This posting will likely be mainly of interest to other foodies but it's still a funny story at times due to our naivety. Our dinner at Blue Hill at Stone Barns Farm was all that I had hoped/expected and so much more. We knew we would be dropping quite a chunk of change for this dining privilege but we so believe in what Stone Barns Farm is trying to do with their mission of organic, sustainable, and humane agricultural practices and their creative and meticuluous art of cooking. It was justifiable at least in my mind that we essentially were making a donation to the environment and the arts and getting a great meal in the deal.
It starts with the fun of getting dressed up a bit--they have a dress code that adds a certain dimension of festiveness and elegance. I wore my pearl necklace and earrings for this dining event (a rare event--my parents gave them to me when I earned my PHD 23 years ago and I've probably only worn them a handful of times). Bob wore a suit and tie. He looked as usual, handsome and dashing. So we drive out to the country for this anticipated gourmet dining experience. Having been to the farm previously, we enjoy the drive out to Tarrytown. It's a beautiful, sunny, clear day. It didn't snow as predicted so no problem driving out there. You pass by a fair amount of wooded highway and the snow still present made for a very scenic drive. There is a lake you drive by on the way and it was frozen over and a flock of geese were on the ice. We get there in time to check out the indoor farmers market, buy two dozen of their incredibly fresh eggs (yolks a brilliant bright yellowy orange that stand tall as you break the egg into the pan), and check out the gift shop. Now I have a wonderful memory of that gift store of my niece and her family there with us.
It's time for our reservation and we head to the restaurant, a string of lanterns with lit candles guides us through the courtyard to the front door. The restaurant is a most interesting blend of modern rustic. Definitely feels like a farm structure but very elegant and modern at the same time. Hard to describe. We warm up at the fireplace and wait to be called. When seated they put us across from one another at our table but it's much too far away from each other for such a special and romantic dinner so I make my way to Bob's side of the table and we are able to sit closely, share more intimate conversation and affection, and just settle into the dining experience. I also have a much better view of the entire room from Bob's side of the table. The views out the windows are the snowladen fields with cows passing in the distance in one direction, the stone courtyard in another and snowladen trees in yet another direction. The ambient noise is a good level, clearly indicating everyone is having a good time but you can't overhear anyone and it's not disruptive to our conversation. Pretty much all the tables fill and stay filled for the 3 hours we are there. It's very fun to see everyone dressed nicely and the tables appointed with lovely flower arrangements, table clothes and napkins. The waitstaff is plentiful and impeccably professional yet highly personable. Attentive without being intrusive, informative without being snobbish.
So this being our very first dinner here, we weren't exactly sure what to expect except that we knew it was a prix fixed chef's tasting menu, with the choice of 5 courses or 8 courses. Both Bob and I had made it a point not to eat much before hand as we wanted to be plenty hungry. In that spirit we ordered the 8 course meal (6 savory plates and 2 desserts--Bob had the vegetarian version, I opted for the regular menu as I wanted to take in some of that happy animal bliss we observed as the animals frolicked about the farm the first time we visited). The dining experience started with this very whimsical presentation of two lightly salted and blanched young carrots (whole carrots, stems and all, just very young), two speciality radish wedges (red flesh with green skins), two marinated beet wedges, and two pieces of cauliflower rubbed with meyer lemon all kind of floating in their presentation having been pinned atop a wood rectagular block with very thin nails pointing up holding them. We knew then we were in for quite a different dining experience. We were also quite taken aback that if this was one of the first of the 8 courses, we were in for big trouble and might need to go out to dinner after this dinner. This was doubly enforced when the next edible brought to the table was a slotted wood block with 5 paper thin square chips, two made of beet, one of parsnip, and two of squash. The squares were maybe about 1 1/2 inch square. I also received two small round slices of house prepared salumi, one of venison and one something else I don't remember. Both were delicious, great proportions of fat, salt, and cured meat. Bob got slices of some seasoned root vegetable. We savored those chips and slices like it was nobody's business. Then out came two tiny beet burgers probably no more than an inch high and an inch around (complete with little tiny sesame seed buns) and one single potato fry on a stick rolled in sesame seeds (mine was half wrapped in pancetta). The two were absolutely delicious but we were really starting to get worried that we had now taken in 3 servings and if the other five were like this, we may have been a little too idolizing of Blue Hill. As it turns out, we learned a new food term yesterday--amuse bouche. These act as small tastings to tempt the taste buds and set your mind to savoring the upcoming menu with a sneak preview of the creativity of the chef. We didn't really understand that til several courses later when we were feeling more and more stuffed and finally asked the waitstaff just how many more courses were coming because our counting didn't seem to match all that was being served. That is when she explained about the amuse bouche finger foods and how once the silverware is placed on the table that is the signal that the formal 8 course meal is to begin. So what we thought was going to be the most expensive and skimpiest meal we would ever have, over time, turned into one that we were so full we could barely finish the second dessert. Even though the plates were small (though certainly not miniscule), alot of small plates winds up being a lot of food. With the 8 courses, 3 amuse bouche, champagne sorbet and mandarins between the savory plates and desserts, a glass of wine (Barbera), and a cup of decaf cappuccino, we certainly felt we got our money's worth and more. We both really loved the creativity of the food presentation to the table, lots of use of slate slabs, wood slabs, and giant plates or bowls with smaller insets to hold the serving. It was always a bit of a mystery of what was coming next, but each course was beautiful, delicious, creative, fresh, and something I could never even think to prepare or create on my own. That is exactly what I want when I dine at this level. Even the simplest of the prepared items was so fresh and a taste sensation, from the subtle and sublime to the more complicated and bold. I will do my best to walk through the 8 courses though the details soon escaped me as soon as the next course was presented and described. I wish the menu had been written out or I had taken written notes. We opted out of the matched wines throughout the dinner as neither Bob nor I drink that much and it would have added another $105 dollars to the meal per person.
Each serving is overall small but large enough to get a very good tasting of the flavors
1st course a savory brioche french toast with fresh ricotta and greens marmalade with fried ground pepper. The brioche was baked on the premises and had a hint of whole grain flour while still being tender and moist and oh so buttery.
2nd course a wonderful baby mixed green salad with about 10 different types of greens grown in their protected greenhouses (of which are the largest in the country for indoor growing). In the midst of the greens was a tender marinated slice of beet rolled arount the most delicious goat cheese I've ever tasted. It also had a hint of meyer lemon in the very simple dressing. What was most interesting about this course was the use of cured raw yolks which formed the consistency of a grating cheese. They grated some of the cured raw egg yolks onto the salad to provide a very subtle egg flavor. They brought samples of the eggs in their small individual curing sacks. That was pretty unique, never had even heard of anything like that.
3rd course (which at the time we thought was our 6th and last course of the savory plates) was a half grilled onion for Bob with 3 very savory but small tiny bowls of condiments of pureed seasoned root vegetables. We had a good laugh over that being his main entree for this very expensive dinner. He thought about what his dad's reaction would have been to such a plate being brought to him for his main course. Bob's dad was a BIG steak and potato guy. No steak or potato was too big for him to consume. He thought his dad would have turned absolutely red faced and demanding more food. No doubt Bob was a bit worried about needing more food too but nothing like what his dad would have been. My plate was razor clams, with slivered celery root in a cream sauce with lobster roe. Wonderful, light and rich at the same time. Bob very much liked his grilled onion and condiments.
4th course Vegetables swimming in a light pistou creamy broth with a soft boiled egg that was somehow encased in a heavenly lightly seasoned fried bread crumb crust. I have absolutely no idea how they did that because the yolk of the egg was still delectably runny and the crust was slightly crunchy. It was delicious and so unusual. They also brought four slices of warm onion and potato bread with fresh butter from the farm and small bowls of powdered dried chantrelles and parsley salt to accent the bread. So incredibly delicious.
5th course Various gnocchi made with beet, squash, pumpkin, or some other green vegetable. I am not a big gnocchi fan mainly because it becomes rather monotonous rather quickly. These were varied enough and of a small enough portion that it kept me interested and enjoying the entire serving.
By this time we were feeling pretty full and asked our wait person just how many more courses were coming. She assured us it was just one more savory and then the two desserts.
6th course For me medallions of beef steak on a bed of balsamic marinated cabbage with watercress accent and for Bob a squash steak with homemade sauerkraut. Very nicely done. For me very clean tasting meat, nicely done medium rare. I found the balsamic cabbage a bit overpowering so didn't eat that much of it. The only thing I ever left on my plate. Bob and I were pretty much taking every morsel we could of everything that had been served us so far, strictly for extending the taste, not because quantity was an issue by this time.
Next came a really fantastic sorbet with mandarins soaked in a champagne sauce that was so incredibly good and so refreshing. We initially thought it was the first of the two desserts but quickly regrouped and understood it to be to cleanse our palatte when moving from the savory dishes to the desserts. Frankly we were ready to stop at that point and the sorbet would have been a fantastic finish to a fantastic meal but we still had two desserts coming. Plus we were offered the opportunity to add a dessert cheese plate as well if we liked. I would have loved to been able to do that as I LOVE CHEESE but we just couldn't this time around. So we passed. We did opt to have a wonderful cup of decaf cappuccino. Great flavor, I prefer the strong coffee flavor and Bob prefers it more sugary but he quickly came to enjoy sharing the cup with just one lump of sugar (if it was his cappuccino, he would have easily added 3 lumps or more). I am sure the sugar cubes were made there as they looked very rustic and hand crafted.
7th course Chocolate strudel (OMG) the chocolate was warm, dark, and flowing from the flakey buttery pastry shell. It was served with homemade mocha ice cream with shaved coconut and tiny shards of wafer.
8th and final course Homemade quince macaroons and a very small apple.--I don't remember the variety but it was fully ripened and provided a nice neat fresh finish to the entire meal.
Before going to dinner Bob was quite concerned (and expressed several times) that he was afraid because he was taking the vegetarian option that all he would get the whole night was some variation of squash for all 8 courses. I tried to assure him the chef was far more creative than that, and by the end of the meal he had to admit that he was really impressed, even when squash was on the plate. Our hope is to be able to go for dinner each season as the menu is mainly driven by what is seasonally available from the farm or nearby producers. Next time, we will likely opt for the 5 course dinner and add a cheese plate. I can hardly wait for Spring..................
