OT - Another Bucket List Item

dmchicago said:

Nice.

I've done the Grey Glacier and the French Valley. Ran out of time to do the 3rd leg but what an amazing place!

Agreed, it was an incredible trip. I wanted to do the loop, but my son couldn’t get enough time off. Maybe another time. Sadly on the last day it was rainy and overcast so we didn’t bother to hike up to the Torres. Huge bummer. 

DMW said:

CTMike said:

Killit_and_Grillit said:

Well if I would have known this was on the table I would have stayed up and fed Mortimer all night. 

Lol. Funny how all those who volunteered to help feed Mortimer disappeared when the time came to nut up - @DMW

Ooopps. #headhunginshame

No shame in your game dude, by the time your shift came around, you were blind, bulletproof, invisible, and most likely flammable. 

caliking said:

Whatever you do, don't get the macaroni...

JK Sounds like y'all are in for quite a treat.

Thanks. Since our reservation is so late at night, we are going in to the city to have lunch at Ivan Ramen. So we will knock off 2 Chef's Table restaurants on the same day.

So a chance to eat at Blue Hill fell in to my lap last night, so my wife and I jumped on it. This restaurant epitomizes that farm-to-table movement, as everything served to us was grown/raised/harvested from the farm, and a couple of surrounding others. 

The building itself used to be the Rockefeller families dairy farm, just a gorgeous setting. You can arrive early and tour the grounds, barns, etc prior to your seating. Highly recommend doing this if you go. 

Our seating lasted 3 hours, and included approximately 30 bites/small plates. Each dish was explained to us by the server. You start out with many different veggies/greens, that are all eaten with your hands as they don’t provide flatware until later in the meal. 

About one third of the way through we were invited to the bakery where the head baker gives a little talk on how the terroir affects the food grown. This was highlighted by serving us two different slices of bread, both made of Einkorn wheat, and both made using the exact same recipe. One grain was from North Dakota, the other from the NY Finger Lakes region. One slice was a little thicker/denser, and the other was lighter/more airy. 

There is no menu, you get what the chef decides to serve you, based on what’s available seasonally, and any food allergies/aversions you’ve informed them of (for Val it was no organ meat or mushrooms). We missed out on a couple of courses when we signaled we were hitting a wall when we didn’t finish the amazing pork small plate. It was still followed by 4 courses of dessert. 

I am still going with my son and daughter in law in September, will be interesting to see how the menu changes between now and then. 

Anyhow, if farm-to-table appeals to you, this place is a must try. They release reservations at midnight, 60 days in advance. Very hard to get but doable if you are a night owl. 

Currently the restaurant/Chef Dan Barber have 1 Michelin Star, and it is ranked #12 in the world this year in the Top 50. 


Note: These are some stock photos, I am nowhere that good of a photographer.