Blue Hill Farm

After discussing my "dream" with people, a few pointed me to the Blue Hill Farm.  After reading on the restaurants and the farms and watching Dan Barber (the executive chef) discuss sustainability, I knew I was obsessed.  My next trip to NYC had Blue Hill Farm on the agenda.

Lucky for me, that trip was this last weekend.  I started working on the reservations for Stone Barn about a month in advance.  It wasn't looking promising due to the weekend and Mother's Day combination.  After having a few email correspondences with their concierge, I was put on a waiting list.  A few hours before I left for NYC, I had the reservation!

My two cousins and one of their friends came with me.  You can either drive or take the train to the farm.  Two took the train, and two took a car.  The car ride was beautiful.  We walked around the farm a bit before our reservation and saw little piglets running around and cows lounging in the shade.  There was also a large garden marked vegetables.  The farm we were at is mainly for educational purposes, but they might use some of the food for the restaurant.  From what I've read, it looks like the majority of their food comes from their Berkshire farm.

The restaurant's atmosphere really was nice.  The main dining area opened up to a courtyard that could be used for lounging with pre- or post-dinner drinks.  I was wanting to be a little more connected with outside, but I'm guessing the majority of guests appreciate it.  The demographic (due to the price) was quite snobby for my taste.  It seems like the Barbers tried to cancel that out by having the cafe and educational farm right outside the hoity-toity restaurant.  The question that is running in my mind:  Will you only come out making a profit if you make it hoity-toity?  I really hope the answer to that question is no.

And now for the food:
They served a 5- or 8-course meal for Mother's Day.  We decided on the 5-course for not only the cheaper price, but the lower quantity of food.  We were a little worried about finishing.  We also paired it with a bottle of somewhat reasonably-priced Grenache wine.  One thing that us four did decide we really liked was not choosing what to get.  The only job we had to do was look to see if we had an allergy with anything on the menu.  Everything inside each dish was listed on the menu, and nothing really had more than 5 things listed.  Everything seemed very simple and basic, yet completely delicious.

Although we ordered the 5-course meal, we seemingly got 8 things.  I'm not really sure what was going on, but we surely didn't complain.  We also got potato/onion bread with homemade butter.  That was a pretty big hit at the table.  I definitely don't remember what everything was called and didn't take any pictures.  I was "in the moment" and not thinking about anything else except for what was right in front of me.  Hence why my descriptions won't be precise.

1. ASPARAGUS:  They had a wooden dice with four sticks sticking out of the holes and asparagus spears on the ends of the sticks.  The asparagus spears were probably dipped in an oil and then into sesame seeds.  There were also four tiny asparagus burgers sitting on a bed of sesame seeds in a margarita-looking glass.  The buns were lightly buttered with sesame seeds on the top and just larger than your fingertips.  The asparagus inside the bun was softer than that on the spear, but still had a crunch to it.  I'm assuming there was a sauce to it based on the color, but it wasn't apparent.
2. HERB-INFUSED SPRITZER:  It was yellowish in color.  We weren't quite sure if it had alcohol in it or not.  I can't tell you what herb was in it or anything else about it besides the fact that it was amazing.
3. ASPARAGUS SALAD:  Just that.  There were a few other salad greens mixed in with the asparagus, but I would say 70% of the salad was asparagus.  It was sliced so we could easily eat it.  It was served on a slate tray as opposed to a plate.  There were cute little purple flowers in it that not only made it beautiful, but I remember them being delicious when I ate them, too.  (That could have been my brain playing tricks on me, though.)
4. EGG:  Slightly breaded with ramps and a ramp sauce?
5. HALIBUT:  Slightly breaded like the egg and with ramps and ramp sauce?  (I could be combining the halibut and the egg, but their presentation was quite similar.)
6. PASTURE-RAISED BEEF:  Had fiddlehead ferns and other vegetables chopped up and drizzled over it.
7. RHUBARB DESSERT:  Absolutely delicious.  It was pretty much a type of pound cake with rhubarb and a red sauce on it.  The cream on the top was definitely the most amazing cream I have ever tasted in my life.  And we couldn't decide if the red sauce was raspberry or rhubarb.  It was tart, but perfectly paired with the sweet cream.
8. CHOCOLATE SHAKE:  I'm pretty sure this was just chocolate milk.  They called it a shake, but it just seemed like milk straight from the cow with a little bit of cocoa in it.

After dinner we decided to walk around for a bit.  We walked down to the greenhouses and checked it out.  

I also thought it was really cool that I knew exactly what they put on their plants.  This was the only evidence I found of any external product.  It made me laugh.  They probably leave this out to ease parents' minds when their kids are rolling around in everything.

I did a little more looking around and found the chickens.  They appeared to be in 4 or 5 movable chicken coops.  It was nice to see!  The Barbers have a cool thing going.