Blue Hill at Stone Barns

For our wedding anniversary on Wednesday night, my hubby took me to Blue Hill at Stone Barns in Pocantico Hills, NY.

At first I was very intrigued because the setting is right on the farm, and when you drive into the restaurant you are driving through the farm's property. I mean, I knew it was on the farm, but it was still an exciting experience.

When we arrived, I had the valets take our picture in front of the Stone Barns. And upon entering the restaurant, I was a little taken aback because a group of waiters were lined up in the middle of the restaurant, standing very straight, with their hands behind their backs. I'm very modest, so for some reason this made me feel uncomfortable. Will the waiters be standing there the entire night watching our every move? When we were seated at our table, I was taken aback again because we were seated next to each other, as opposed to across from each other. This left a big open space towards the front of the table, assumably to present the food on.

We were shortly greeted by our server who gave us the menu and explained that the menu is simple: choose either 3, 5, or an 8 course menu and let them know of any allergies or dietary restrictions. The chef then cooks up whatever is fresh from the farm that day. I mentioned to the server that I had been a vegetarian for a little while, but was willing to try what the chef served since everything is organic, humane, local, and couldn't get any fresher... everything that I've been preaching about!

We chose the 8 course option, because heck, we only go out and do these fancy things once a year for our wedding anniversary! We were first presented with some Lemon Bomb drinks in a shot glass. Then an interesting medley of the farm's fresh vegetables that were standing up on nails on a wooden plank. The vegetables were lightly sauced with some sort of seasoning or vinaigrette. They were delicious. Next, we were given amuse bouche of Asapargus wrapped in Pancetta, with some sort of crust and sesame seeds on the outside. It was pretty good. Then we were presented with a tiny Asparagus Burger, also good. Unfortunately, I was too excited and forgot to take some pictures of the first dishes, so I'm borrowing some I found on the web.

We were then given Goat cheese wrapped in some sort of green vegetable. This was really good, because I love goat cheese.

Next, was a flaky cracker with some deli-style meat. I can't recall the names of each. I have a terrible memory for details... my apologies.

Then there was a delicious Asparagus soup, with yummy buttery brioche, and a spread of which I forget (ugh!). There was also a Salad with asparagus, broccoli rabe, almonds, and molasses. (I suppose there was a plethora of asparagus this week).

Next, was a bread basket with fresh made butter and Carrot salt... which my husband liked a lot. Another soup followed, which was fabulous... it had a farm-fresh poached egg in the center. It was super yummy, but I forgot to take a picture!

For the more substantial dishes, there was a Soft shell Crab encrusted with almonds, over spinach, and sauce. This was my first time having soft shell crab, and I was a little frightened, but it was delish! I ate most of it, except for a few legs.

We were then presented with some tender Veal medallions, with spinach in some kind of broth. Really good. There was also a small dish of Heirloom Grains in some sort of green sauce that was awesome. At this point, it was too dark too take photographs, and there is no flash photography allowed in the restaurant. So, you'll just have to imagine everything else.

For dessert, we were first given some farm fresh strawberries, with vanilla ice cream. The strawberries were so sweet and delicious. After that, there was another dessert of a Goat's Milk Cheesecake, which was so yummy! I wish I had a bigger piece! I'm going to look up a recipe for this, and attempt to make some. It was so smooth, and creamy.

That was the end of our meal. The whole dinner took nearly 4 hours!! I was so surprised to see what time it was when we finally left. We ordered 8 courses, but were presented with about 15 different dishes.

Overall, I'd say everything was very good, however I wasn't jumping out of my chair over anything. The price also makes it hard to swallow, but I think of it as going to a good cause, since I fully support local and organic farming. The service was impeccable, with every move carefully watched. When I went to get up to go to the restroom, there was a server there immediately to pull the table out for me. Our particular server was also very knowledgeable, professional, and friendly. But overall, I'd say service could be kind of stiff if you're not used to that type of thing. Out of 5 stars, I'd give Blue Hill at Stone Barns 4 out of 5 stars. Going once was enough for me. It was a great experience, and I'm glad there are restaurants like this that support healthy eating, local and organic farming, wholesome and humane ways of treating livestock, and wonderful culinary artistry.