Why Yes, I Would Like Some Locally Farmed Awesomeness.

Now readers (hi mom!), I don't want you think I am a food snob. I want you to know that I am a food snob. I crossed the border from foodie to snob when I gave my brother a nasty look for suggesting we eat at the Cheesecake Factory without any conscious thought. Franchised food? DON'T YOU KNOW IT MAKES MY HANDS SWELL AND CAUSE ME INSATIABLE THIRST?!... again, I am a food snob.

My boyfriend's new job gave me an excuse to take my food snobbery to a higher level. I was going to take me him out for a congratulatory dinner and since he enables my food obsession, I got to choose the place. Yes, yes maybe he should have chosen, but what's done is done, reader. After all, I choose a marvelous place: Blue Hill.

You may be asking:
"Laura, isn't it really hard to get reservations?"
- By some divine providence, an 8:30pm reservation for two popped up on my OpenTable account. Clearly, God/Allah/Buddah/Tom Cruise wanted me to eat there.
"Isn't it a bit out of your price range? Student loans aren't free money"
- 1)Yes, student loans ARE free money since I will win the lottery, and 2) It didn't cost that much.

Back to the food. For those of you who aren't food snobs, Blue Hill is an amazing tag team of farms and restaurants based in Massachusetts (Blue Hill Farm), Westchester (Blue Hill: Stone Barns) and the West Village. There is little gap from farm to table, making each ingredient more delicious than anything you have ever tasted. For an appetizer I had braised fennel with smoked apples and roasted fennel with, get this, HOMEMADE pancetta ($16). For an entree, I had pan seared duck with shittake mushrooms, a gingerbread sauce of some kind and the best sweet potato known to humans ($36). As we were both full and high from eating the best meal we've had in our lives (and slightly tipsy but that's another story), we decided to split the seckel pears with pecan cream and hazelnut sablé ($12) for dessert. I don't even know what sablé is, but I do know that it's freaking delicious.

I also felt slightly saddened that I had to spend around $200 to eat local, farm grown food - stupid America (a fast-food nation, with small farms and our import/export markets destroyed by Wal-Mart- I'll stop and save it for another type of blog). I have to admit, eating this meal caused me to pity the people who will never get to try this food. My life before this meal was void and dark.. now, it has changed (but still a bit dark, I have a reputation to uphold). Anyway, check your couch for coins, sell some stuff on Amazon, and do some odd (or weird) jobs to save some money for a Blue Hill dinner. Hands down: Best Thing I've Ever Ate.


Blue Hill Farm
75 Washington Place
New York, NY 10011
(212) 539-1776
http://www.bluehillfarm.com/food/blue-hill-new-york