Blue Hill at Stone Barns

Tagged: berkshires, blue at stone barns, blue hill, dan barber, stone barn center

Posted on July 25th, 2009

I think going to Blue Hill at Stone Barns and the Stone Barn Center for Food and Agriculture in Pocantico Hills, New York would be something akin to a religious experience for me.

Ever since seeing (and obsessing over) the property on Top Chef, I feel like I’ve been in constant conversation with anyone who will listen (and myself, if no one is listening) about how much I would love to go wander the property and dine there.  It seems like a truly rejuvenating experience:  renowned farm to table dining, complete with a picture perfect working farm and education center.  Also, a visitor is able to have a dining experience within their budget, whether its a 5 course dinner at Blue Hill, Sunday brunch, a quick bite at the Blue Hill Cafe, or the ‘Taste of Stone Barns’ buffet lunch.

Located on the Rockefeller estate, the restaurant and center for food and agriculture are two separate organizations.  The farm grows 200 varieties of produce and raises chickens, turkeys, geese, sheep, pigs and bees and serves as an education center for adults and children.  The restaurant, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, helps to support the non-profit Stone Barns Center by renting the “restaurant space and purchasing the meat and produce it uses” (taken from Wikipedia).  The restaurant is headed up by Dan Barber, James Beard’s Best Chef of 2009. Dan Barber’s ‘Blue Hill’ farm and restaurant network started with one in New York City: Blue Hill New York.

As an interesting side note, Blue Hill New York was the dining choice of Barack and Michelle on their date night to NYC (note: this doesn’t sway me either way, just an observation…a cheery observation ).

Presidential Perks

We are going to be up in the Boston area in a few weeks and then driving across to upstate NY, so I am already planning on stopping at Blue Hill Farm in Great Barrington, MA (in the Berkshires), the Barbers’ family farm and source of much of their local food,  to visit the Farm Stand.  A tour of the farm property and dining at their restaurant, either for dinner or brunch, is on my short list of things to do as soon as possible.

I promise that one day soon I’ll be posting pictures and a first-hand write up!

Also, this blogger went to Blue Hill at Stone Barns recently and posted a wonderful review, complete with some fantastic pictures.