Following Dale's recommendation here, Jenny and I had dinner at the Westchester Blue Hill on Sunday. The Stone Barns center itself would be of interest to many here - trying to get across the link between land and food, and in particular the virtues of locally-raised produce and livestock. They even have a vineyard planned.
Anyway, the meal itself was a fantastic rendition of the virtue of freshness and 'heritage' breeds - the pork belly braised in white wine was a thing of wonder. A comprehensive recommendation; our waiter was also superb.
ObOnTopic: the wine list is massive, although quite friendly - split by varietal, with brief notes on each, and not badly priced; not as many actual wines as the bulk would suggest, because of the space and notes, but a heavy lean toward pinot Noir. Our actual choice - a 2001 Dolcetto, Pecchenino San Luigi, was unfortunately uninspired.
Anyway, if you happen to be in the area, check it out. Not cheap, at ~$100/head all-in, but worth the price, we thought.
*** OT meal details:Picking any combination of two, three or four choices, in any order, from the menu of 15 options (4 veg-based, 4 fish [which seemed a little out of place], 4 chicken/pasta, 3 meat) is a welcome and worthwhile freedom. I had a variety of asparagus, followed by lamb in a quinoa crust with bok choi and then 'pig' - the pork belly plus some loin slices, with cauliflower 'couscous'. Jenny had a Bibb salad with boiled-then-deep fried eggs in japanese breadcrumbs, chicken broth with sweetmeats and baby veg, finishing with cavatelli/shiitakes. Just uniformly bright, vivid, clean, full of colour and intensity.
The desserts were a slight disappointment following that masterful display: Jenny's chocolate croquettes tasted a little too much of having been fried, while my chocolate bread pudding was excellently paired with caramel sauce, pignoli and caramel icecream but was itself a tad stodgy and gelatinous. Still, we left just delighted.