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.