To many, Manhattan would hardly be considered a haven for locavores. Known as a city of excess, many restaurants routinely source rare and exotic ingredients from across the globe with reckless abandon towards their carbon footprint. But a modest 45 miles outside the city, one restaurant has dedicated itself to these ideals and emerged as the country's farm-to-table mecca. Opening in 2004 in the confines of the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture, Blue Hills at Stone Barns adopted the Center's emphasis on local and sustainable practices and incorporated them into a fine dining restaurant.
Spread across the 80 acres of land that formerly belonged to the Rockefeller Estate, are numerous greenhouses and pastures where animals run free, many of which the restaurant utilizes in the kitchen. Occurring in December, our meal at Blue Hill at Stone Barns was a snap shot of the season, incorporating absolutely sensational winter ingredients.
