Blue Hill (NYC)

[Bux]

Per Eater, Frank Bruni reviews Blue Hill in tomorrow's New York Times. Eater is taking the odds on three stars, which I agree is the most likely possibility. William Grimes gave the restaurant two stars in 2000, and it would be hard to justify a re-review unless Bruni believes an upgrade is in order. Based on the restaurant's reputation and the three stars Bruni awarded Blue Hill at Stone Barns a couple of years ago, a downgrade seems highly unlikely.

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Three stars it is, and given the expectations of ambience expecvted from a four star restaurant, I think three stars is correct, even for a restaurant that has served me some of the best, and most exciting meals I've had in recent years in NYC. I would add that it spite of the most exceptional ingredients served in the city, there's also a low dependence on luxurious and imported ingredients one might expect in a four star restaurant.

I am also reminded of Grimes comments about the decor. If I recall correctly, he said there was no decor. Bruni was quite appreciative of the sophisticated and professional design of the restaurant which I've always found to be one of the most attractive rooms of it's size and scale in NYC. I often take issue with the lighting however. I simply prefer brightly lit dining rooms, which are more common in France, Spain and Italy than in NYC. Nevertheless, the urbane and romantic lighting is also handled better at Blue Hill than at other places that seem to be at the same level of brightness, or dimness.

I also agree with Bruni that when it comes to food, it's different strokes for different folks. Where I disagree with him is in his statement that "you can get only so carried away" [with the food]. No other restaurant in the city has managed to carry me away with greater excitement in recent years. Perhaps one has "to pay attention and heed the nuances," but if one does, assuming one has the palate to appreciate the nuances, there is no more full throttle meal available in the city. There are however, different styles for different tastes, but that's a subjective thing. There is a place in my diet for crunch, ooze, charred skin and even messy fat, but it all doesn't have to come from one restaurant. The food at Blue Hill is as good as any I've had at four star restaurants and as good as that served at Stone Barns, albeit in less luxurious surroundings. It is also very sexy food.

Last year, a chef's tasting menu was perhaps more impressive than tasting menus at Per Se and Daniel had in the same month, although I would have no argument that both those esteemed places have an undisputed claim to four stars. The Blue Hill meal was perhaps somewhat more than half the price of the other two meals and offered about the same number of courses. That meal is not on the menu, but I believe it can be arranged in advance with the chef. Other meals later in the year continued to meet that standard, much to the delight of a number of gastronomes from Spain that we took to Blue Hill. One, a culinary critic from Madrid, later singled Blue Hill out as his best meal in the states in an article published in a travel supplement in Madrid's El Mundo. He agreed with my assessment that the kitchen was thinking and performing in a manner similar to that of the new chefs who have put Spain on the international cuinary map. The quality of the ingredients left another visitor from Barcelona, with serious involvement in that region's restaurants and products, in awe.

Full disclosure should mention that my appreciation of film media was formed in the sixties by "hushed foreign film with subtitles." Blue Hill is the new Jules and Jim and L'Aventurra for me. That is to say a highly evocative and deeply satisfying experience that lingers.

I'm also a fan of Alex Urena, but it should be noted that the "poached foie gras with smoked eel [and green apple] was a direct crib from Martin Berasategui and not quite as successfully prepared as at Martin's Michelin three star restaurant near San Sebastian.

I ran into Dan at the Union Square Greenmarket this Saturday at Rick Bishop's stand buying huckleberries and at Tim Stark's stand buying tomatoes. Dan said his own Stone Barns tomatoes should be making a ripe appearance later this week at both restaurants and insisted we get there soon. It's the kind of offer I find hard to refuse. Bruni's review is not going to make getting a reservation easier to get. Glad we made ours before the review.

[pedro]

José Carlos Capel, critic of the most important newspaper in Spain, El País and director of Madrid Fusión, mentioned Dan Barber as the leader of the trend of chefs horticulturalists, with gardens and farms annexed:

Y para hablar de su cocina hay que evocar la corriente de los restaurantes regidos por cocineros horticultores, con granjas y huertas anexas, tendencia que lidera Dan Barber, del Blue Hill at Stone Barns, en el extrarradio neoyorquino.

Capel's critic of Les Cols where Barber is mentioned

Another of the directors of Madrid Fusión described Blue Hill as wonderful and its counterpart upstate as magical.

I've been fortunate enough to dine at Blue Hill twice and in both occasions the meal was between the best I've had in the States, and probably the last one I had in January this year had nothing to envy to the best meals you can find in Europe. Yes, there are nuances and I think it's a cuisine that requires some attention, but it's hard to think of another restaurant to remove Blue Hill from my short list of places to visit when I'm in NY.

[ColleenD]

Thanks to the egulleters (egulleteers??) for steering me towards Blue Hill. I was in town last week and had a fantastic meal there Tuesday night. Besides the unbelievable food (some of the best pork tenderloin I have ever had), I wanted to mention the outstanding service.

I had originally made a res for Monday night. Shortly after I called (the same day), the restaurant called me back and said that they were sorry but they realized they couldn't accommodate me on Monday. Fortunately, I was in town for 2 nights and was able to get a res for Tuesday.

Shortly after we sat down, the maitre d' came over with 2 glasses of champagne and thanked us for being so flexible with our reservation. I thought that was really generous and classy. Certainly a smart way to generate a lot of goodwill with a thoughtful gesture. I am sure most of you will not be surprised as the consensus seems to be that customer service and attention to detail is a Blue Hill forte. I look forward to going back!

[Sneakeater]

Just wanted to publicly recognize what I considered to be an excellent -- textbook, really -- response to a service snafu on the part of the Blue Hill staff.

I went there Sunday night with a date who has Celiac Disease. She can get very sick if she eats gluten. We told the waiter her limitation when we ordered. Fortunately, the entree she wanted -- venison on pureed jerusalem artichoke -- contained no gluten.

Unfortunately, they brought her a plate of lamb on cracked wheat instead. She's only recently started eating meat, and so was unable to recognize the taste-and-texture difference between the lamb and her venison. I, on the other hand, was looking only at her and at the pork on my own plate (which I'll note, in case she sees this, bore no resemblance to each other), so I didn't notice that the stuff under her meat looked kind of wheat-like and certainly not pureed.

They realized their mistake after a few minutes, after we'd started in on our entrees. They whisked the plate away from her and replaced it with the correct one. A managerial type came over and told her what had happened, emphasizing that she had already eaten some gluten. They offered to run over to a drug store and buy her any over-the-counter drug that would help (this isn't treatable that way). They offered to get her to a hospital immediately, if necessary, and in any event to pay for any hospitalization that might prove to be necessary. (Happily, none was.) They comped us both our dinners (including a fairly pricey bottle of wine). They called her the next day to see if she was OK and if there was anything they could do to help her.

Happily, she ate little enough of the wheat that there were no repercussions.

Obviously, this was a fairly serious glitch, and if she had a severe allergy rather than a syndrome like Celiac Disease she could have been in serious trouble even though she had only eaten a tiny bit of the forbidden substance. Nevertheless, mistakes happen. What's important is the way places deal with them. The way Blue Hill dealt with this one was exemplary.

I've always been on the fence about the food here: I appreciate its virtues, but have always found it just too subtle (if I weren't speaking in mixed company, I might say "bland" instead of "subtle"). But the way they conducted themselves Sunday night has now made me an enthusiastic supporter anyway. Places with this kind of attitude deserve to be patronized.

Edited January 17, 2007 by Sneakeater (log)

[ulterior epicure]

What is the noise factor here? One in my party is hard of hearing and high noise level causes static in his hearing aid.

[robert40]

What is the noise factor here?  One in my party is hard of hearing and high noise level causes static in his hearing aid.

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Even though it is a small dining room I don't recall it being excessively noisy.

[NYC Mike]

Anyone know where Juan Cuevas has landed? I just noticed (might be old news) that he left BH NYC.

Thanks,

-Mike

[backyardchef]

Anyone know where Juan Cuevas has landed?  I just noticed (might be old news) that he left BH NYC.

Thanks,

-Mike

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Grub St. reported on a NY Sun piece a while back that said that he left to be a part of Ed Brown's new place, Eighty One--

Juan Cuevas has left Blue Hill to be the chef de cuisine at Ed Brown’s Eighty One, which should open in December. [NYS]

Grub St Link