Certainly one of our favorite places anywhere, we attended the dinner Sunday evening with artisan peach farmer and author David Mas Masumoto (with his Elberta peaches served throughout the meal).
Great finger food including these nifty tiny tomato sliders, peaches with procuitto, and more.
Tomato and Peach Salad, with tomato sorbet. (Graf Hardegg Gruner Veltliner Vom Schloss, Wagram, Austria 2007.) Nice opener - combo was great.
Grilled Chicken Liver, with corn salad and peaches. (Philippe Colin St. Aubin ‘Lew Charmois’ 1er 2004.) OMG the livers were amazing - like foie. The corn salad added some texture and the sweetness of the peaches worked great. Amazing dish.
Stone Barns (Berkshire) Pork (tenderloin) with almonds, dried peach, peach leaf sauce, and summer beans. (Peter Dipoli ‘Fihl’ Alto Adige 2002 - the one wine that did nothing for me.) Very nice dish. The peach/pork combo is obvious, but the sauce was fun.
Elderflower Peaches, with poppyseed & honey cake, grilled corn ice cream, raspberries, and olive oil. The peaches were great, but the grilled corn ice cream completely rocked!
I’m usually not completely keen on a dinner in which I get what I get - unless that is the point (like if I order a tasting menu with lots of courses). But this was really nice and the chicken livers were something I would have never ordered - not because I don’t like them, but because I’d find something else on the menu that I’d expect to like more. BHSB is a special place - and I’ll look for more odd events like this to attend.
Thanks for this awesome post. Blue Hill has become my hands-down favorite restaurant in NYC over the past few years and BHSB is a unique experience unto itself. Not only is the food amazing at both locations, but I fully support and agree with everything that they stand for regarding sustainability, seasonality, etc. Chef Barber has been pushing these ideals for a long time and the rest of the industry is catching up now.
I wasn’t at all aware of Masumoto, but their website has tons of info…
We go once or twice a year. It certainly has been at or near the top of our list since it first opened - and I can’t believe it only opened in 2004. The setting of Stone Barns Center is really great - nice place to walk around before dinner. And getting there early, for one of their seasonal garden-based cocktails, is a great idea!
But don’t let the farm setting fool you, as it is fine dining at its finest - right there with French Laundry, Jean-George, or Gordon Ramsay, IMHO. Our most recent dinner at BHSB prior to this one was New Years Eve.
Final props to the place - last year we went with family and Dan offered to cook for us (never say no to that)… but in our party of 6, we had two vegetarians and one broken jaw (requiring soft or liquid food). No problem - and there was never a course in which the special needs eaters were given anything that seemed like an afterthought dish compared to the rest - one knock-out dish after another. You can’t beat that.
Last comment - if you live in Westchester or Fairfield and want to try a fantastic place of a similar philosophy - just much smaller and with an up-and-coming chef - check out the Schoolhouse at Cannondale in Wilton, CT. Tiny place, but with great farm-to-table cuisine. And, for us, a lot closer (and cheaper) than BHSB.
Chris, My wife and I had a great meal there last October right at Halloween. We spent the night in Tarrytown to go there before continuing up further into the Hudson Valley for the weeknd. The fall foilage was impressive as was arriving around 5:30 for a 6:30 dinner reservation and just walked the entire property. That set the stage for an incredbile meal. Went with the wines with each dish and the somm just kept bringing out classic wines all night. The last wine he blinded me on it. I thought it was a cru bourgeios Bordeaux from an off vintage like 04’, I should have known it wouldn’t be something like that but… it was an 86’ Beaucastel. Wanted to ge back over Labor Day but had forgotten they take reservations up to 2 months in advance. I thoght it was 30 days so got locked out.
Go through Open Table and just look for next available. Or go to a special event - both New Years Eve and the Mas Masumoto dinner had seats available well after the two-month open date. I don’t believe Mas’s dinner even completely booked. The peach theme might not have been their typically meal, but it was still fabulous.
It’s around $65 pp for three courses (before drinks, tax, or tips) - and I think they do have three-course price-fixe for that. Or you can get the five course “Farmer’s Feast” (which includes an amuse or two) for $110. So count on spending $350 for two (for the Feast) or $200+ for three courses.
They have a very good and extensive wine list (especially strong on domestic wines, but they really do have it all) and it does have some values. With that as a given, as I best recall, they discourage corkage by having an exhorbitant corkage fee (I want to say $75 - but that is second-hand, so don’t take my word for it - I’ve personally never tried to bring anything there).
But I have definitely gotten nice wines that fit the food for less than that - Ken Wright’s Pinot blanc and the Brickhouse WV Pinot noir are two that immediately come to mind (bet I got both of those for $75).
FWIW, the Mas Masumoto dinner was $175 and included the wine. Probably par for the course for an event like that, there.
Corkage is $50, and is limited to ONE bottle per COUPLE. If you have 5 people, 2 bottle limit, for instance.
Robert Kenney LOVES this place, and he is the Anton Ego of the real world. In fact, I have a bet going with him, where I offered dinner at Blue Hill, and it seems I may lose. I’ve never been.
I’m the first guy to bash unfriendly corkage policies. And this is an comparatively unfriendly corkage policy. But if I had a restaurant this unique, which had a list this good (with many values), and I was always booked, I’d discourage corkage, too. It would be a stretch to have a taste that wasn’t fulfilled by their list.
They do have a five course meal, for $105pp, but the “Farmers Feast” is different, and is $135pp. It is a multi course meal centering around the bounty of the day.
And I was just told last night, that the prices are going up. Not confirmed, but reliable.
I love Blue Hill Stone Barns–always had a wonderful experience there, though I have never been totally (read “totally”) wowed with the food. The setting and service are terrific and the food very good though I’ve never somehow been struck by the Dan Barber artistry as much as some.
Blue Hill, for me, was another story. I went there with (probably too) high expectations. A friend of mine until recently was Service Manager, and we always got good service. That said, I thought the service, atmosphere (loud) and even food never exceeded what one might expect at a local neighborhood haunt. Its as if the restaurant had almost no connection (except that Barber drives from BHSB every night to cook at BH toward the end of the evening; therefore, he’s at both restaurants usually each night) with its sibling in Westchester. One night I was there the noise was so bad that one table–which was making quite a ruckus–received a visit from a gentleman two tables from me, who asked them to quiet down.
I know I’m in a minority regarding my take on BH–its of course wildly popular, and even received a visit from our President. It just doesn’t do anything for me.
My wife and I were married at BH, and as Wil stated that noise can be a little excessive but that is due to the small restaurant in general. It is the ground level floor of a brownstone. That being said, the food can lack the “wow” factor which could be due to Barber’s protege instead of him. Not sure, we have had great meals there and some that were just OK.
Cannot wait to move to Westchester, where I am sure that we will be dining more at BHSB than in BH.
yes! And as someone else mentioned a limit of one bottle per two people. But the five course Sunday brunch I had earlier this year was outstanding, can’t wait to go back.
they have switched to a 5 or 8 course meal currently. We dined there this past Sunday night, and the food was amazing. We chose the five course meal and with all the amuse bouche, needless to say we were very well sated. Fresh farm salad, lobster, pork shoulder, with belly, and fresh farm egg. Wine pairings were available, but we opted to order by the glass and the selections were great.
López de Heredia Viña Bosconia 2001
F. Gaunoux Pommard 1er Cru 'Les Grands Epenots’2004
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