Hudson Valley Restaurant Week: Crabtree’s Kittle House
Forgive me if I take a break from eating out for a night. I’ve asked my colleague Ted Mann to guest blog his report from the Kittle House. Take it away Ted….
Guest blogger Ted Mann here.
OK, first we’ll get the obvious, obligatory question out of the way: No, we didn’t see Bill and Hill. Must have been off in Pennsylvania or some such.
Still, even if Crabtree’s most famous patrons weren’t on hand during my recent visit, just about everyone else in Chappaqua was. We arrived for a 7 p.m. reservation and were surprised to see nearly every table at the restaurant filled. The wait staff even seemed a little off balance to have such a crowd on a normally quiet weekday night, and servers were frantically running about as if they’d doubled up on their Monday espresso.
Finally, after waiting a half hour with only a sliver of bread to show for ourselves, a waitress arrived to fill our water and saw that our orders hadn’t been taken yet. She took charge of the meal—think she even used the expression “time to crack the whip”—and things went smoothly from there.
After having tried a dozen or so Restaurant Week menus in the past, I’d say Crabtree’s is one of the best so far. Yes, like everyone else, they cheap out with one chicken entree. But everything else was enticing. I started with the sweet potato gnocchi, with Brussels sprout leaves and ginger sauce. Even though our whip-cracking waitress seemed double- and triple-checked my choice—“Are you sure? You realize it’s sweet potato gnocchi? Some people don’t realize it’ll be sweet”—the dish was a winner. Sweet, yes, but with that thick, creamy ginger sauce it wasn’t like, say, sweet potato fries.
My wife’s appetizers, wild mushroom soup with white truffle foam, wasn’t as good. Though the flavor was there, it tasted watered down — as if the kitchen were trying to stretch a batch of soup to accommodate twice the Monday night crowd they’d expected.
For entrees, my prime sirloin steak (right) was an excellent cut, with plenty of cabernet sauvignon sauce to coat every tasty bite. The dish also came with potatoes boulanger, a shallot confit atop the steak and haricot verts.
As good as my steak was, Ana’s filet of Nile perch (above) was even better. The basil oceanic broth gave the meaty fish a creamy flavor, and the ragout of asparagus, mushrooms, and leeks made a fine accompaniment.
For dessert, we had a tie. The peach tart tatin was light and sweet at first, but when I scooped a second bite with a little of the syrup (meyer lemon rum sauce) and ice cream, the soury sweetness overpowered all of the fruit’s flavor. Meanwhile, the creme brulee had the exact opposite trajectory—it seemed bland at first, but as I dug down to the bottom, with its high concentration of vanilla-bean specks, the ramekin exploded with flavor.
It’d be tempting to stop here and make some sort of analogy to the Democratic candidates, but I think it suffices to say that the meal, while it had its ups and downs, was, like the previous Clinton presidency, more than deserving of an encore.
Crabtree’s Kittle House
11 Kittle Rd., Chappaqua
914-666-8044
(Incidentally, sorry for the sub-par photos. Tried my best to be discrete, using the iPhone’s camera function instead of my usual flash camera.)
Photo Caption: img_0024.JPG
So what did you think of the Kittle House — or any other HVRW restaurant?
Tell me here in the comments field. I’ll choose my five favorite comments and give the authors each a free pair of tickets to the Greater New York Wine&Food Festival on April 4, 5, and 6 at the DoubleTree Hotel Tarrytown.
We had dinner at Crabtree Kittle House on Friday evening, 3/14. Previously we dined there I’d say on four other occasions, infact several years ago I sold the chef mizuna from my organic garden. However, our meal overall left alot to be desired. My husbands perch was better than my sirlon which was poor. I think it was precooked and then warmed in the microwave. Yes that bad. The service was lacking as well. The bread service was off beat once before the appetizer and then before desert!! No time to rest on ones laurels “CTHH” needs to kick it up a few notches”!
My original post disappeared so let me say it a different way. I like the Kittle House, but I am always surprised that their service staff is not as professional and experience as you’d expect at a fine dining establishment. Of course, X2O seems to have service problems as well, based on the posts on this blog, so maybe it’s a common problem.
Equus Review What to eight women want – Good food, good drinks, and wonderful atmosphere. This past Saturday – we got two out of the three. The consensus was that the food was okay – small portions. Did they serve this on the regular menu – we all asked? Friends who were there – said “no”. Since I had the menu before we went – I know what I did not want. I chose the “chicken” even though I practically live on that. It was good, the fish was okay and the other item – which looked like “soup” was !!!!. Deserts were fair – and we chose based on your recommendation. The dining experience was okay – as I was with good friends – would I go again- I don’t think so.
Saturday?? The HVRW menu is not supposed to be available on Saturdays.
I went to the Kittle House on Sunday the 16th of March. The perch was prepared with asparagus and mussels, a very unique but interesting combination. The sweet potatoe gnocci with ginger was excellent.We also enjoyed the peach tartin with a hint of lemon and almond. The problem was the service. No one came over to introduce themselves so we weren’t quite sure who our waiter was. The dinner was served and then the steak knives appeared. We needed bread and butter and had to ask 3 times before it was delivered. I felt they were training new people but there weren’t enough experienced waitstaff around.Overall the food was presented well and was delicious but it lacked in service.