The Jacksonville Inn Dinner House has two separate menus. The Dining Room menu is geared towards more of a white tablecloth experience, while the Bistro menu is more of a casual dining experience. Both menus and dining areas exude the Jacksonville Inn charm and tradition, and both offer great value for the dining experience. While you can find traditional menu items that have been offered here for decades, with recipes that are over a half century old such as our Jacksonville Inn Prime Rib or Veal Scaloppini, you can also find more innovative items such as the 36 hour braised beef short ribs cooked sous vide, or bacon wrapped pork tenderloin with maple roasted butternut squash puree and pine nut green beans in an apple cider reduction. These last items are on the newly created “Chef’s Specialty Selections” portion of the menu that is highly seasonal and focused on locally produced items and change frequently with seasonal availability. It’s a great way to stay connected with the farmers, foragers and ranchers in the area.
Bill Heubel is essential in creating the description above as the Executive Chef of The Jacksonville Inn Dinner House. When asked what inspired him to become a chef Bill explains, “For as long as I can remember, I have always been interested in food and cooking. I lived next door to my elementary school so, as young as 10-11 years old, I would start a basic dough before school and leave it out to proof, and at lunch time, I would walk home and make hot dog pizzas with the dough. I cooked the family Easter dinner almost exclusively by myself when I was 13. From there, all career paths pointed to chef.”Heubel came to work at the Jacksonville Inn almost one year ago after working in North Carolina at the Old Edwards Inn and Spa. He was looking to return back to his native West Coast and decided to apply for The Jacksonville Inn position. He rose to the top of the list beating out 300 other applicants.
Since moving to Southern Oregon Heubel has discovered how great Southern Oregon is from a culinary standpoint. “There are more specialty agriculture products here in Oregon then I had previously imagined. I love to be close to areas that produce great products. We have a fantastic emerging wine industry, great artisan cheese makers, on the cusp of a budding olive oil industry, pears, wild mushrooms, hazelnuts, local grain mills, small, family farms and ranches, truffles, crab, bay shrimp, razor clams and other seafood specialties, gosh, I could go on…”
Chef Heubel plans to dedicate more time to checking out Southern Oregon wines in the following months. The inn boasts a 2,000-label wine cellar selected by the owner, Jerry. Heubel cannot even fathom how he handles the feat. Currently, Heubel is very impressed with Valley View’s Anna Maria Tempranillo from the Applegate Valley.
The Jacksonville Inn Dinner House is host to many fabulous winemakers dinners throughout the year, like the sold out one taking place tomorrow evening to kickoff The Oregon Cheese Festival. Heubel receives wine samples and creates food to compliment the wine. Heubel adds, “Wine dinners, for me, are all about the wine. My food will take a back seat and be used simply as a vehicle to elevate the wine to it’s full potential.”
Heubel concludes, “As I approach my one year anniversary here in Oregon, I am only now realizing all this area has to offer and I feel that great things are happening.”
Stay up-to-date with Heubel's creations through his blog Beyond the Kitchen and Twitter. And be sure as peak tourism season is approaching to book your reservations at The Jacksonville Inn Dinner House.
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