TN: Hoares in NY Pt.2, Blue Hill at Stone Barns

On Sunday we returned to Blue Hill at Stone Barns, with Ian and Jacquie, as well as Ewan and Jenny McNay from CT. Blue Hill is the restaurant at the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, the new nonprofit education center on the Rockefeller property in Pocantico Hills. The idea is to bring people closer to the food they eat. We had enjoyed previous visit, and were looking forward to repeat.

It was too dark to appreciate the barn complex when we arrived, but the interior was quite nice. High vaulted ceilings, wide wood plank flooring, floral arrangements. The format is one can choose a 2, 3, or 4 savory courses. You can mix and match from any section (from the woods, from our pastures, from Hudson Valley Pastures, etc.) The eggs and chickens are raised on the farm, the pigs from other sustainable farms in the area (I think the Stone Barns pigs still aren't big enough yet). Many of the greens are from the greenhouses, and most of the mushrooms are foraged on the property. We decided to go with the 4 course. Ian can better dissect the dishes, but here's the basics:

A few tasty amuse-bouches started off the evening. First, little shot glbuttes of a chickpea-soup with cumin, kind of "hummus in a glbutt." Then skewers with mussels and marinated cauliflower. Both tasty, but the best IMHO were the last amuse- skewers with chicken livers and (tender) dried apricots. Yum.

My courses were: Maine crabmeat and panther soy beans over thinly sliced beets. Wing of skate in a stew with mushrooms, bean, crab, and a lobster broth. Cavatelli with bits of house-cured pork Roasted lamb plus amaranth crusted braised lamb loin, in a mild horseradish broth

All quite tasty, especially the crab and the lamb. My only quibble was with the skate, because the reduced lobster broth (though very tasty) seemed just a bit too intense, one notch more concentrated than it needed to be. I was surprised at the next course when Ian got the same thing, and declared the sauce a tad dilute. But I tasted, and indeed it was less intense and salty than mine. One on the stove a few seconds too much, the other a few seconds too short.

Other dishes I tasted from others' orders: Scallops Berkshire pig 3 ways- pork loin, that cured sausage, and pork belly (uncured bacon). The pork belly the undisputed winner in strong compebreastion. Baby romaine lettuce with egg, pine nuts and a tasty pancetta vinaigrette Striped bbutt with hen of the woods mushroom and the marinated cauliflower. There was also a caper vinaigrette that make wine-matching tough for this one. Mushroom tartelette

Good wine list, with some good choices from around the world. Prices are reasonable for upscale restaurant. We stuck to less than $50 a bottle.

We had: 2002 Jean-Marc Brocard "Vaillons" Chablis 1er Cru I thought this might be crisp enough for the lighter dishes, yet hold enough body for the bigger fish dishes- it did well, except for that caper vinaigrette with the bbutt. Floral-flinty nose, rich white (pear) fruit with a green plum note. Mouth-filling, yet with a delicacy that allowed it to do well with the crab and scallops. There's a delicious oyster-shell minerality to the finish. This is a young wine with a future, but it's drinking quite well now. B+-A-

2000 Jean-Maurice Raffault "Les Picbuttes" Chinon We thought that Pinot Noir might be the way to go with a red, but the most appealing choices were above our agreed-upon budget. We decided to choose a different light red, this Cab Franc was in the low $30s. Medium-bodied with raspberry fruit and a light leafy quality, a pleasant café-quaffer. Ewan didn't care for it much, but I found it a very good match with the pig (I was stealing from Betsy's plate), as well as the cavatelli. B

2000 Ch. Pique-Caillou (Pessac-Leognan) This was by the glbutt, as I felt the Chinon was a bit too light for the lamb. Medium-to-full bodied, ripe blackcurrant fruit. Modest tannins, could use a little acidic "oomph", comes across as a bit of a simple fruitplant. B-B-

Some ordered desserts (Betsy was pleased with her walnut cake with fig ice cream); a couple glbuttes of a Chambers sticky were around, but I pbutted. Very nice evening with nice people. Betsy was happy when she ran into old friends (people who helped run the Naumberg compebreastion) at the coatroom.

Grade disclaimer: I'm a very easy grader, basically A is an excellent wine, B a good wine, C mediocre. Anything below C means I wouldn't drink at a party where it was only choice. Furthermore, I offer no promises of objectivity, accuracy, and certainly not of consistency. Dale

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