Welcome to our list of favorite dining destinations in New York's Hudson Valley and Adirondack regions. We visit restaurants, wineries, barbecues, and a smattering of off the beaten path culinary destinations like maple sugar shacks and fromageries. My friends and I have been dining out together weekly for over twenty years. The locations we write about are our favorite destinations. We are not claiming they are the best, just our favorites. The posts are not "reviews" in the classic sense. - we offer only our picks, not pans. We will leave the criticism to others. We are a happy blog. We much prefer a good bistro to "haute cuisine", especially if they also have a nice bar. We prefer a crock of cassoulet and a bottle of Beaujolais to just about anything else. If you enjoy simple home style rustic cooking with a decent (but not too expensive) bottle of wine, then pull up a chair and join us.



This Month's "Well Said!"

"Remember that a very good sardine is always preferable to a not that good lobster."

Ferran Andria

Thursday, August 4, 2011

The Local Restaurant and Bar ~ Rhinebeck, NY

The Local
38 West Market Street
Rhinebeck, NY 12572

Reservations: 845 876 2214
Closed Mondays

As I sat at the bar waiting for my Wednesday night tablemates to arrive, I perused the menu looking for dinner candidates.  My eyes were immediately drawn to a menu listing for arugula salad, made with Surryano ham.  I recalled reading an article - in Garden and Gun magazine of all places - about this artisanal ham from Virginia.  I had made a mental note to order some.  It is a classic story of an "aha" moment in business - grandson realizes that granddad's process for curing Virgina style hams is basically the same process as curing prosciutto, and why can't we upscale this product?  Fast forward a few years and now Surryano hams - made with high fat, hormone free, heritage Berkshire pigs and aged under exacting conditions for up to eighteen months - command top dollar, and are front and center on the country's best menus, including The Local's.
Arugula salad "Wrap" with Surryano Cured Ham
That one entry that jumped off the page proved to be emblematic of Chef Wesley Dier's menu - billed as seasonal, local, sustainable, and eclectic American. It is indeed all of the above.  Everything about the place is red white and blue, including the wine list, which offers a wonderful collection of American offerings - with nary a bottle of Beaujolais to be found.  The menu reminds me of the regional American theme of the Culinary Institute's American Bounty restaurant.  Diners will not be surprised to find out that Chef Dier, who also ran the kitchen at the now shuttered 40 West next door,  is a CIA alumnus.
The space at the Local,  tucked into a store front just west of the Beekman Arms, is small but thoughtfully laid out, with a mezzanine dining room on the second floor peering down on the bar and the open kitchen.  We counted a total of 32 seats spaciously laid out in the main dining room, with only a few more down on the first floor.  Some outdoor seating provides some much in demand additional seating in the summer.  The small, cozy bar area is quite comfortable, and our new favorite bartender, Robert, walked us through his favorite menu selections while we sipped our way through a bottle of Barnard Griffin Fume Blanc ($34), a sauvignon blanc from Washington State.
The menu lists an eclectic mix of dishes using seasonal products sourced from local farms and purveyors. Happily many of the offerings are available as "small plates" allowing a mix and match dinner of multiple choices to share, which is exactly what we did.  We started with samplings of each of the offered salads.  
An evening special was a Caesar salad, fresh romaine served with dollops of a creamy house made dressing. Doc passed around portions of his endive, radicchio, and roasted golden beet salad, topped with toasted spiced pecans, and tossed with a tangy vinaigrette dressing and chunks of fresh orange. ($12)  I would tell you to order that but if you do you will miss the aforementioned arugula and Surryano ham "wraps" which are now firmly ensconced on my list of top ten all time salad dishes. Two bunches of fresh garden arugula are first dressed with an elegantly simple dressing of extra virgin olive oil, a spritz of lemon and a dash of sea salt, and then rolled up in a razor thin slice of the best "Virgina ham" you have ever tasted.  - silky smooth with a nutty finish and just an essence of hickory smoke; it will show well against the best European speck style hams.  
Next came a round of appetizer sized small plates.  I had a crock of chicken dumplings, a half dozen pouches of seasoned NorthWind Farm chicken, served with slices of shitake mushrooms.  Very nicely done.  Better yet was a plate of slow roasted pork belly ($18), glazed with a soy cola sauce, and served on a thick slice of watermelon, surrounded by wontons stuffed with Hudson Valley foie gras.  What's better than that?  Doc generously shared his plate of Scottish Highlander grass fed beef "sliders", served on a pillow soft brioche with aged cheddar cheese from Bobolink dairy farm($15).  We matched all of these dishes with sides of "caramelized" cauliflower ($10) which was roasted with capers and raisins and polenta "croutons".  A dish of fried brussel sprouts ($10) was just as good, tossed with an herbal Thai spice mix and a fish sauce vinaigrette. 
George had two fish offerings to choose from, both earning the Rambler's Choice Award for seafood sustainability.  The regular menu lists a spice rubbed wild Pacific king salmon ($26), served with chipotle whipped potatoes.  An evening special came with a prompt from our server Becky, and our table's choice was the wild striped bass.  It was beautifully prepared - moist and flaky and served in a puddle of briny caper and burnt butter pan sauce. Wonderful stuff.
Cups of freshly made espresso finished the meal, served with a snifter of Sambucca and a plate of biscotti.  
We came away sated, unanimously impressed, and looking forward to a return visit.  The Local sports the whole package - an inventive diverse selection of regional dishes made with seasonal, top quality ingredients from local sources, a very nice bar to relax and have a drink (or enjoy dinner at the bar if dining alone), a well chosen wine list, and a professional, friendly, waitstaff who obviously enjoy working here and are justifiably proud of the product that they offer. If we awarded "stars", we would throw in an extra one for the music play list - Temps, Stevie Wonder, Four Tops.  Everything tastes better with Motown, yes?  The Local Restaurant and Bar is added to our list of Hudson Valley Favorites, and we highly recommend you visit.
If you do stop in please let our other readers know about your visit in the comments section.

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