Blue Hill Stone Barns, NY

Blue Hill at Stone Barns
Well this should have been our quintessential farm to table restaurant experience. Blue Hill is on its own farm where they have an enormous garden, cattle graze, chicken run around and I’m sure there were lamb off somewhere as well, but I didn’t see them. The farm is beautiful and I do wish we’d come much earlier and spent some time exploring the farm, sitting in the café, and perusing the food market. By the time we arrived for our 7:30 reservation, we only had a half hour to wander and the café and market were already closed.
The restaurant is set in one of the several stone buildings that make up the central area. These are gorgeous stone buildings with decorative brick work that feel almost like a fortress. Inside the restaurant there is a fairly large bar area and then the restaurant itself with dark wood, white tablecloths and formally dressed wait staff (and lots of them). Because we were early, we waited in the bar area but in the 15 minutes we were waiting, no one ever got around to taking our order. When our whole party had arrived (David, Donna, Marci, Jeff and Lisa, dave and Terri and I), we were seated at a round (inconvenient) booth.
We were given a menu. On the left side is a list of the current products in use. There are tons of them (much more than the website shows) including veggies, meats, cheeses, fish, etc. all of which are from the farm or the local area. On the right side it indicates the two types of menus: the farm prix fix, $135 which includes 6 savory courses and 2 desserts; and the regular tasting menu for $105, 4 savory and 1 dessert). The whole table has to select one choice. Meanwhile, David was ordering our wine, a New Zealand Sauvignon Blanc. After much hemming and hawing we did decide on the 8 course. The waitress indicated that the actual amount of food is the same, but that you get to taste more things, obviously, in the 8 course. Upon reflection, I do wish we’d had the five. From my perspective, it was too many flavors that had no thematic or cohesive sense and was kind of too much for my senses (plus, most desserts, from my perspective are not very good).
After we selected the menu we wanted, the waitress asked if there were any allergies, did any of us not want raw fish? No meat eaters? Cheese? And from our responses to these questions, the menu is designed.
It started with a “deconstructed” salad (at least that’s what I called it) with slender baby carrots in a light dressing impaled on nails on a piece of wood with one carrot for each person. Next to each carrot, was one piece of lightly dressed Romaine. Each person got one impaled cherry tomato on another piece of wood and a piece of summer squash coated in sesame seeds and prosciutto (so the rumor goes, but I didn’t taste that). Each slab of wood is brought out separately, but fairly quickly (in fact, throughout the meal, I didn’t have time to finish many of my dishes before they cleared but maybe I was eating too slowly). We still did not have our wine because they said they needed to chill it.
The vegetables came with a summer soup (gazpacho) in a shot glass, fresh bread with fresh ricotta and butter that are made from their cows. This is served with a tomato powder which seems like a lot of trouble for little flavor. It looks pretty, however. They kept trying to take my bread to clear the table which felt a little rushed (now, the meal took over 3 hours so it’s difficult to see how I was feeling rushed, but I was). They also brought a bite of sun dried tomatoes, goat cheese, in a tiny cream puff. I found this barely worth eating and didn’t finish it. The sweet cream puff did not compliment the flavors of the tomato.
The second course was a piece of sea bass on a sauce of fresh, muddled peas, pine nuts and spices. The sea bass was wonderful, tender, almost sweet and lightly flavored. The peas were also very light and sweet and complimented the sea bass.
The third course started with an introduction by one waitress to the farm’s onions which she explained would be made into broth. It was a cut out rectangle from the center of the eggplant and I don’t think it had been cooked (maybe steamed?) and it was served with some garlic sausage and a bit of tomato and some slice of white thing which we aren't sure what it was.
A kind of mini salad of tomato and melon came in the middle with basil and little flowers. I loved the tomatoes. They were soooo sweet.
a little mound of pasta, linguine, dressed in a light red sauce. The pasta was not quite al dente and had way too much bite. The sauce was not particularly flavorful but I guess it tasted lightly of tomatoes. My little mound was so small, I would say it barely made one bite.
Fourth, we had another fish course. This was halibut with some shellfish (a combination of a tiny piece of lobster and of shrimp). The lobster was wonderfully sweet and tender. The shrimp, in contrast, had an off flavor and was a bit tough. The sauce on the halibut was a corn broth.
At this point, David ordered a Cabernet of Ridge, 2005 that was very good. Unfortunately, the waitress spilled one glass across the table making an enormous, mucky mess with some splashing on David, most staining the tablecloth. They tried to be discrete in cleaning it up but it was a mess and could never satisfactorily be taken care of so they just had to put big white napkins on top of the mess.
Fifth was slices of rare beef in an asian sesame dressing. This was quite flavorful and the meat was both tender enough (with some bite) and tasty. This was probably the most flavorful course, and hence, my fav.
The dessert courses consisted of a jellied custard with large tapioca (or the things in bubble tea—are those tapioca?) and currants. This was creamy and sharp tasting with the currants and then when you bite into the bubble it’s kind of fun. I did like this course. The second dessert course was corn ice cream on some dried fruit with fresh blueberries. The blueberries were some of the tastiest I’ve had, but I did not like the corn ice cream at all. Marci said the ice cream was better if eaten with the accompaniments of dried fruit.
They did bring a little ending course of corn meal macaroons which I did not like and didn’t eat.
A note on the service: they were practically dancing as they served us our plates in a choreographed service. Three or four people would come and place the plates for four, then they would rotate one and then put another plate. They cleared the plates the same way, hence they needed us all to be finished at the same time. If i wasn't, they just took my plate anyway.
The experience, the conversation and company were enjoyable, but overall the experience was a disappointment. Many cheaper meals were better tasting and certainly more filling.