this guy's food blog

Feeling elated from an incredible lunch and enthusiastic for our impending dinner, Rocky and I headed back to Stone Barns a little early to do a bit more exploring of the grounds before taking our seats for round two of our Blue Hill two-a-day. (click here for round one)

Once again, this post is coming eight months after the meal, so I’m going to keep it fairly brief with any details I happen to remember or have jotted down.

Vegetables from the garden.

Rhubarb strips.

Baby kohlrabi from the garden.

Pig heart pastrami.

Radishes from the greenhouse.

Pea and corn shoots. To be snipped and dragged through lemon vinaigrette with aleppo pepper and bee pollen.

Blueberry, honey, and lardo pancakes. Tremendous.

Chocolate and pork liver.

Mini asparagus burgers.

Coppa flatbread. Crispy and hammy.

Toasted yogurt. One with carrot sorbet, the other with beet sorbet.

Green garden gazpacho(cucumber, zucchini, herbs) with buffalo yogurt and a polenta chocolate wheat chip.

Local clams, peas, lardo. Superb green combination of peas, fava beans, and asparagus with lovely clams(razor and some other). Though the dish was topped with too much lardo for my taste.

Zucchini, nasturtium, almond. A lovely, juicy cut of squash.

Peas, bio-char onions, daylily. Damn. Amazing. I still think of this little dish occasionally. The charred allium taste was sublime with the perfect peas. The daylily was a lifting lightly floral compliment.

Handmade goose egg pasta(made with minimal flour) with basil and cured immature egg yolk. Another winner. Rocky still talks about this dish occasionally.

Potato onion bread with Hudson Valley butter, Tulip’s butter(Normandy cow), Blue Hill lardo, and corn salt.

Turkey breast, heart, and liver accompanied with beet and strawberry.

Hudson Valley lamb with morels and dragon radish.

Sweet Berry Farm black sheep cheese in the style of goat cheese. With rye bread and rhubarb compote.

Blueberry with frozen Stone Barns buttermilk. Tart sweet berries and rich buttermilk served super cold. Good stuff.

Strawberry ‘cannelloni’ with creme fraiche and balsamic reduction. A kick ass berries and cream plate.

Oh boy…mignardises on bark. They were something along the lines of:  chocolate corn flakes, chocolate pumpkin seeds, honeyed chocolate, minty chocolate, chocolate raspberry lollipop, chocolate covered hazelnuts.

A couple wines of the night:

And that’s my recap of our Blue Hill at Stone Barns two-a-day from last June. Rocky and I are amped to join Chef Dan Barber and crew again for her birthday dinner this weekend. Hopefully I can get the post for that one done in under eight months this time.

Oh yeah…as we were leaving the restaurant, the ‘Super Moon’ was in full effect(though covered with clouds).

Date of meal:  June 23, 2013

Blue Hill at Stone Barns. 630 Bedford Road. Pocantico Hills, NY  914 366 9600

www.bluehillfarm.com

As I’m sitting in my UWS apartment in the middle of a cold NYC winter, I’m looking back on some of my dining moments from last summer. One particularly hot and sunny day in June, Rocky and I found ourselves at the hands of Chef Dan Barber and his team at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. When I was making the plans for the trip I figured that as long as we were making the trek from city, we may as well make it a two-a-day. It was quite a remarkable pair of meals. Since then Rocky has claimed the restaurant to be her favorite that we’ve visited in the states. Now, in late February, with Rocky’s birthday just a few days away, we have some solid weekend plans in place, which include her b-day dinner at Blue Hill at Stone Barns. So I suppose now is as good a time as I’ll have to finally share our BHSB two-a-day. (click here for part 2)

We showed up early to get a snack from the Blue Hill Cafe and tour the grounds before the restaurant opened.

Once lunch time came we got straight to it. I won’t go too much into details. I think the photos(while of questionable quality) speak for themselves.

Vegetables from the farm.

First zucchini from the farm.

Radishes from the greenhouse. Cool, brisk, and pretty spicy.

Rhubarb poached in a little sugar.

Pea vichyssoise with crispy quinoa and snow peas. Out of this world. Easily among my favorite bites of the day.

Weeds from the garden with lemon verbena vinegar. Pea and popcorn shoots, to be snipped and dipped in tarragon pesto.

Fennel sausage. And Rocky with a sharp knife. Slicing away like a pro.

Parsnip, egg yolk, and pancetta ‘pie’.

Strawberry marmelade granola bars.

Charcoal whoopee pie with minty cream.

Asparagus and pancetta.

Veal bone marrow with beef heart. Sweet and rich.

Celtuce, diced and in a broth. With pinenut, Blue Hill yogurt, shungiku, and green apple. Cool, vegetal, fresh.

Fresh mozzarella, strawberry, sesame, bone marrow.

Blue Hill ricotta, whole grain brioche, swiss chard & kale.

After this we were led out of the dining room through a side exit and escorted outside to a small shed with a beautifully set table where we had our next few courses.

Certainly this was quite an amazing place to enjoy a good part of our meal. We took in the setting for a bit and then this stunning spread showed up:

Asparagus over larch. Butter lettuce with coppa. Pea stew. Borscht. And a center piece of wax beans, rapini, orach, chorizo sauce, almond saffron sauce, and shavings of almond, hazelnut, egg yolk, and Treviso cheese. Home run. I would gladly indulge in this impressive offering any day.

Next up: Tacos. Fourchu lobster, kohlrabi, ham hock, artichoke, strawberry compote, carrot puree, coriander, watermelon molasses hot sauce, and smoked salt with lobster roe.

We were invited to linger awhile, and while it was tempting to spend more of the day in the serene setting, we thought it prudent to keep the meal progressing. Moving back into the dining room:

Blue Hill egg yolk, zucchini, ham. A small, quick, and rich little plate.

Potato onion bread. Whipped lard. Butters from Annabelle and Jillian(Jersey and Normandy cows).

Blue Hill pork jowl with mulberry, wineberry, fennel, and herb sauce.

Local sheep milk cheese rolled in vegetable ‘bio-char’. With radish salad and a rye pretzel.

Tart, sweet raspberry with floral elderflower foam and frozen pistachio butter. Delicious.

Corn crumble, milk sorbet, currant compote, and almond cake.

Chocolate eggs with milk jam. Creamy and crunchy with a lasting smooth chocolate finish.

A few beverages from lunch:

An incredibly impressive and poetic first meal at Stone Barns. Rocky and I couldn’t wait to get back for dinner to see what was in store for round two of our day.

(click here for round two)

Date of meal:  June 23, 2013

Blue Hill at Stone Barns. 630 Bedford Road. Pocantico Hills, NY  914 366 9600

www.bluehillfarm.com