Blue Hill at Stone Barns

[Sneakeater]

Also, don't underestimate the appeal of an enthusiastic party. I've trailed in many kitchens, and have often heard managers come in and say things to the chef like, "The party on table 33, they seem really nice, really into food, and they're really happy to be here." And the chef will put out an extra special meal for that table. Happens all the time.

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I've always wondered about that. I think it produces a lot of comps as well.

[docsconz]

Doc, could you explain the "fried" egg dish. Is the "egg" a potato shaped like an egg, or was there an egg that isn't shown in the photo?

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Rich, I believe that the eggs are cooked sous vide to a point that the whites are set. Then the shells are peeled, they are coated in panko and flash-fried, presumably in a deep fryer. At least that is how I reconstruct it.

[rich]

Doc, could you explain the "fried" egg dish. Is the "egg" a potato shaped like an egg, or was there an egg that isn't shown in the photo?

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Rich, I believe that the eggs are cooked sous vide to a point that the whites are set. Then the shells are peeled, they are coated in panko and flash-fried, presumably in a deep fryer. At least that is how I reconstruct it.

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Are the yolks still runny?

It sounds similar to the 90-minute paoched eggs they served when I was there last summer.

Come to think of it, I think Pepin makes eggs in a similar fashion for his Brandade.

[docsconz]

Doc, could you explain the "fried" egg dish. Is the "egg" a potato shaped like an egg, or was there an egg that isn't shown in the photo?

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Rich, I believe that the eggs are cooked sous vide to a point that the whites are set. Then the shells are peeled, they are coated in panko and flash-fried, presumably in a deep fryer. At least that is how I reconstruct it.

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Are the yolks still runny?

It sounds similar to the 90-minute paoched eggs they served when I was there last summer.

Come to think of it, I think Pepin makes eggs in a similar fashion for his Brandade.

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Yes, they are runny.

[smgarsh]

What did you find wrong with it? What kinds of places do you generally like that you have been satisfied with from a value point of view? I'm not asking to be snarky, simply curious to compare likes/dislikes. My impressions are not out of line with the majority of other posters on this board, but then as with Momofuku Ssam Bar, I have been on the other side and underwhelmed by a generally raved about restaurant.

The only thing I found wrong was the perceived value of going from the 4 course to the farmers feast.

When I was there in Dec'06 the 4 course was $75 and the farmers feast was $95. Since I'm not in that area often, my dining partner and I decided to opt for the farmers feast since it is thier signature menu.

The waitstaff explained to me that the farmers feast would contain items/dishes that was not on the main menu. They also asked if we had any food dislikes (None, we like EVERYTHING! ) such as offal, foie gras, or if we had any food allergies (NONE!).. It sounded like the farmers feast would be a more ambitious, adventurous menu than the 4 course and that made our decision on the farmers feast that much easier.

From what I could remember, we had similar amuses. You had the fresh carrots and bok choy, we had fresh carrots and turnips. We both had the beet burgers and the beet chips. The vegetables presented in different styles was great and we thought this was a perfect way to present their greenhouse grown vegetables. But this is where our similarities end.

From your report you also had the pork liver sandwich, salsify, coppa, oyster/caviar and another beet dish. We had no other amuses besides the vegetables I mentioned above. I saw another table served the salsify but I didn't know what it was until your report.

For the 1st course we had the green house salad similar to your salad but with 3X the greens,winter root vegetables (beets again), apples but NO egg. It was presented on the same type of slate board but my board was smaller and rectangular.

I forgot the order of the next 3 courses but there was a cured salmon dish, trout dish, and arborio rice dish. The arborio rice dish was cooked in the style of a borscht so more beets AGAIN!!! :wacko:

After the salad course, we've already had beets 3 different ways. I didn't want another beet dish. With the rice dish, we had beets 4 different ways. I swore I ordered a farmers feast and not a beet tasting menu.

The 5th and last course was the pork. Mine was presented differently than yours as mine was served in slices without the crispy skin you had on yours. But I have to say, it was the best tasting pork I've ever had in my life.

I've might have had a pre-dessert but I don't recall. If we did it was not as lovely as the one you had. For dessert we had apple beignets (sp?) with apple sorbet.

We finished the meal with mignardises.

When I got home I compared what I had to what was on their menu. Basically, we paid an extra $20 pp for the cured salmon. If I had known we would be served what was on the menu, I would have opted for the 4 course menu. That way we could have ordered 8 different dishes.

Overall the food was great, but I was disappointed with the farmers feast. There was nothing different than the regular menu.

I would probably go the BH@SB again but probably not order the farmers feast unless I'm wearing a mask with docsconz face on it.

Edited April 9, 2007 by smgarsh (log)

[docsconz]

What did you find wrong with it? What kinds of places do you generally like that you have been satisfied with from a value point of view? I'm not asking to be snarky, simply curious to compare likes/dislikes. My impressions are not out of line with the majority of other posters on this board, but then as with Momofuku Ssam Bar, I have been on the other side and underwhelmed by a generally raved about restaurant.

The only thing I found wrong was the perceived value of going from the 4 course to the farmers feast.

When I was there in Dec'06 the 4 course was $75 and the farmers feast was $95. Since I'm not in that area often, my dining partner and I decided to opt for the farmers feast since it is thier signature menu.

The waitstaff explained to me that the farmers feast would contain items/dishes that was not on the main menu. They also asked if we had any food dislikes (None, we like EVERYTHING! ) such as offal, foie gras, or if we had any food allergies (NONE!).. It sounded like the farmers feast would be a more ambitious, adventurous menu than the 4 course and that made our decision on the farmers feast that much easier.

From what I could remember, we had similar amuses. You had the fresh carrots and bok choy, we had fresh carrots and turnips. We both had the beet burgers and the beet chips. The vegetables presented in different styles was great and we thought this was a perfect way to present their greenhouse grown vegetables. But this is where our similarities end.

From your report you also had the pork liver sandwich, salsify, coppa, oyster/caviar and another beet dish. We had no other amuses besides the vegetables I mentioned above. I saw another table served the salsify but I didn't know what it was until your report.

For the 1st course we had the green house salad similar to your salad but with 3X the greens,winter root vegetables (beets again), apples but NO egg. It was presented on the same type of slate board but my board was smaller and rectangular.

I forgot the order of the next 3 courses but there was a cured salmon dish, trout dish, and arborio rice dish. The arborio rice dish was cooked in the style of a borscht so more beets AGAIN!!! :wacko:

After the salad course, we've already had beets 3 different ways. I didn't want another beet dish. With the rice dish, we had beets 4 different ways. I swore I ordered a farmers feast and not a beet tasting menu.

The 5th and last course was the pork. Mine was presented differently than yours as mine was served in slices without the crispy skin you had on yours. But I have to say, it was the best tasting pork I've ever had in my life.

I've might have had a pre-dessert but I don't recall. If we did it was not as lovely as the one you had. For dessert we had apple beignets (sp?) with apple sorbet.

We finished the meal with mignardises.

When I got home I compared what I had to what was on their menu. Basically, we paid an extra $20 pp for the cured salmon. If I had known we would be served what was on the menu, I would have opted for the 4 course menu. That way we could have ordered 8 different dishes.

Overall the food was great, but I was disappointed with the farmers feast. There was nothing different than the regular menu.

I would probably go the BH@SB again but probably not order the farmers feast unless I'm wearing a mask with docsconz face on it.

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Actually I think my face held us back from an even better meal!

To be honest, I didn't really look too hard at the menu so I can't say if our meal included menu items or not, but based on your description I can understand your irritation and disappointment. It sounds like there may have been a screw-up that was never picked up by the team and perhaps you were served less than intended. Either intended or not, something was not right. Did you ever mention anything to the restaurant?

[Nathan]

this doesn't look like a situation where they would necessarily know that something was missing (other than a general feeling of disappointment) until after the fact...

[daisy17]

After the salad course, we've already had beets 3 different ways. I didn't want another beet dish. With the rice dish, we had beets 4 different ways. I swore I ordered a farmers feast and not a beet tasting menu.

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I'll admit that I'm biased because I hate beets, but this sounds like laziness to me. It calls to mind "Soul of a Chef" where Ruhlman describes the dozens of dishes Keller puts out on any given night at the French Laundry, none of them replicating any ingredients other than herbs. But the opposite.

[jjb1980]

Being that I use to work at BHSB I can tell you that the soft fried egg is not like the 90 minute technique. It is a certain amount of eggs dropped into a certain amount of water on an induction burner, which temperature can be dialed in, for a certain amount of time. Then shelled, breaded and fried in oil on an induction burner. As far as the farmers feast goes it is never written ahead of time, when a table orders the feast a ticket is printed in the kitchen at two different stations, the ticket will list nine course with blanks next to them, at this point depending on food alergy, vip status, likes and dislikes of the customer, Chef Barber(or during my time Michael Anthony shared the responsibility) will create the tasting around this information.

[docsconz]

Being that I use to work at BHSB I can tell you that the soft fried egg is not like the 90 minute technique.  It is a certain amount of eggs dropped into a certain amount of water on an induction burner, which temperature can be dialed in, for a certain amount of time.  Then shelled, breaded and fried in oil on an induction burner.  As far as the farmers feast goes it is never written ahead of time, when a table orders the feast a ticket is printed in the kitchen at two different stations, the ticket will list nine course with blanks next to them, at this point depending on food alergy, vip status, likes and dislikes of the customer, Chef Barber(or during my time Michael Anthony shared the responsibility) will create the tasting around this information.

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Thank you for the information and the insight.

[oakapple]

Doc, did you somehow identify yourself to the kitchen as a VIP, foodblogger, critic or somesuch? I went one day after you, paid the same price and recieved a MUCH less ambitious menu.

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The g/f and I had the Farmer's Feast at BHSB on Saturday (report here). In terms of quantity, it was pretty much on par with what Doc and JosephB had. My photos aren't as good as Doc's, but you still get the general idea.

In a couple of cases, I would have preferred Doc's courses to ours, but I suppose it's the luck of the draw. The couple next to us also ordered the Farmer's Feast, but got different courses because the guy gave a long list of food aversions.

The last time I had the Farmer's Feast was a couple of years ago, and I don't remember so many amuse courses coming out. Obviously I liked it enough to come back, but I thought this time out was even better.

[Joseph Bayot]

Blue Hill Stone Barns Tour

On friday, I went to Blue Hill Stone Barns Farm with a professor from my school, Johnson and Wales, and two other students. We have a student doing his externship there who gave us the tour. The place is amazing.

Feel free to ask any questions on this topic about what you see, and I absolutely love people who leave comments. =P

Enjoy =)

-Joseph Bayot

Edited April 30, 2007 by Joseph Bayot (log)

[tupac17616]

These days I seem to be having great restaurant experiences at a quicker rate than I can recap them here on eGullet (good problem to have, I admit! ), but wow. First visit to BH@SB Friday night. What a beautiful place. Walked around the grounds for an hour or so right around sunset. Enjoyed the farmer's feast for the next 4 1/2 hours. Really wonderful experience from start to finish. And, boy, those beet burgers...

[adamru]

My new schedule hasn't allowed me a day off to consume and recollect a worthwhile meal yet this year, but I had the opportunity to spend the day wandering and night devouring all Stone Barns had to offer.

Photos and descriptions tomorrow. But I will say service and quality exceeded high expectations and it's such a treat that the one place on the property where there is no cellphone reception is in the dining room. Portion size was my biggest concern and I was pleasantly surprised to be fully sated as the meal came to a close - the Farmer's Feast more than lived up to its name. I'm not sure how surprised I was to be the youngest person in the room - not working there - by at least ten years but I think the openness of the room, the freshness and light touch of the food and the energy of the staff give the space a youthful vibe.

Cocktails: Me: Sorrel Margarita. My Date: Elderflower Champagne cocktail.

Wine: A bottle of Avinyo Brut.

Amuses: Garden greens gazpacho. Fresh carrots. Beet sliders. Bread with carrot and arugula salts.

First course: Seared Hamachi with rhubarb and tapioca.

Second course: Celtuse root sous vide with pine nut puree and Stone Barns yogurt.

Third course: Poached Hake with pea and asparagus stew.

Fourth course: This morning's egg, poached, with lardo and greens.

Fifth course: Me: Stone Barns Berkshire Pork, guanciale. My date: Chicken.

Pre-dessert: Cold rhubarb soup with fromage blanc sorbet and fresh mint.

Dessert: Goat cheese ice cream with milk jam and rhubarb ice cream with rhubarb.

Petits fours: Dozen warm Madelines with jar of marmalade.

[SobaAddict70]

Had the farmer's feast tonight. Heirloom tomatoes are slowly being phased out in favor of autumn-appropriate ingredients.

Some pix:

Summer fruits (heirloom tomatoes, plum, apricot), tomato foam, tomato sorbet, watercress

Green beans, nasturtium, pecans, chives, green gazpacho viniagrette

Braised hake, dairy-less corn chowder, herbs

Stone Barns lamb (lamb chop, lamb loin, lamb confit), lamb jus, tarragon, chickpeas, green beans

I think they've gained a new acolyte at the temple of Barber.

[Megan Blocker]

Any tips for securing a reservation (days that are typically easier to get in, dialing techniques , etc.)? My friend Faith and I want to Zipcar it up from Manhattan, and would be up for either lunch or dinner...

ETA: Turns out, not so hard. Just scored a reservation for Friday, December 21st. Woo-hoo!

[ulterior epicure]

Oh geez, it's been nearly two months since my visit to Blue Hill at Stone Barns, and I am just now getting to post about it.

Well, per usual, you can see all of the photos on my flickr account. You can also read a more lengthy posting on my blog.

Our dinner, a Farmer's Feast featured:

Amuses Bouche - the highlight of which were miniature "Tomato Burgers." The tasting of flavored salts (the most interesting carrot salt) with warm toasted bread and butter was also very memorable.

First Course: Heirloom Tomato Salad with grilled stone fruits, tomato sorbet, tomato foam, and sun-dried tomatoes.

Second Course: Green Bean Salad with Hazelnut-Encrusted Farm Fresh Egg and "Garden Gazpacho."

Third Course: Local Brook Trout with corn and chanterelles sauced with tomato sauce flecked with coriander and capers.

Fourth Course: "Embronic Pasta" (egg yolk past) with shiitakes and tomato cream broth.

Fifth Course: Stone Barns Barred Silver Chicken with corn and quinoa, zucchini puree, and piracicaba.

Sixth Course: Blue Hill at Stone Barns: Berkshire Pork Belly and Loin, with cranberry beans and shell beans.

Pre-Dessert: Watermeon soup with ricotta sorbet

Dessert: Lemon cheesecake with blueberries and creme fraiche ice cream.

Petite Fours: Not the least of which was a bowl of fraises du bois.

Overall, an excellent meal. I disagreed with the beer (too acrid and hoppy for me - ruined the delicate flavor of the tomato salad, but faired ever so slightly better with green bean salad) and white wine (too sweet riesling with the pasta and fish) pairings, but thoroughly enjoyed the red we drank with the chicken and the pork - I believe it might have been a Beaujolais.

Service was gracious, accomodating, and attentive. The setting is second to none. As I wrote on my blog:

"Blue Hill at Stone Barns is one of the most novel and special restaurants I have ever visted. And, yet really, what makes the restaurant special are practices and elements that seem highly intuitive and familiar to me as product of the Midwest and an American consumer: eat what you grow.

That, sadly, is easier said than done these days.

The tenants of Blue Hill at Stone Barns (much like those of the mother ship, Chez Panisse, where I had a spectacular meal last year) require and restrict the restaurant to serving a certain subset of foods. Due to seasonal and regional limitations plus Chef Barber’s insistance that only the best of the garden is served, a number of the same items showed up repeatedly throughout our dinner. Tomatoes figured in somewhere on nearly all of our savory courses, as did mushrooms and beans to a lesser extent. Corn appeared on both our fish and pork dishes.

While this may seem monotonous or reduntant, it really isn’t. It’s simply a matter of understanding, appreciating, and celebrating the abundance of that which is before us.

Blue Hill at Stone Barns is very much a restaurant of the here and now - in terms of its situation vis-à-vis our nation’s restuarant trends, the current food culture in the world, and the food it serves every day. It captures the best of each day and serves it to its guests. In today’s world, this is tremendously exciting.

I hope to return to Blue Hill at Stone Barns. Maybe in the spring, or the dead of winter. I trust the kitchen and the staff will feed and take care of us with as much passion as on this visit."

[tupac17616]

sounds like a great meal, ue. that is definitely a special place, more about the experience of the farm, even, than the food (which is quite good in its own right). i think you captured that very well.

i agree with you about the texture of pasta made with embryonic eggs. it is certainly different than your typical fresh pasta (even when made with egg yolks only). the first time i had it, a chef in modena was telling me about how rolling it out is a pain in the you-know-what.

oh, and by the way, what the heck is piracicaba?

[ulterior epicure]

oh, and by the way, what the heck is piracicaba?

Piracicaba is a dark green vegetable, very similar to broccoli rabe/broccolini... you can see it on the picture I took of the chicken dish.

By the way, the chicken was fantastic - supple, soft, and definitely had that sous vides quality about it. However, I must say that it was just shy the unforgettably silky buttermilk-poached poularde I had at Cru earlier this year. Of course, I don't know what type of poularde Cru was using; BH@SB served a Barred Silver Chicken - there's probably some intrinsic difference in the meat of the two types of chicken that accounted for the textural difference.

I've heard that Humm's poularde (from Four Story Hill, IIRC) is also something of a wonder. The night I was at EMP, he switched out his poached poularde for a presentation of Four Story Hill poularde boudin blanc, which was truly outstanding.

Of the other poularde's I've had in recent memory, Cory Lee's at TFL last year was by far the worst. I would go so far as saying it was probably the worst chicken preparation I've had at a restaurant (admittedly, I don't order it all that often) in a few years. I couldn't cut it with a knife - it made a dent. I took one bite of the dry grainy breast and sent the rest back. It was awful.

Edited November 6, 2007 by ulterior epicure (log)

[ulterior epicure]

Well, I see I'm not alone in the love of Cru's poularde.

[Curlz]

The Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture is looking for a Managing Director for Operations and Finance...

[WK2]

Had lunch here on Sunday. It was delightful, but I'm just posting my blog entry here:

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I have a moment now to speak a little more freely on Blue Hill, so some further tasting notes.

I'm not sure one can approach Blue Hill without conceding the centrality of its location. Of course, the farm is the source of much (though clearly not all) of the food you're going to eat. But there is something special, to my mind, in driving to a place with the sole intention of eating, and luxuriating in the experience. Perhaps a stroll before the meal, perhaps a melancholy wander afterwards, as you realize the meal is over. When I lived in Scotland, I had the same fundamental feeling about the Peat Inn, a similar countryside oasis, though I doubt I had pinpointed what exactly I found so alluring. Even were Blue Hill to serve middling food, the fact that it is on a farm, with geese, and butter, and eggs, and nature would make it worth a quick trip.

Thankfully, however, Blue Hill's food is hard to describe as middling. Lacking a lot of the technological sizzle of a WD-50 (although Dan Barber, Blue Hill's chef, is said to admire Ferran Adria), or the pork sodden, sometimes flailing, virtuosity of Momofuku Ko, this is Chez Panisse for the east coast, food coaxed gently from the landscape. It is rhubarb season here, and hence, a rhubarb jus surrounding a light, delicate island of Maine Crab. Asparagus is fresh, and it is that fresh asparagus that is nestled next to the delightfully runny egg, breaded and deep fried to a crusty, golden, crunch. It's spring, and there's spring lamb, cooked to a boggling tenderness, sitting delicately atop literally nothing but the freshest possible carrots wading in their own clever "butter". One detects only a few notes of dissonance - the (nonetheless delicious) chocolate bread pudding rather than something fruity, while wonderful looking strawberry layer cakes streamed by to some other tables (why chocolate at all? The season demands clafouti). The fact that our table was graced with the beet burger amuse bouche (masterful), but not, oddly, the light herby spritzer others received in addition. And, above all, the dainty portions, which are perfect for my taste, but probably stand right on the precipice of seeming like a bit of a mockery to others (we thought, laughing, of what exactly our respective parents would say, or do, with the plates of food we were presented).

But these are quibbles. The meal was well priced. It was delicious. The settings were a relaxing escape from the concrete canyon of New York city. Blue Hill should continue to be a success.

[jasmineleilani]

I'm treating myself to a trip to BH@SB for my birthday at the end of next month. We have a 9pm Wednesday resy.

It seems activities at the barn shut down at 6pm when the market closes. Anyone know whether it's possible to get a tour there at like 8pm immediately prior to our dinner?

[gatilgan]

I'm planning to have a Saturday dinner at BH at SB. It appears the only available spot for the next few months is 10pm.

I just want to make sure that the service is not rushed in at 10pm. Can someone confirm that?

Secondly, I'd prefer to stay in the area that night. Any recommendations??

Thanks in advance

Edited August 10, 2008 by gatilgan (log)

[dagordon]

I'm planning to have a Saturday dinner at BH at SB. It appears the only available spot for the next few months is 10pm.

I just want to make sure that the service is not rushed in at 10pm. Can someone confirm that?

Secondly, I'd prefer to stay in the area that night. Any recommendations??

Thanks in advance

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We've eaten at BH@SB at 10 and it's been no problem at all.

Also, we got married at BH@SB recently, so we know the hotel options around there pretty well. I recommend the Castle on the Hudson, and I'd avoid Tarrytown House like the plague.