Basement Bistro - Earlton, NY

[jauster]

My husband managed to get us a reservation next week at the Basement Bistro in Earlton. Has anyone here been? What to expect? All I've read has been rave reviews from some very prominent sources. I am very excited!

And, on a lesser note, how do people dress?

[lambretta76]

Your visit has long since passed, and I'm sure you had a wonderful meal. I did, too, this past weekend, and I'd like to share the pics. I just put it on my own (non-food) blog; my article in full can be found here. But I'll include the images of the meal I had, as well as the descriptions (to the best of my ability) below:

Bread:

Housemade bread: A focaccia-style bread made with basil flowers, and a sort of "everything bread" made with homemade onion powder, among other things. Served with freshly-churned butter and olive oil imported from a customer's olive farm in Greece.

First Course:

Charcuterie (all cured in-house, clockwise from top):

Goose "salami"

Icelandic lamb cured with coriander

Grass-fed beef brasaola

Kurobuta (Berkshire) pork "speck"

Small bites (from top):

Nasturtium flower, coated in rice flour and baked, served on a sunchoke puree*

Baby green beans wrapped in lamb prosciutto with heirloom carrot puree

Heirloom tomato with swiss chard and spinach powder

Cheeses (all made in-house, clockwise from top):

Blue cheese with sage

Camembert-style cheese

(unknown variety with fried parsley)

Earlton cheese (chef's own recipe)

Goat chevre with apple and nectarine confit

* It should be noted that most of his purees and sauces use a rutabaga stock at various reductions instead of cream or butter. It's amazing how much of a creamy texture this method gives a sauce without adding extra fat

Second Course:

Savory Cones: Parsley-oil "cones" with pureed purple bush beans, green eggplant, and green sunflower seeds

Third Course:

Salmon "BLT": Peachwood-smoked salmon, basil, heirloom tomato, lavender and marjoram aioli

Fourth Course:

Seafood course* (from left to right):

Peekytoe crab with squash blossom puree and cauliflower powder

Oyster poached in tomato water with heirloom carrot salad and squash seeds

Salt and pepper prawn with saffron cabbage "slaw"

* All seafood is provided by a vendor from Maine, who makes the Basement Bistro the first stop on the way to New York City

Fifth Course:

Puffball "Soup": Puffball mushroom puree with applewood smoked corn, watermelon radish flower

Sixth Course:

Frozen duo*:

Wild pink current sorbet

Oven-roasted peach gelato

* Instead of using sugar or another sweetener, he uses unripened grape juice to sweeten his frozen confections

Seventh Course:

Bronze basil ice cream served atop an apple cucumber, with celery root slaw, icicle radish salad, beet powder, heirloom tomato powder, fried basil leaf

Eighth Course:

Meat course (from left to right):

Sous-vide pork sirloin wrapped in venison bacon, silver shallot, delicato/buttercup squash puree, kohlrabi puree

Boiled "Kobe" (Wagyu) eye round, heirloom carrot and onions, pureed potatoes with swiss chard stems, candied swiss chard stem

Olive oil-cured duck confit with sumac, sea salt, butter turnip and wild burdock puree

Ninth Course:

Gamay Noir grape granita

Tenth Course:

Cheese plate:

Roquefort-style blue cheese

unknown "fluffy" cheese

Maplewood-smoked pecorino-style cheese

Apples, grapes, plums, nectarines, air-dried and fresh blueberries

Chocolate "pudding": Tempered Valrhona chocolate with skim milk and blackberry

Eleventh Course:

Mulberry and blackberry sorbet

[docsconz]

This place has only recently come across my radar. Thanks for the report and the photos.