's Basket. Inside you will find fruit, a sandwich, a freshly baked cookie, and a drink. Then for the adults, they will dine on delicious baked bread with various dips, warm soups, freshly picked greens for your salad, your choice between two different entrees, and...
...Of course, no meal is complete without a dessert to top things off. Depending on the month, dishes like peanut butter pie, flourless chocolate cake, classic key lime pie, and more could be on the menu.
Visitors to Pickity Place can also peruse their greenhouse for fresh succulents, flowers, fairy plants, and the same unusual and hard-to-find herbs that their chefs use.
You will want to leave time to explore the property and you are encouraged to stay awhile. Enjoy the gardens and the decorations as you get lost in this little enchanting place where history and natural beauty blend together perfectly.
Have you ever been to the Pickity Place in Mason? Let us know in the comments below how much you loved it.
Reservations are strongly recommended as there are only three private seatings each day. For more information along with monthly menus please visit the Pickity Place website and be sure to follow them on their official Pickity Place Facebook page. You can even make the whole experience more fun if you bring along your daughter or granddaughter dressed up like Little Red Riding Hood.