Blue Hill New York

By Brooklyn Bill

I had a phenomenal meal with Stash at Blue Hill New York Saturday evening. The food was amazingly fresh and delicious.

I started with a glass of 2009 Château Haut Rion Rosé. It was lively and refreshing and a good lead-in to all that followed.

One of the two appetizer amuse-bouche consisted of two baby carrots and two baby bok choys, unadorned and impaled on spikes on a wooden block like flowers on a florist's frog. I'm a farmers-market fanboy, so I enjoyed BHNY's flair for putting produce on a pedestal. And as I write this, more than 24 hours later, I still have the taste memory of that carrot on my tongue. The bok choy was a stellar specimen too, but if that carrot were a man, he'd make hunky Jon Hamm look like—oh, why not? I'll go there—Carrot Top.

The other amuse-bouche was a mini asparagus burger. I don't know what was used to flavor the chopped asparagus that stood in for ground beef, but it was heavenly.

For my first course, I got the Spring Vegetable Salad, which was a collection of fresh produce in a bowl with a delightful golden dressing.

For my second glass of wine, I got the 2004 R. López de Heredia Viña Cubillo, a blend of tempranillo, garnacho, mazuelo and graciano. BHNY's wine list separates its offerings into various style categories, which I find extremely helpful. This wine is classified as "smooth and earthy." Other styles include "ripe and luscious" and "big and bold" for reds and "crisp and bright" and "elegant and round" for whites.

For my main course, I had the Stone Barns Berkshire Pig, which came with a magical little log of sweet potato and more baby bok choy. Along with the larger piece of fat-edged flesh were a few chunks of pure pork fat. I ate only one of them; it was crazy rich and tasty.

For dessert, I got the singly named Rhubarb, which came both cooked—inside a tower of poached meringue that sat atop a puddle of coconut milk tapioca—and as a crispy, paper-thin chip on the tippy top of the tower.

The dessert amuse-bouche mignardises consisted of coconut marshmallows and passion fruit truffles, the latter of which I'd love to get a box of. And I'd eat them one two at a time, at my desk at work, when I needed a pick-me-up, and I wouldn't share them with anyone. :-)

But I'll be sharing BHNY with friends and family members many times in the years to come. It's the ultimate in farm-to-table dining.