Blue Hill at Stone Barns

In today’s final post about Blue Hill, our desserts and a tour of the kitchen!

After we finished our savory courses, we were given the option to move outdoors to finish our meal. It was around 10pm when we went outside but we accepted the invitation to sit on their patio because it was a beautiful night outside.

For our first dessert, we were given a chocolate pudding with fresh cream:

Next, fresh strawberries and sorbet from the garden:

The strawberries were much smaller than the berries we purchase in supermarkets but they were really delicious and very sweet – it tasted like their flavor was very concentrated into the small fruit.

Next, ice cream floats with small chocolates:

And finally, a white chocolate cake that Laura and Ken ordered for our birthday:

After desserts, we were given a tour of the Blue Hill kitchen as the entire staff was cleaning up starting with the bread station:

And the protein section:

The pass:

The meal was really enjoyable and an amazing way to spend our birthdays. Everyone had a great time although we were all exhausted by the time we finished dinner! Now the big question is: where are we going to celebrate next year’s birthday?!

Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Today: From Hudson Valley

For our Hudson Valley courses, we started off with a farm fresh egg with asparagus:

While David received the gnocchi with mushrooms and pureed peas:

Next, we had two different types of butter from two different cows:

The chefs at the farm were experimenting with two different cows – feeding each of them a different diet to see how their milk and flavors would differ. They definitely had a different taste – one was much milder than the other but both were very delicious.

Next, since it was our birthday, the chef gave us another course – the pork belly:

The pork belly was not too fatty and had a good amount of juicy meat. It was a bit on the salty side (which also happened at the Blue Hill restaurant in the city) but was still a really good piece of pork.

Our final savory course: Elysian Fields lamb:

By the time the lamb had arrived I was pretty full because we had been sitting at the restaurant for a solid five hours, but decided to buck up and finish my last protein before moving onto desserts.

Tomorrow: desserts!

Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Day three: from the pasture, from the rivers, from the lakes

In between courses, the servers had interesting stories and tidbits to share about the farm and the restaurant. After our course from the field, a server brought by four different types of grains to prepare us for our next course:

Servers brought by a mixture of the four grains and lentils:

And then brought by three cod fish heads and maldon sea salt:

A closeup of the fish:

We were instructed to eat the cheeks and the collarbones, the sweetest part of the fish. It was definitely a delicacy, but also kind of funny because we were the only all-Asian table at the restaurant and we were also the only table presented with the fish heads while the other tables were given the belly of the cod.

The meat was very tender and some parts were a little on the raw side but it was surprisingly very meaty. We ate through all of the fish heads and were actually surprised how large the fish heads are.

Next, we were finally served the bread course – warm, fresh, whole wheat bread shaped like a bunny:

With fresh butter and carrot and celery salt:

The butter was absolutely the best butter we’ve ever had – so fresh, creamy, and slightly sweet.

Tomorrow: from Hudson Valley.

Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Day two: from the field.

We were really pleased with the different types of amuse bouches we received at the beginning of our meal as well as the green market course. For our next course, we received dishes “from the field”. To start, servers brought different types of ricotta that were made from their farm’s cow’s milk. They had two different types of ricotta, spooned them into two separate bowls and then mixed them into a third bowl:

The finished product:

We were instructed to eat the fresh ricotta with whole wheat brioche:

The ricottas were very different: the one on the left had a garlic taste and was much more pungent than the subtle ricotta on the right. They were all really creamy and delicious, especially since they were made from the cows milk right from the farm’s cows.

Next, we had asparagus spears and shaved pork fat served on a wood plate shaped like a slice of pizza:

Tomorrow: from the pasture, from the rivers, from the lakes

Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Blue Hill was a really amazing meal that took almost six hours to finish. Since it was such a long meal, I thought I’d split it into separate posts for each course. Day one’s post: Blue Hill amuse bouches and from the green house.

A very belated birthday post from our celebration dinner at Blue Hill, but I finally had the time to sit down, get my pictures in order and write this post! My mom had flown in to help us move out of our apartment. Our lease ended on May 31st (two days after our birthday) so I tried to make a reservation for us at Blue Hill. I tried making a reservation online but there was nothing available; luckily, I had Dan Barber’s email address and he managed to get a reservation for us on Saturday, May 28th. We wanted to arrive early to tour the farm but we were too busy moving on Saturday and arrived right before our reservation. We did have time to take a few pictures before going inside for dinner:

Me, David and my mom in front of the restaurant:

Blue Hill at Stone Barns has an educational center, a greenhouse, chicken coop, lots of space for all of the animals, a gift shop and a really fresh farmer’s market all by the restaurant. They also host a lot of private parties and weddings – there was actually a wedding the night we went! The restaurant has beautiful high ceilings with exposed wood beams and a farm table in the middle of the restaurant showcasing all of the fresh produce and special foods they’re preparing that night:

The menu for each table is different based on your preferences and allergies. We opted for the eight course meal:

I started off with a cocktail with almond milk, spiced rum, nutmeg and other spices:

My mom started with the rhubarb cocktail:

Ken ordered a cocktail with fresh herbs and lemons:

And David and Laura ordered beer and wine:

After our server took our initial list of likes/dislikes and also allergies, we were presented with fresh herb spritzers in shot classes:

Ken and Laura accidentally drank the spritzer as a shot; they thought it was supposed to be taken as a shot since it was a in a shot glass! It tasted a bit like bitter lemon with some fresh herbs as well – not too sweet with a bit of sourness.

Next, radishes with fresh butter:

The restaurant has a ton of awesome plates and ways to present their dishes, including this presentation of baby vegetables:

The fresh carrots and sugar snap peas were probably my favorites (you can actually eat the entire carrot and stem, especially the ones that are brushed with butter like the ones at Blue Hill!)

The next course was really cool – the server brought by shears with the peas so we could snip off the green parts of the peas and dip them in the green chile-like sauce:

David and Laura snipping away:

We really liked the peas but then servers brought by kale, potatoes and sweet potato chips:

Next, farm fresh eggs with lardo:

And David was presented with pureed peas and lardo:

Next, prosciutto on flatbread:

Asparagus with sesame seeds that look just like pineapples:

Fresh asparagus steamed with herbs:

Served with veal marrow:

The server wanted to remove the twine with tweezers but couldn’t do it so Ken had to help:

The veal marrow was topped with breadcrumbs:

Next, pureed pea burgers served on a bed of sesame seeds:

Then came pork face chips:

And a small cube of cheese wrapped with leeks:

These fish balls were really interesting – we were instructed to wrap the fish ball and dip it in the green mayo (phytoplankton):

My wrapped fish ball:

Surprisingly, those were all amuse bouches before we started our actual eight courses! Before our first course was brought out, the server wheeled out some of the vegetables that are produced in the green house next door. The greenhouse example veggies:

The vegetables transformed into a salad:

Each person was presented with a plate with different types of vegetables and a really zesty vinaigrette. The radishes at Blue Hill were really buttery and had much more flavor than any radishes we’ve purchased at the grocery store in the city.

Tomorrow: from the field.