Dining Intelligence
Luna 61: Vegetarian Fare with Asian Flair
by Throw a rock in our region and you’re likely to hit a yoga teacher, reiki master, herbalist, massage therapist, or other holistic practitioner. Which makes it seem odd that vegetarian restaurants are so rare here. Many local dining establishments do serve up a meatless option or two – notably Chez Nous in Lee, where co-owner and pastry chef Rachel Portnoy, herself a vegetarian, has some sway in the kitchen over her traditional-French-chef husband, Franck Tessier; Swoon Kitchenbar in Hudson, one of the few local participants in the global Meatless Monday movement; and the Hudson branch of Mexican Radio, which goes so far as to offer not just faux meat but also dairy substitutes to accommodate both vegetarians and vegans. And, of course, the region’s Asian and Indian restaurants generally have a list of vegetarian dishes.
Those seeking a meat-free dining environment, however, are mostly out of luck. Even Kripalu added chicken and fish to its buffet a few years ago.
Fortunately for compassionate foodies, there’s Luna 61 in Tivoli, where husband-and-wife team Debra and Peter Maisel have been serving vegetarian meals after having relocated from Red Hook six years ago. Omnivorous diners who fear that vegetarian means bland beans, greens, tofu, and rice can happily take a seat in Luna 61’s cheery, chartreuse dining room without trepidation. A hearty, flavorful meal, prepared from organic, as-local-as-possible ingredients, awaits.
Chef Peter Maisel, who studied with Annemarie Colbin at New York’s Natural Gourmet Institute, mans the kitchen. He has a bold hand with spice and a keen understanding of balancing sweet, hot, salty, and sour flavors, which he puts to use in creative interpretations of international cuisine.
Debra Maisel runs the front of the house and does the baking, turning out homey, seasonal fruit pies, crisps, and tarts, as well as luscious cakes, many of which are vegan. She also prepares fresh fruit beverages, such as watermelon strawberry lemonade, refreshing on a recent scorching day.
Among the Starters, Scallion Pancakes present a surprise; rather than the flat disc served at Chinese restaurants, they’re upright cones of crispy flatbread wrapped around fresh vegetables. The Vietnamese Salad Roll is a more faithful rendition of the classic summer roll, with a suitably spicy peanut sauce, which, like all the restaurant’s sauces and dressings, is made from scratch. The appetizer menu is full of creative rolls, such as the Maki 61 sushi roll with shiitake mushrooms and avocado, or the Galaxy, bite-sized 
cones made from a tortilla wrap filled with portabellas, mock Canadian bacon, and veggies. Notes Debra, “Our customers often make a meal of them.”
You could also make a meal of the menu’s hearty salads, such as Roasted Root (beets, carrots, and onions over field greens); Land and Sea (arame, daikon, carrots, red cabbage, and scallions over mesclun); and Wild Mushroom, Potato and Kale Salad. A globetrotting list of sandwiches includes the Cuban Press (panko-crusted portabello, roasted red peppers, and sautéed spinach, with goat cheese or tofu), the Curry Roti Wrap, falafel, burrito, and a tempeh reuben.
Peter’s Asian culinary inclinations shine through in the main courses, with fiesty, filling dishes like Bangkok Curry Tofu, Pad Thai, or Laksa Noodlepot, and a nightly special, such as the Korean Kimchee Noodlepot—with house-pickled cabbage and daikon – available on a recent visit. Vegetarians can indulge without fear of hidden, animal-derived ingredients, like fish sauce or shrimp paste, that are common in Aisan cuisine. Debra points out that the sweet potato enchiladas and the ravioli—which changes daily—are also perennially popular. “We try to change the menu,” she says, “but our customers always complain when we take something off.” That doesn’t stop them from coming up with new seasonal temptations, like a current plate of raw cheese from Pine Plains and local peaches on a bed of arugula with pumpkin seeds and lemon basil vinaigrette.
Portions are generous and Peter’s irresistible sauces may compel you to lick the plate clean, but you’ll definitely want to leave room for one of Debra’s desserts, even if you take it to go, which we recently did with a slice fresh peach pie. After tearing through that humble vegan dessert later the same evening, we seriously regretted not having ordered two slices.
Debra explains that about ninety percent of the menu is vegan, or can be made vegan by leaving out cheese. She also claims it’s not an issue for the majority of her clientele, which draws heavily from nearby Bard College. “About seventy percent of our customers are not vegetarian,” says Debra. “And why should that be surprising? You don’t have to be Chinese to go to a Chinese restaurant. You don’t have to be Mexican to a Mexican restaurant. People come here for good, clean, organic food.”
She and her husband initially gravitated toward a vegetarian diet for health reasons; Peter lost his mother, his father, and other close family members to cancer, and he has the Ashkenazi genetic predisposition to the disease. As Debra describes it, the couple used to be “hardcore macrobiotic,” though they’ve loosened up over time. Still, health is not the only reason they’ve chosen to eat and serve vegetarian food. “We don’t like killing animals,” she says. “We’re animal lovers.” They’ve got four adopted dogs and four cats at home, plus a bevy of feral cats that Debra cares for, to prove the point.
Even gluten-free vegans will find a warm reception and a good meal at Luna 61, though, perhaps surprisingly, Chelsea Clinton and her now-vegan dad did not stop by on the lead-up to Chelsea’s recent wedding in nearby Rhinebeck. But Debra notes Luna 61 did get some business from the former Clinton administration during the nuptials. “Madeleine Albrigtht stopped for our banana cream pie,” says Debra. “We’re famous for our banana cream pie. We always have to have it on the menu.”
Luna 61
55 Broadway
Tivoli, NY
Dinner: Monday,Tuesday & Thursday, 5 - 9 p.m.; Friday & Saturday 5 - 10 p.m.
Brunch: Sunday 9:30 - 4:00
845.758-0061
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Posted by Bess Hochstein on 08/23/11 at 05:17 PM • Permalink
PanZur: Tapas and Then Some in Tivoli
by Peter Davies
Sometimes serendipity is the best guide. While walking up the main street of Tivoli a few weeks ago, we passed a rather understated place called Pan-Zur. We had never heard of it. On its front patio were a number of diners who seemed quietly satisfied. After consulting one of its menus, we were more than surprised by its offerings and more than eager to take our place on the patio.
And we are certainly glad that we did. It’s rare, maybe only once or twice a year, that we both come away from a restaurant fully satisfied by the quality of the meal. In the case of Pan-Zur it is fair to say we were both exhilarated. The menu was original, the execution of the dishes virtually flawless, and the staff, one of them, co-owner Kim Peraza, the chef’s wife, were personable, attentive, and well educated about what was on offer. We were particularly excited to find a chef who not only appreciates black pig but also knows how to make the most of it.
The menu reflects the Catalan origins of the family of chef/owner, Rei Peraza. Indeed, the name Pan-Zur is a tribute to his grandfather, a chef who had some fame in Barcelona. While much of the menu is Spanish-influenced, the offerings are much more varied…in toto, a very original presentation of dishes not usually seen on menus, Spanish or otherwise. This is not a restaurant of the big, bare, elegant plate with a tiny pyramid of food and lots of artistic squiggles, but one in the Mediterranean mode of celebrating food in all its natural deliciousness and bounty.
As you will see, we are unabashed food adventurers. With my years of living and traveling in the Middle East I have developed a very open mind and varied tastes where food is concerned, a predilection shared by Mark. So when potted pig’s head was suggested as a special tapa we went for it (delicious), as well as black fried squid (garbanzo crusted squid cooked in ink aioli, smoked pepper drizzle), also a hit, followed by a perfectly spiced shrimp ajillo—all reluctantly shared. The only tapa of which either of us voiced any disappointment was a “sandwich” of fried green tomato and pork belly. With my gluten allergy, I chose to pass on the bread part and found the fried green tomato and pork belly delicious, but Mark, who fortunately for him, does not share my gluten allergy, felt the filling was overwhelmed by the bread. We ended happily by sharing a “plate”: Octopus (with garbanzo beans, baby fennel, chorizo, citrus, mint, saffron, & vinaigrette). An octopus enthusiast, I was pleased to see it in yet another delicious incarnation.
The menu offers a variety of possibilities for constructing a meal, but the big challenge for us was how to eliminate some of the many enticing dishes. While often in most restaurants I find it difficult to zero in on something I would like to try, at Pan Zur I find myself in a quandary, being pulled in so many directions. Do I want to start with the creamy eggplant-garlic soup with roasted lemon and crème fraiche)? Or, from the “Snacks” category: chip & dip: (crisp pig ears with saffron yoghurt)? Or from the “Tapas” category as described above. Or the Charcuterie category lomo iberico (100% acorn-fed Iberian pig loin), about the tenderest most melt-in-your-mouth morsel you can imagine; or chistorra (grilled sausage, saffron pickled cabbage slaw). While chef Peraza does homage to locavore tastes when possible, he quite rightly turns to Spain for many of his ham and other pork products.
Pork dishes abound in several categories (not for nothing is the corporate name of this restaurant Porcus, LLC). On one recent evening the menu included, in addition to most of the pork dishes mentioned above, a tapa: migas (1 yr old Ozark ham, mushrooms cheddar, poached egg, red eye gravy vinaigrette); heritage pig belly (sherry-cherry molasses glaze), citrus-garlic braised pork (red cabbage slaw), and jamon Serrano (dry cured 9 months, Spain).The pork piece de resistance is a special order 7-hour roasted suckling pig prepared to serve 8 to 10 people. We have not yet found the sympathetic crowd to try this with.
A pork abstaining friend of ours who took our recommendation on Pan Zur observed that if you don’t eat pork you might find yourself feeling a bit hard pressed to assemble a meal. But she managed, and she and her husband loved the meal so much they returned a few nights later for the Wednesday night Prix Fixe menu El Toro Loco (the crazy bull), a meal centering on beef in homage to the Running of the Bulls in Pamplona.
For those not inclined to the pork dishes and other exotica, the regular menu in the Plates category offers wild striped bass, New York Strip steak, and roasted Amish chicken. Even these more standard dishes are seasoned and garnished in highly original (and tasty) ways.
We only regret that we did not sit down and write our restaurant review after our first visit, as now we need to append a full disclosure. On our first visit to Pan-Zur our enthusiasm was utterly free of conflict of interest, but by our second visit, we were proud suppliers of several pigs heads, several pounds of back fat, and pigs feet and tails from our farm’s Ossabaw Island Hogs. We couldn’t be prouder that Chef Peraza found our product worthy as ingredients in his very creative cuisine.
Pan-Zur Restaurant and Wine Bar
69 Broadway
Tivoli; 845.757.1071
Rural Intelligence’s AgriCulture bloggers Peter Davies and Mark Scherzer are the owners of Turkana Farms in Germantown, NY.
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 08/12/11 at 09:22 AM • Permalink
West Street Grill, A Hardy Litchfield Perennial
by Angeline Goreau
Back in May of 1990, long before locavores were thick on the ground in Litchfield county, James O’Shea, formerly a figure in the New York food world, and Charles Kafferman, a businessman, made up their minds not to settle for the woebegone vegetable specimens offered by the local grocers. Their new restaurant, the West Street Grill, would use the freshest ingredients, which, ironically, were hard to find in the midst of Litchfield’s expansive pastoral landscape.
Twenty years on, the gastronomic terrain of Litchfield County has altered radically, and the pioneering Grill has become the beloved eminence grise of West Street.
James O’Shea, a native of Ireland, was already a veteran of the New York City restaurant scene when he and Charles began to shape the idea of creating a sophisticated but laid-back venue for dining in rural Litchfield. James had managed restaurants and written a food column for The Daily News. Charles Kafferman, a veteran of the fashion trade, brought considerable business experience—as well as a delightfully friendly presence—to the table.
Like so many Litchfield residents, each of the partners had moved here in increments, taking a small bite, then a bigger one. In the city, O’Shea, far right in the photo (courtesy Litchfield County Times) had lived next to the offices of Arthur Carter, who, at the time, owned the New York Observer. When Carter bought the Litchfield County Times, it made a splash in the New York press. Intrigued, newshound O’Shea began reading the Connecticut paper. Before he knew it, he had rented a weekend house there. Finally, he bought one.
As for their restaurant, they wanted it to marry the classical with the experimental, sophistication with simplicity, city with country. They wanted to apply the discipline of the French tradition to a truly American cuisine. But, even as they grappled with these lofty and potentially contradictory ambitions, just addressing the basics was an uphill battle. “The only lettuce available locally was rancid iceberg. It was primitive,” O’Shea recalls. Undaunted, he bought a van and drove down to Hunt’s Point and the Fulton Fish Market in the wee hours of the morning. Later, he converted other restaurant owners in the region to his plan, then talked the New York markets into sending trucks out into the countryside with fresh ingredients the restaurnts would share. It took O’Shea a year of determined persuasion to close that deal.
Meanwhile, he had begun to work with local farmers in Litchfield, Falls Village and Washington, encouraging them to grow to kinds of vegetables and herbs he wanted. And he began to grow things in his own garden at the back of his house, which these days, he says, rivals the size of the restaurant’s dining room.
As their first chef, the partners had the good fortune to hire Randy Nichols, a Native American, whose mix of talents included a passion, picked up as a child, for foraging foods from the wild. Similarly James could draw not only on his glamorous New York experience, but also on a childhood spent in the Irish countryside. “I grew up on a farm,” he says, “where centuries-honored practices were continued. Our farm extended up a hillside over Kenmare Bay. Streams and a river nearby ran to the coast. We could see what was happening on the shore”, where people collected what the shoreline offered. “There was a family who made a living picking periwinkles; others gathered mussels, dug for clams in the sand, fished off the old stone pier where small boats would land their catch.”
James’s grandfather and great-uncle collected seaweed to fertilize their land, spreading it over the rhubarb beds and under gooseberry bushes. Even in those days, before the dangers of industrial fertilizers were fully recognized, his family was acutely aware that any chemicals they put on their hillside would run straight down to the sea and poison the environment. Besides, a fall application of seaweed produced unsurpassable rhubarb in the spring.
In Ireland, there’s an ancient tradition of hospitality going back to the early Gaelic period. James explains that the old Brehon laws, thought to be some of the oldest in Europe, dictated that anyone who comes inside your doors must be welcomed. O’Shea’s Irish roots have informed the feel of the West Street Grill. Both Charles and James wanted the Grill to feel like home to the people who dine there. Most nights, they can be seen greeting guests and moving from table to table to chat. Yet one never feels that chatting is obligatory. The West Street Grill is famous for the famous people who go there because they can count on the house’s discretion. From the beginning, the superb food combined with the low-key atmosphere has attracted celebrities such as Sam Waterston, Diane Sawyer and Mike Nichols, Meryl Streep, Wes Anderson, Mia Farrow, Philip Roth and the late Arthur Miller. One memorable afternoon, Milos Foreman came in with the playwright and Czech president Vaclav Havel, whose bodyguards cooled their heels on the Litchfield green.
Never resting on their laurels, James, Charles and their brilliant young chef Jimmy Cosgriff, left, continue to experiment. Cosgriff’s considerable powers of invention are very much in evidence in the perpetually changing menu. “We change, re-arrange, re-interpret,” James says, “but always return to and rely on simplicity and the perfection of ingredients.” If a customer expresses an interest, the partners will ask for opinions on what works and what doesn’t work, what improvements might be made in a dish they’re tinkering with. The pleasure they take in pleasing their diners is palpable.
This season chef Cosgriff has surprised diners with a summer peach and Marcona almond soup infused with mint. Though it seems creamy, the soup hasn’t a drop of cream or butter. This is but one of a large selection of popular vegan soups that lots of diners order with a decidedly non-vegan 
accompaniment of the irresistible parmesan aioli grilled peasant bread, left, that the West Street Grill has been serving since it opened. A main course might consist of fresh wild striped bass with baby patty pan squash, local corn, roasted tomatoes, all in an aromatic fennel broth. The Grill also does delicious braised short ribs with a gratin of sweet potatoes in a filo crust. For dessert, there is a choice of vegan sorbets in a variety of flavors, a citrusy lime tart (“not for the faint of heart,” James says), or a classic over-the-top Irish banoffee pie—toffee, banana and shaved bittersweet chocolate. In addition to the desserts that regulars expect to see on the menu, the chef might experiment with chocolate cake bursting with fresh blackcurrants or local white peaches poached in basil syrup.
It’s no exaggeration to say that if the West Street Grill hadn’t existed, the citizens of Litchfield County would have had to invent it. A score of years after its founding, the Grill is woven into Litchfield’s center as inextricably as the green itself. Over those two decades, as other restaurants have come and gone, it has endured, evolved, prevailed.
West Street Grill
43 West Street, Litchfield
Lunch & dinner daily.
860.567.3885
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 08/09/11 at 02:06 PM • Permalink
St. Andrew’s Café, Greener and Sharper Than Ever
By Kathryn Matthews
For all appearances, St. Andrew’s Café at the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) in Hyde Park is one of those restaurants where time-stood-still, with décor that features carpeted floors; a brown-and-ochre color scheme; floor-length floral curtains; and white-clothed tables. The student servers sport collared, long-sleeved white shirts, ties, black vests and pants. It all feels very 1980s.
But, as my husband and I discovered on a recent visit, there is nothing retro about the St. Andrew’s menu.
In 2009, St. Andrew’s became a certified green restaurant—the first in Dutchess County to do so in accordance with Green Restaurant Association standards. Their green practices include sourcing locally and regionally, reducing food and product waste, recycling, composting (leftover food), monitoring water efficiency, and eliminating all Styrofoam products and individually wrapped condiments.
Last December, Dwayne LiPuma, an assistant professor of Culinary Arts and formerly the teaching chef at Caterine and American Bounty, two other restaurants on the CIA campus, took over as St. Andrew’s executive chef. A CIA alumni, LiPuma had worked at several iconic New York City restaurants, including Park Avenue Café, The River Café and Aureole, before joining the faculty of his alma mater. Under his leadership, St. Andrew’s once predictable casual-fare menu (pizza, burgers and meatloaf) has been transformed. “My goal was to create a more sophisticated and upscale farm-to-table menu,” he says, “but one that would appeal to a broad range of visitors.” He now refreshes the menu seasonally—more frequently in spring and summer when produce is abundant. In summer, about 80% of the menu is locally sourced; in winter, about 50%.
As for our meal, the bread delivered to our table was baked fresh that day by CIA baking and pastry students. Other items made in-house? “We buy whole hogs from which we’ll make our own pates, terrines and sausages, too,” says LiPuma.
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I started with a frisee, endive and watercress salad ($8). The frisee and watercress with a Cabot cheddar dressing were artfully stacked on endive, and garnished with a pretty splay of toasted hazelnuts and house-made bacon lardons. My husband had another beautifully composed spring salad ($8): local greens, flavored with a mustard-shallot vinaigrette, mounded on asparagus spears, encircled by roasted red baby beets and delicate chunks of nutty-flavored Toma Celena (from Cooperstown Cheese Company).
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My husband had the sautéed sea bass ($14), warming and substantial, paired with house-made sausage, fava beans and artichokes in a pool of Chardonnay broth. I opted for the pan-roasted Stone Church Farm duck ($14, right), which, I later learned, is St. Andrew’s top-selling dish. I can understand why. Slices of duck breast, perfectly pink and tender, rest atop a curry-spiked grain salad, a toothsome mélange of barley, wild rice and couscous (all from Wild Hive Farm in Clinton), enriched by a warm drizzle of Lenz merlot sauce.
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Satisfied and full, we heroically made room for dessert: pound cake with strawberry compote, strawberry ice cream, and a dollop of crème fraiche.
Judging from the nearly full dining room—and our own meal—LiPuma has achieved both of his goals, to reach out to the adventurous, while still satisfying the tame. You now can have a lovely, sophisticated meal here. And you can still get a burger—a barbecue burger ($10) is the current offering—but now the beef is grass-fed, the bacon is house-smoked, and the cheese is local. There’s a pizza margherita ($9) with house-made tomato sauce, basil, mozzarella and ricotta. You can even have meatloaf ($12), the Meiller Farm meatloaf comes with an herb and Bulich Farm mushroom gravy and roasted garlic whipped RSK Farm potatoes.
Now that the menu has been successfully up-dated, CIA will be gradually moving toward a more eco-friendly, up-to-date décor, replacing carpets with wood floors, tablecloths with bare tabletops.
St. Andrew’s Café at The Culinary Institute of America
1946 Campus Drive, Hyde Park
Monday - Friday, lunch only, 11:30 a.m. - 1 p.m.
Reservations required: 845.471.6608
All CIA restaurants have been closed for summer recess; they reopen Wednesday, August 3.
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 08/02/11 at 09:15 AM • Permalink
Smoked: Downhome Cookin’ with an Uptown Twist
by Jacque Lynn Schiller
Food labeled “southern comfort” often leaves the diner seeking consolation in the medicine cabinet—deep-fried and swimming-in-sauce does a number, even if it is finger lickin’ good. So when the brightly painted but unfussy hideaway just off Kent’s green arrived on the scene, we were both curious and a bit skeptical. With the promise of American regional fare and the scent of its namesake in the air, we expected, well, the expected.
We were pleasantly surprised to find a touch of the urbane on our plates of homegrown fare at Andrew Hayes and Elizabeth Owen’s hotspot, Smoked.
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The couple, who, we later learned, met in the kitchen at Danny Meyer’s Gramercy Tavern in New York, both grew up working on their grandparents’ farms—Andrew growing blueberries outside Jackson, TN and Beth in Sherman and Pawling, where she cultivated the garden and “put by” pickles and jams. When they got in a family way, they decided to take the rural route and open a place of their own in a pastoral area brimful with aggie bounty.
“We are not a traditional roadside BBQ joint,” says Andrew. “We both come from a fine-dining background, but have always had a love for BBQ and Southern food. The concept at Smoked is to serve delicious food (as local as possible) in a refined but casual environment.”
And they’ve pulled it off. The BBQ process at Smoked starts with whole pigs, courtesy of Mike Meiller in Pine Plains, butchered in-house—handy, since every piece of that animal ends up somewhere on the menu. “We use the shoulders for our pulled pork sandwich, which is seasoned with our dry rub and slow smoked for 12-14 hours until it’s falling apart,” Andrew says. “Then we finish it with a Carolina sauce that contains cider vinegar, mustard, and brown sugar.”
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There’s also belly of the oinker, left, glazed in a sweet mustard sauce and served with local vegetables from Marble Valley Farm. Deviled eggs? Check. But the bacon crumbles have been replaced by a crispy sliver of guanciale (cured pork jowl, bottom picture). Small twists such as this abound on the brief but enticing menu. Fried green tomatoes show up on both a trout BLT (above) and Beth’s burger, which is also topped with homemade pimento cheese. There is rub on the ribs—and on the fries, which are served with green goddess dip rather than the red stuff. Andrew puts his own (apparently, very popular) spin on classic shrimp and grits, adding sea urchin, lobster and basil.
“We love seasonal food. We live for tomatoes and corn in the summer; pumpkins, apples, and pears in the fall,” he says.
That’s even evident in Beth’s pastry creations. We appreciated the savory rosemary hit in her olive oil cake; likewise, the fruit at their peak in a simple but sumptuous shortcake.
When asked what he’d like diners to take away from their experience at Smoked, Andrew said with a laugh, “Hopefully, they leave happy and full.”
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Done and done.
Smoked
1 Landmark Lane
Kent
860.927.7141
Wednesday, 5 - 9 p.m.
Thursday, noon - 3 p.m. & 5 - 9 p.m.
Friday, noon - 3 p.m. & 5 - 10 p.m.
Saturday: 9 a.m. - 3 p.m. & 5 - 10 p.m.
Sunday brunch: 9 a.m. - 3 p.m.; lunch & dinner, noon - 9 p.m.
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 07/26/11 at 11:47 AM • Permalink
Rising in Millerton: A Farm-to-Table Restaurant (and a Soufflé)
This is a story about a soufflé. But as with any soufflé, you know it comes at the end and you will have to wait for it.
Less than two short years ago, Rural Intelligence heralded the arrival of Chef Tim Cocheo’s No. 9 restaurant in the village of Millerton. Now on the eve of the No. 9’s second anniversary, RI returned to find a thriving and innovative farm-to-table restaurant that has become the talk of the region.
Chef and co-owner Tim Cocheo and his wife Taryn opened No. 9 in Millerton after gaining experience with their acclaimed Bottle Tree restaurant in Ancram, NY. 
Chef Cocheo’s considerable experience includes training at the legendary French Culinary Institute, and in the kitchens of famed New York City restaurants including Wallse and La Caravalle. No. 9 opened to rave reviews in 2009, and quickly found an enthusiastic audience not only in Millerton but throughout the Hudson Valley. The restaurant brought “fine dining to a new level in Millerton,” Joan Osofsky, owner of the Hammertown Barn stores, told Rural Intelligence. “It really is a farm-to-table deal with a very experienced chef.”
The Cocheos have taken full advantage of the agricultural riches which surround rural Millerton, sourcing their meats from nearby Herondale Farm, vegetables from Sol Flower Farm, and countless small growers in the nearby countryside. The result is an inventive, constantly changing menu stocked with fresh-from-the-farm local ingredients. Another result in that to get a seat, diners find they need to book a table well ahead, especially in summer.
Now, about that soufflé. It may well be that Chef Cocheo is the only chef in Dutchess County who goes the distance to offer the famously difficult, old world dessert classic . Depending on when you visit (and what’s in season) it may be a strawberry soufflé. Or a raspberry rhubarb. Or corn. Or pumpkin. But don’t take our word for it, watch the video. The soufflé is at the end. As it must be.
It’s worth the wait.
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 07/12/11 at 03:57 PM • Permalink
Celebrity Chef Lydia Shire Debuts at Tanglewood
by Sally Helgesen
Lydia Shire has been to the Boston restaurant scene what Alice Waters was to Northern California: a creative force, influencer-in-chief, modernizer, experimentalist, provocateur and muse. Now Shire brings her outrageously delicious cuisine to the Berkshires as guest chef at Tanglewood’s opening night Gala at on Friday, July 8. It’s the first time the BSO has asked a celebrated chef to design the menu and oversee cooking at one of its event. We can only hope this establishes a tradition!
For the all-Italian program in the shed—excerpts from Bellini’s Norma, Rossini’s William Tell Overture, Verdi’s I Lombardi and Respighi’s symphonic Pines of Rome–– Tanglewood asked Shire to put together an all-Italian feast. A dedicated Italophile when it comes to food, she responded with a Tuscan-themed menu as sumptuous and irresistible as the music.
Passed hors de’oeuvres include tiny lamb ribs (the kind known in Florence as scottaditi, or burn-your-fingers) fried squash blossoms, and a notable Shire invention she calls “elephant ears walking” –– a semolina cracker grilled with tomato and smoked scamorza cheese. The first and main courses feature crabmeat with a pepper crust and Tuscan melon puree, thinly sliced crisp duck with port, roast sole, and ravioli with tomato and kale.
Dessert promises to be truly operatic, with the encore guaranteed in advance–– served following the meal and then again post-concert. Housemade cannoli (hardly Tuscan, but who cares?), zabaglione with berries and melon shots, plus a whole gelato station will be accompanied by coffee, chocolates and limoncello.
Shire, who achieved culinary fame with the ground-breaking Biba in 1989, has multiple Boston restaurant credits to her name; her present home in the city is the award-winning Scampo (right) in the Liberty Hotel. She also serves as executive chef at the historic Locke-Ober, where she offers updated versions of Boston classics (JFK lobster bisque, who could resist?) in the gorgeously restored Boston institution that famously declined to serve women in its main dining room for 100 years.
Shire is known for her extravagance (she once opened a kilo of caviar when Julia Child came to her house for dinner), her passionate style of cooking, and her love of brilliant color, which makes her restaurants a multi-sensory delight and gives her a highly distinctive presence—flame colored hair and Pepto-Bismol dyed chef’s “whites”. Her damn-the-expense (and often the arteries) approach has not always been in sync with our recession-hobbled era, but Shire’s 35 years as an innovator who thrives on challenge gives her work currency whatever the zeitgeist.
Her success came against the odds. As the divorced mother of three at the age of 21, she pawned her engagement ring to put herself through Cordon Bleu in London while living in a $9 a night room at the Y. Returning to hometown Boston, where her children had been with their paternal grandparents, she landed a series of ever-better positions at famed dining spots such as The Parker House, culminating in her being named executive sous-chef at Jasper White’s influential Seasons. With the opening of Biba, her sassy but meticulous style of nouvelle New England came into its own, spelling the end to a restaurant scene often focused reverently on chowder. She inspired a host of local acolytes, including Jody Adams of Rialto and Gordon Hammersley of Hammersley’s Bistro. By the 90’s, Beantown had been transformed into a food destination.
Times change, but Shire keeps on cooking. Bravo to Tanglewood for bringing her our way.
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 07/04/11 at 07:47 PM • Permalink
Brick House Pub: A Nirvana for Hungry Beer Geeks
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For the past few years, Leland Kent (right) and John Flynn (left) worked as bartenders at the no-frills Brick House Pub in the Great Barrington village of Housatonic. “We always talked about how we would make it better if we were in charge, how we’d serve really good food,” says Kent. So when the Brick House suddenly shuttered its doors last Christmas, the two guys decided it was their opportunity to test out their theories: They recruited Mark Caiola (center) to be their third partner to launch Brick House 2.0. They knew it had to remain a neighborhood saloon with live music on weekends where you could watch a game on a Sunday afternoon. But they also wanted it to have a curated selection of beers and bar food made from local and natural ingredients. “One of our goals is to have the best burger in the Berkshires,” says Kent.
He can check that one off his punch list. The Five Alarm Burger ($13), for instance, with jalapeno Monterey Jack cheese, pickled jalapenos and Sriracha mayo that we ordered last Friday night (when the place was packed to the rafters) was extraordinarily delicious. All the thick, charred burgers (which come with a pile of addictive hand cut fries) are made from NEFF (Northeast Family Farms) beef and they are served on a sesame roll that’s sturdy enough to not fall apart but not too big to fit in your mouth. The rolls comes from Berkshire Mountain Bakery down the street, as does the dough for the sensational thin-crusted pizza. “Baba Louie’s finally has some competition!” a friend said after dining there the other day. Indeed, the 18-inch “All American” pizza ($17)—sausage, pepperoni, mushrooms with mozzarealla and tomato sauce—is perfectly sized for two, and if you pair it with a shared chopped salad ($8) you’ve got one of the best dining bargains in the Berkshires.
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Why is the food so good? “We did a lot of research,” says Kent. “Since January, I’ve been going on eating expeditions every Monday with Bjorn Somlo who owns Nudel. We would discuss what we liked and didn’t like about a bar and its food.” They hired a chef, Justin Lowery, who had cooked in New York and understood that the owners wanted to support the local food movement while making sure the menu was accessible to locals. “We made our mission clear: good simple food—nothing out of a box.” The menu features artisanal renditions of classics like House Nachos ($10), House-Made Loaded Potato Skins ($10) and a dozen wings ($11) bathed in a choice of sauces: classic hot, chipotle barbecue, garlic parmesan or Asian sweet chili.
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And food is not even the main point of the Brick House. “We are beer geeks,” says Kent. “We have a passion for beer, and we have a passion for community. We wanted this to be the type of place where you can talk across the bar.” Kent, who has worked as a carpenter for many years, recycled materials from the Brick House’s previous incarnation to build a U-shaped bar that is a convivial hub where cross talk is possible. To keep the joint jumping, there will be live music on Friday and Saturday nights, and there are big screen TVs to watch the Red Sox. “Our main mission is being a beer bar,” says Flynn. “As long as we have customers drinking, we’ll keep the bar open every night until Great Barrington’s last call at 1 a.m.”
Brick House Pub
425 Park Street, Housatonic, MA; 413.274.0020
Bar open daily 4 p.m. - 1 a.m.
Food served Sunday - Thursday 5 - 9 p.m.; Friday & Saturday 5 - 10 p.m.
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Posted by Dan Shaw on 06/23/11 at 06:43 AM • Permalink
Eat, Plant, and Learn to Love Good Food at Katchie Farm
By Betsy Miller
Liz Neumark, CEO of Great Performances, a catering company based in New York City, had been catering for more than two decades when she took to joining CSAs, and gradually fell in love with locally-grown produce. “For the first time in my life,” she says, “I knew what garlic and potatoes were supposed to taste like.”
“Being in the food business, I’d watched food become nothing but a commodity,” she explains. “It flew in the face of the passion for the tastes and flavors associated with fresh food.” She’d always dreamed of owning a farm. (“It’s in my Russian genes,” she says.) So, in 2006, after searching in New Jersey and throughout the Hudson Valley, Liz bought 60 acres of long-unfarmed land in northwest Columbia County and created Katchkie Farm.
“Katchkie is Yiddish for duck, used as a term of endearment by generations of discerning Jewish mothers and grandmothers,” Neumark says. “My son is handsome; he looks nothing like a duck. But I had promised him that my next project would be named for him. His name is Sam! For fun, I tell people it’s the name of an American Indian tribe. No one has questioned it!”
Great Performances uses most of the farm’s harvest, fresh-feeding not only their private wedding and event clients, and corporate clients as well. Guests at venues such as Dizzy’s Club Coca-Cola at Lincoln Center and the ballroom event spaces at the revamped Plaza Hotel reap the benefits.
“In catering work, we see the most privileged and fortunate New Yorkers, but a lot of our neighbors have never seen the kind of food we routinely serve,” says Neumark. “So we conceived of an education facility that has become the heart of the farm, as a way to balance the abundance in our lives. .”
Working in conjunction with farm manager Bob Walker, Neumark “shares the wealth” through the Sylvia Center, a nonprofit organization that advocates farm education and children’s nutrition through year-round programs held in a Children’s Learning Kitchen in lower Manhattan, in schools and community centers throughout New York City, and at Katchkie Farm itself. After-school programs teach students about where their food comes from, how it is grown, and how to cook delicious simple meals with seasonal, local produce. Katchkie also hosts farm visits for grade school children from throughout New York State, who plant in the Children’s Garden and learn about eating healthful foods.
On July 16, the Sylvia Center will be a beneficiary of the third annual Farm-To-Table al fresco dining event at Katchkie Farm. As always, a team of chefs from Great Performances will do the cooking on site. Participants will eat at tables set up in the same field where much of the menu—ricotta-stuffed zucchini blossoms, heirloom tomato and summer bean salad, mini-eggplant parmesan tarts with tomato sauce and hand-pulled mozzarella, Hudson Valley skirt steak over quick braised kale with sweet onions—was grown. Auxiliary producers such as Local Ocean, a fresh and salt water fish farm in nearby Hudson, and Hudson-Chatham Winery keep the mileage from farm-to-table at a minimum and the freshness at a maximum.
This year, proceeds from the dinner will be divided evenly between the Columbia Land Conservancy and the Sylvia Center, thus nurturing both future farms and future farmers. “When everyone is seated together at this event, the sense of community is almost overwhelming,” 
concludes Neumark. “A transformation takes place that night; we shed our other skins and just become neighbors.”
Katchkie Farm-to-Table Dinner
Kinderhook
Saturday July 16, 5 p.m.
tickets/$125
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 06/22/11 at 09:37 AM • Permalink
Food News: Le Pain Not So Quotidien
by Scott Baldinger
Warren Street in Hudson is an uphill climb from its start at Front Street to its commercial finale a couple of blocks past Park Place. Luckily there’s a quality pit stop every half a block or so for pedestrians in need of lattes, iced coffees and epicurean carbo-loading sessions to help them along. Starting at the bottom of the hill on Front is Strongtree Coffee; once on Warren, there is the Swallow café /Loaf bakery complex; then Nolita, Le Gamin, and Parlor, mixed up with many breakfast and lunch establishments along the way. One glaring exception, however, has been the length of Warren from Front all the way to the middle of Third, where the quick coffee experience has been oddly absent.
This void is now being more than amply filled by the resplendently Francophile Café Le Perche, a bakery, café and full bar that will be open 7 days a week from 7 a.m. to midnight (10 p.m. weekdays). Even though the official opening won’t be taking place for another two weeks, at which time the café/bakery’s oven, a behemoth imported from France, will be fully operational, Le Perche’s Lisa Brickman says that she’ll be “here at 2 a.m. baking for the soft opening ” throughout this weekend, in another sizable kitchen in the front of the store.
Café Le Perche is the brainchild of Allan Chapin, a New York investment banker and Claverack resident who bought a 1830s former bank building on Warren Street last year. He was looking around for the right concept to restore it to its commercial roots when he met Pain Quotidien general manager Jennifer Houle at a Second Avenue branch that Houle had opened for the company. Soon after, he moved Houle to Hudson to work full time on the project; she, in turn, hired Brickman from Charley Trotters in Chicago, where she was working as a pastry chef.
The ground floor complex is being transformed so wonderfully that it could end up offering the menu from Denny’s, and it would still be a great place in which to hang. As they say, no expense has been spared, a veritable DoublahVay-Pay-Ah (WPA) injection of capital and man hours into the economy of Hudson and Columbia County. The dark woodwork on the walls and ceilings and the tile flooring, all original, have been carefully restored; the bar will be covered in zinc to look just like a Tabac in Paris; a garden is being extensively planted. The restrained rustic furnishings are from Hammertown in Rhinebeck. And then there’s that oven, one of only three in the United States,and so large it needed a building all its own—a former carriage house also being extensively refurbished in the rear of the property. It’s a sight worth seeing, even for those who have gone totally gluten free.
Café Le Perche
230 Warren Street
Sunday - Thursday, 7 a.m. - 10 p.m.
Friday & Saturday, 7 a.m. to midnight
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 06/12/11 at 12:27 PM • Permalink
