Once upon a time, in the last age of robber barons and instant American fortunes, the Berkshires region was the rural retreat of choice for industrialists, stock market moguls, and the like. Lenox, Massa-chusetts, was the center of the summer universe for the era's great families; and Orleton, the circa 1912 "cottage" of Henry Proctor (that's Proctor of Proctor & Gamble), was one of the most elegant places on the rural block. In its current incarnation as The Gateways Inn, under the loving care of innkeepers Fabrizio and Rosemary Chiariello, it has retained all the trappings of the Gilded Age: the sweeping Sanford White staircase, the beautifully appointed guest rooms, the impeccable service, and, most importantly for our purposes, the sophisticated food. In the inn's kitchens, J. Steven Brockman is turning out food fit for a Proctor or a Vanderbilt, or even an Astor. As William M. Dowd of the Albany Times-Union wrote, Brockman's cooking is nothing less than "sublime."

Brockman has cooked in a string of top eateries, and he's garnered an armful of awards. He won a Golden Fork Award at the Powhatan Plantation Resort in Williamsburg, Virginia, and a coveted Paul Bocuse Silver Whisk Award at Bathtub Ginny's in Florida. He's wielded a whisk at Stars of Palo Alto, at Berkeley's Claremont Resort and Spa, at the Mark Hopkins International Hotel in San Francisco, and at Prana with celebrated chef Tracy Ritter. He was working the stoves at Rancho Encantado in Santa Fe when he got the call to head east. During Brockman's short tenure at the Gateways Inn, the restaurant has been selected as an Editors' Pick-a travel destination "not to be missed"-in the 1999 Yankee Magazine Travel Guide to New England, and the chef has earned kudos from the inn's A-list regulars for his inventive, wide-ranging cuisine.