Blue Hill: Everybody Must Get Stoned

By JULIETTE ROSSANT As I was reading the recent New York Times article which gave Blue Hill at Stone Barns three stars within the first hundred days of its opening, I could not help thinking about Bob Dylan's refrain "everybody must get stoned" (that's from Rainy Day Women #12 & 35 for those of you not from the "Greatest Hits" Generation) -- because there are few other places where I would not mind to be so all alone. Yes, they could stone me when I'm at the breakfast table there or pretty much any meal. I'm not alone in this feeling: the restaurant has received rave reviews also from The New Yorker and New York magazines, as well as another New York Times article last month. The Stone Barns has its own special history. Dedicated by David Rockefeller upon the death of his wife Peggy Rockefeller, the Stone Barns Center is a non-profit farm, educational center, and restaurant. It raises livestock and crops "in a symbiotic relationship" year-round, according to its literature. In May 2003, just about a year before Blue Hill at Stone Barns opened near Tarrytown in Westchester County, New York, I interviewed chef Dan Barber for Super Chef during the all-star chef baseball game sponsored by Food & Wine magazine (this opens the final profile chapter on Tom Colicchio, pp. 175-177). Dan, a veteran of David Bouley's kitchens, had struck out on his own in 1996 with "Dan Barber Catering." This evolved into "Blue Hill Catering" when he opened Blue Hill restaurant, nominated for a James Beard Award for best new restaurant in 2001 in the company of Alain Ducasse, Jasper White, and Mario Batali. I approached Dan for his take on working in partnership with another chef (Blue Hill New York's co-executive chef Michael Anthony, now executive chef at Stone Barns) vis-a-vis the team of Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger (Super Chef, chapter four, pp. 131-174). He talked about how excited he was about opening the new Blue Hill the following year -- though he did not mention his relative rise compared to Michael Anthony, who is no longer listed as chef in New York. (Now, that is something I would like to talk to both Dan and Michael about...) Opening a Blue Hill restaurant at Stone Barns is a modern chef's dream: fruit, vegetables, and meat are available right on site from the Stone Barns Center. Charlie Palmer discussed his quest for fresh ingredients back in the 1980s (Super Chef, pp. 53-54), particularly the excitement of raising his own herbs while at nearby Waccabuc Country Club. Some chefs such as Bryan Voltaggio, Charlie's executive chef at Charlie Palmer Steak in Washington, DC, described to me at length fantasies of opening a restaurant on a farm raising its own produce, while others like Eberhard Müller of Bayard's and formerly executive chef at Andre Soltner's Lutece as well as Le Bernadin, already raises his own produce at his Long Island farm. What's the next step? Well, for starters, I'm interested to see whether Whole Foods or Dean & Deluca open a chain of restaurants in or attached to their locations: I have in mind a concept right now that kicks up Joseph Gurrera's Citarella a few notches... One thing that must be mentioned here is the fact that Blue Hill at Stone Barns is not a new concept. In Europe and particularly in France there is a long, long tradition of ferme-auberge or "farm-inn," such as Alain Ducasse's La Bastide de Moustiers. Charlie Palmer's Dry Creek Kitchen draws upon the whole of Sonoma County, CA, to use in his kitchen(Super Chef, p. 71). Blue Hill is a welcome addition to the American scene in a very European form.