We celebrated with dinner at Blue Hill at Stone Barns, which while delicious, had some of the worst service we've ever experienced from a high-tier restaurant. Waiters are usually engaging, friendly, relatable, and ready to describe any dish/ingredient in any detail desired. Our waiter at Blue Hill was SNOOTAY with a capital S, didn't come for drink orders until after our amuse bouches, and didn't tell us what was on any of the tasting menus when asked. We waited 20-30 min between courses, so the whole experience was just tiring.
The food itself was delicious although somewhat repetitious. The ingredients they use all come from the farm on premises, so the repetition is somewhat understandable, but then again, French Laundry also uses ingredients from their garden without the same type of repetition. Everything came to a head when we got to our duck course, which was cooked rare, and for P, was considered undercooked. I would say that for most of the population, it was underdone. P had a few of the outer pieces and then sent it back. What came back from the kitchen were the same remaining pieces, grilled to a char. This type of restaurant should be (1) cooking a new piece of duck of similar size to what was remaining, (2) cooking it in the same way as was originally intended, and (3) cooking it to the desired rareness. What they did was something that I'd expect out of a Chinese restaurant. I admit it, they're known for horrible service. :)
Dessert was lackluster. Waiter was indignant that he didn't get a bigger tip. Uh... do we look like chumps or something?
Anyway, putting that aside, our year has rounded out quite nicely. Per tradition, we froze our wedding cake topper and we're enjoying eating it over a couple of days. So small, why are cake toppers not any bigger! Also, I sold my wedding dress last week! We had a good time together with many memories, but now it's time to get some money back for it and for it to make someone else happy.
