Harvest Supper

[James Kessler]

My wife and I just dined here last night for the first time. Really nice place. Faint smell of antique wood in there... very pleasant atmosphere. I'm pretty sure it was Grace Lamb who was hostess; very gracious. At this point the restaurant still lacks their liquor license so it's operating as a BYO.

Here's a sample MENU.

We ordered:

baked potato croquettes with feta (and some kind of tomato-based sauce)

fresh yellowfin tuna sandwich with celery root mayonnaise and sunchoke chips

lobster and fingerling potato crepe with bernaise sauce

veal cheeks with israeli couscous, morels and asparagus

seared hanger steak with onion chips (and some kind of puree... onion?)

smoked short rib with truffled polenta

For Westchester and Fairfield Counties this restaurant is WAY BEYOND standards of quality. In this part of the region, we don't often see restaurants with such attention to creative layering of flavors and textures. Most restaurants are content to serve the same standard dishes as one another, to various levels of competency.

This place however, is obviously operating within the sphere of influence of Manhattan. Great use of seasoning, very pleasing flavors and textures for the most part.

Not without its flaws however. I enjoyed the potato croquettes very much, while my wife said she was disappointed that they are served cold. Veal cheeks were delicious... perhaps the star of the meal for me... but served in a deep bowl which made it difficult to manipulate on the fork. Seared hanger steak was the biggest disappointment for me because of the tough, chewy texture. Not sure what could have improved the texture of the meat. Also, the puree it was served over was pretty bland. Smoked short rib was very good, but for around $16 or so we found the portion to be very tiny. (Yes, I understand it's meant to be a "small plate" but there's small and then there's tiny.)

Desserts were a yogurt cheesecake with preserved berries and grahm cracker crumbs. Also a chocolate tart with caramel whip.

Both desserts were very very good. In fact, both desserts sound pretty mundane from their descriptions, but I assure you they were both very flavorful and enjoyable. In so many restaurants around this region dessert is not even worth bothering with it's such a low point to the meal. In this case however, we were quite pleasantly surprised.

If anyone cares about this aspect I'll also mention that all of that food, along with a bottle of Pellegrino, came out to $99 before tax and tip. That's worth mentioning since again, restaurants of this caliber are rarely found in this region -- and CERTAINLY not at that price.

The place only seats 36 and has not yet been "discovered" by locals. Get here NOW while you can still BYO and get a reservation without a wait. Once the New Cannanites and Wiltoners find out about this spot its charm will have diminished somewhat... so now's the time to jump at the chance!

you can call

203-966-5595 for reservations.