Restaurant in Laurel Highlands, United States
Resort dining that earns its occasion.
Lautrec at Nemacolin is the Laurel Highlands' most credentialed French restaurant — a La Liste Top Restaurants entry for 2025 and 2026, with serious seasonal cooking and a deliberately romantic room. Access requires a Nemacolin resort stay, and the kitchen is currently closed for renovations. When open, book at least two weeks out for weekends.
Lautrec at Nemacolin is temporarily closed for renovations. Before you plan around it, confirm directly with Nemacolin that it has reopened. Everything below applies to the restaurant as it has operated, and will again when it does.
When Lautrec is open, the most common misconception is that it functions like a standard resort restaurant — reliable, forgettable, priced for captive diners. It does not. Lautrec is a genuinely ambitious French kitchen operating inside a Pennsylvania resort, and it has earned placement on the La Liste Leading Restaurants ranking in both 2025 (86 points) and 2026 (79 points). For the Laurel Highlands, that is a meaningful credential. The question is not whether the cooking is serious , it is , but whether the resort-hotel requirement and the booking logistics work for your trip.
The visual impression lands immediately: dim lighting, bold red décor, and a curved bar that anchors the room. The design references Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec's Parisian world directly, and the effect is deliberate , this reads as a formal dining room dressed for romance rather than a casual resort bistro. The main dining room suits couples and small parties leading. A separate Bistro Room at the rear, with kitchen views, accommodates groups of up to 32. Two private dining options exist: a round table for up to six guests, and a long table for up to twelve. If you are bringing a larger group, request the Bistro Room when you reserve.
Chef Kristin Butterworth runs a seasonal, produce-forward kitchen that reaches beyond what most resort restaurants attempt. The menu changes regularly, but the style of cooking is consistent: French technique applied to locally sourced ingredients, with dishes such as rabbit lasagna with beech mushrooms and sherry cream, and wood-oven roasted ribeye with creamed spinach and mushroom bread pudding. The kitchen uses herbs, fruits, and vegetables that are seasonal, sustainable, and locally sourced where possible. For food and travel enthusiasts, this is not a menu you will predict in advance, which is part of the point.
One genuinely useful detail: a dessert tasting menu with champagne is available at the bar for around $15. If you are staying at Nemacolin and want a lighter evening, this is a low-commitment way to experience the kitchen without committing to a full dinner reservation. It is also the only food you can order from the bar , dinner service is dining-room only.
Lautrec is open nightly for dinner except Monday, when the kitchen closes. Book ahead, particularly for weekends , the restaurant fills, and walk-ins are not a reliable strategy. Booking difficulty is rated easy, but that is relative to fine dining generally; do not leave it to the night before on a Saturday stay. Call Nemacolin directly to reserve, as booking access is tied to resort guest status.
One firm requirement: you must be a staying guest at one of Nemacolin's resort properties to dine here. If you are not already planning an overnight stay, factor that into the total cost calculation. The dress code is business casual.
For a broader look at dining, drinking, and staying in the area, see our full Laurel Highlands restaurants guide, our Laurel Highlands hotels guide, our bars guide, our wineries guide, and our experiences guide. If you are eating at Nemacolin during your stay, also consider Aqueous at Nemacolin for a different register , American cuisine with its own kitchen identity.
Quick reference: Dinner nightly except Monday; business casual dress code; resort guest access required; Bistro Room seats up to 32; private rooms for 6 or 12; dessert tasting menu with champagne available at the bar (~$15); La Liste Leading Restaurants 2025 (86 pts) and 2026 (79 pts).
| Venue | Cuisine | Price | Awards | Booking Difficulty | Value |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Lautrec at Nemacolin | French | Editor's note: Lautrec at Nemacolin is temporarily closed for renovations.Savor fine European-inspired cuisine — this restaurant wasn't named after French artist Henri de Toulouse-Lautrec for nothing — in Pennsylvania's Laurel Highlands.; La Liste Top Restaurants (2026): 79pts; La Liste Top Restaurants (2025): 86pts; **Our Inspector's Highlights Lautrec is the a romantic spot to wine and dine in style. With its dim lighting and bold, sexy red décor, you and your loved one will feel like you’ve stepped inside one of Paris’ most exclusive culinary hot spots — even though you’re right in the heart of Southwestern Pennsylvania.A stunning part of Lautrec is its gorgeous curved bar where you can order up a number of delicious cocktails. While you can't order dinner from the bar, a dessert tasting menu with champagne is available for only $15, should your sweet tooth strike while sipping on a cocktail.While the main dining room is best suited for couples and small dining parties due to its hushed, romantic ambiance, if you’re dining with a larger group the Bistro Room, situated in the back of the restaurant where you’ll get views of the kitchen, can accommodate up to 32 people.Another option is to reserve a small private dining room, which can seat up to six guests at a round table, or the larger private dining room that houses up to 12 guests at a long table.** **Things to Know Lautrec is open nightly for dinner — except Monday, when the kitchen is closed. If dinner at Lautrec is high on your vacation "to-eat" list (and it should be), be sure to call ahead for reservations, as this dining destination tends to get crowded, especially on weekends.You must be a guest at one of Nemacolin's resorts to dine here.The dress code at Lautrec is business casual.** **Treatments:** The Food The kitchen staff always cook with freshly picked herbs, fruits and vegetables that are as seasonal, sustainable, and local as possible.Although the menu changes constantly diners can look forward to the following style of dishes: an upscale take on chicken and waffles with chicken liver pate, rosemary waffle, and bourbon-barrel-aged maple; rabbit lasagna with beech mushrooms and sherry cream; and wood-oven roasted ribeye with creamed spinach and mushroom bread pudding.No matter how full you get, be sure to save room for these noteworthy desserts. We especially loved the blueberries with chèvre cheesecake, marcona almonds and candied lemon thyme. **Amenities:** 1001 Lafayette Drive, Farmington, Pennsylvania 15437 | Easy | — | |
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What to weigh when choosing between Lautrec at Nemacolin and alternatives.
Book at least a week out for weekday dinners; for weekends, two or more weeks is safer — the restaurant fills, and walk-ins are unreliable. Note that Lautrec is temporarily closed for renovations, so confirm with Nemacolin directly that it has reopened before making plans around it. You must also be a guest at one of Nemacolin's resorts to dine here, so your resort booking and dinner reservation need to align.
You can drink at the bar, but the kitchen does not serve the full dinner menu there. What is available is a dessert tasting menu with champagne for $15 — a reasonable option if you want a taste of the restaurant without committing to a full dinner reservation. The curved bar is a focal point of the room, so it is worth stopping at even if you are dining in the main room.
Yes, this is the clearest use case for Lautrec. The dim lighting, red décor, and seasonal French-inspired menu from Chef Kristin Butterworth add up to a room designed around occasion dining. La Liste ranked it among its top global restaurants in both 2025 (86pts) and 2026 (79pts), which gives you independent validation beyond resort marketing. Couples and small parties get the most out of the intimate main dining room.
The dress code is business casual — collared shirts and neat trousers for men; a dress, blouse, or equivalent for women. This is a fine dining room with white tablecloth ambiance, so dressing toward the smarter end of business casual will be more comfortable than testing the lower limit.
The Laurel Highlands has limited fine dining outside Nemacolin's own properties, which is part of why Lautrec holds the position it does in the area. If Lautrec is closed or unavailable, Nemacolin's other on-property restaurants are the practical fallback. For comparable French fine dining in the broader region, Pittsburgh is the nearest city with a deeper roster of options.
The menu changes regularly based on seasonal and locally sourced produce, so specific dishes cannot be guaranteed. The kitchen's style runs toward French technique applied to regional ingredients — expect composed plates rather than straightforward bistro fare. If the dessert tasting menu at the bar is available, the $15 price point makes it worth adding regardless of what you ordered at dinner.
It is workable but not the strongest fit. The main dining room is oriented toward couples and small groups, and the bar does not serve full dinners. A solo diner willing to book a table for one will be accommodated, but the room's romantic setup means you will likely feel the format more than you would at a counter-service or bar-forward restaurant.
Keep this venue in your Pearl passport, rate it after you visit, and track it alongside every other place you collect.
