NYC, Part 2 (Tarrytown Edition)

After a cross Pacific and cross country plane ride, a monster sandwich at Katz's, a late night Roman-style dinner and a couple of drinks out on the town the combination of jet lag, food coma, and alcohol pretty much had me knocked out the entire next day. But it wouldn't keep us down for long. We had more eating to do. This time not in the city, but upstate a bit for a dinner at Blue Hill at Stone Barns.

I was excited to try this "farm-to-table" style dining and was looking forward to the best that Stone Barns and the surrounding farm country could offer. Though Dan Barber's original Blue Hill is in the city, I was excited to head to Stone Barns as it is as close to the farm as you can get.

CK and I headed over to Grand Central Station to meet LO and IR for the 45 minute train ride to Tarrytown. After another 10 minute cab ride through the darkened countryside we arrived at Stone Barns. Too late for the farm tour, we escaped the cold as quickly as possible and headed inside.

After a drink in the lounge and a glass of champagne at the table, I was already buzzing both from the drinks and the anticipation. The staff at Blue Hill started us of with a variety of vegetables picked right off the farm that day through a number of interesting preparations and presentations.

A variety of cauliflower

Baby carrots, baby fennel, and baby turnips

Potato and squash chips

Beet burgers (best "vegiburger" ever) and salsify

Dried Kale

Charcuterie ~ Chicken liver with chocolate tuile, speck, bologna, sopresatta

Pig's face bacon

Not a typo. Bacon made with the meat off a pig's face as every bit as delicious, if not more so, than "regular" bacon.

Homemade oatmeal crackers with ricotta, butter, arugula salt, and beet salt

Blue Hill Farm veal marrow with American sturgeon caviar

Pure indulgence. A veal bone split and roasted then topped with caviar. The richness of the marrow and the briny pop of the caviar made this dish a hit.

Forona beets, homemade yogurt, pine nuts, mache

Roasted baby butternut squash

This Morning's Farm egg, bloomsdale spinach & cracked wheat

Stone Barns Morteau Sausage, fall fruits and vegetables

An outstanding dish. The house made morteau sausage was singularly one of the best things I ate on my whole trip. Perfectly composed and balanced as everything on the plate had a purpose. 

Handmade kabocha ravioli, stone barns goose breast & lemon thyme

Stone Barns Pastured Lamb, baby field cabbage & heirloom shelling beans

Hudson Valley Venison, fall fruits & rutabaga

Butternut Squash Soup, apple cider gelee, mutsu apple-ginger sorbet

Pickled Plum Soup, honey, fennel, concord grape sorbet

Hazelnut Daquoise, quince, maple syrup, rosemary ice cream, and toasted meringue

Golden Beet Cake, molasses, white chocolate, and pistachio ice cream

As you can see, it was quite a marathon meal. Not even the most unhappy and non-talkative couple in existence, silently gnawing away at their food at the two top next to us could take away from the experience. While Blue Hill at Stone Barns didn't offer the most refined food, it was straightforward and delicious. You can tell that the kitchen has total respect for the produce and proteins that they work with. This is a product of both Chef Barber's philosophy and how closely they work with their neighboring farmers.

Honestly, it is something that I wish we would see more of here at home. I'm not asking for Michelin star food, or even food that tastes like it came from Stone Barns (or anywhere else, for that matter). I want to experience flavors that can only come from produce grown in Hawaii, presented in a straightforward manner. There has been a movement to make this more of a reality, but the demand has to be there too. Unfortunately, a populace that makes Romano's Macaroni Grill it's best new restaurant and continues to vote it one of the best for Italian food makes it quite an uphill battle to change people's minds. But this is a tangent and an argument for another time.

The meal took so long, we missed our train and had to wait in the cold for one of the last trains out of Tarrytown. After 45 minute train ride to chat about and digest and reflect on our meal we arrive back in the city at around 2AM. We headed back to CK's apartment to sleep and get ready to eat again.....