A Day At Stone Barns
As fantastic as a meal is at Blue Hill at Stone Barns is, it's not something everyone can afford. But as a recent visit demonstrated, you don't have to splurge to have a great experience at Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture. And it's closer than you think, just a forty-five minute drive or a thirty-five minute ride from Grand Central to Tarrytown on the Hudson Line's express train followed by a 10-minute, $12 cab ride to the farm.
(For those who don't have a day to spare, check out our lovely slideshow of eight farm-to-table restaurants in the spirit of Blue Hill.)
Frittata with Broccoli, Potatoes, Onions and Cheese.
The Blue Hill Café opens at 10:30am—arrive soon after to get first dibs on a spread of delicious breakfast fare: freshly baked scones, cookies, sticky cinnamon buns, fresh fruit, and other local treats like Ronnybrook yogurt drinks and juice from Red Jacket Orchards. Specialty foods and a selection of seasonal preserves also lined the shelves.
At 11:30am, lunch arrive straight from the Blue Hill kitchen. A thick, creamy frittata filled with mushrooms, broccoli, potatoes, and cheese, for just under $5 is enough to satisfy before a walk around the farm.
Wine grapes in the vineyard.
On any given day there are staff-guided tours and family-friendly activities like egg-collecting (check the events calendar), but you can skip the fees and be your own guide thanks to the free, self-guided walking tours available in the visitor's center. Begin with the vegetable fields, where in the fall you can spot kale, chard, and pumpkins as you meander up towards the vineyards, where several grape varieties are ripe and ready for sampling direct from the vine.
The greenhouse.
Next move on to the greenhouse, where Stone Barns grows a large number of their vegetables, including salad greens, onions, and kohlrabi. End with a visit to the pastures, for a little face-to-face time with the turkeys, chickens, laying hens, Berkshire pigs, Finn-Dorset sheep, and Embden and African geese.
Stone Barns' menagerie.
No farm field trip would be complete without a visit to the farm's market to bring home some of the produce, meat, and eggs straight from the fields you've just finished exploring. All in all, it's a terrific way to escape the city and return with an abundance of appetizing experiences and a visceral, hands-on understanding of "farm-to-table."
Address: 630 Bedford Rd, Tarrytown, Westchester, NY 10591
Hours: The center is open year round, Wed-Sun, 10am-5pm. The Visitor's Center closes at 6pm.
Trains: During peak hours trains leave every 15 minutes (round trip, $22.50), every half-hour during off-peak hours (round trip, $16.50).