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October 2008
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A Taste of the New Fall Menu
Notes from The Wine Cellar
Holiday Party Planning
Upcoming Events
Thank You
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Chef Bertrand Introduces The New Fall Menu
As we head into the cooler months of the fall season, Executive Chef Kevin Bertrand has introduced several new dishes and created some interesting twists on some old classics, all reflecting the seasonal changes and the newly available local bounty .
Here is a taste of a few of the new dishes from our fall menu:
- Maine Lobster Bisque, lobster & chanterelles, cognac
- Hand Made Cavatelli, butternut squash & foie gras, sage pumpkin seeds
- Baked Wild King Salmon, black
truffles, cauliflower puree
- Diver Sea Scallops & Braised Oxtail, brussels sprouts, white bean puree
- Slow Roasted Berkshire Pork Belly, anjou puree,
caramel onions
- Veal Tenderloin au Poivre, bluefoot
mushrooms, armagnac cream
- Rack of Free Range Lamb,
ravioli, fennel & apple, lamb jus
- Juniper Dusted Venison
Saddle, gingered sweet potato, salsify, pomegranate
We hope you'll join us for dinner and enjoy some of our new fall menu additions. Many of these seasonal changes are also present on our nightly Chef's Five Course Tasting Menu, $85 per person or $125 per person with a wine paired with the each course.
We are still offering our Three Course Prix Fixe Dinner, $38 per person, Sunday through Thursday and our Tap Room Small Plates menu is available every night in the at the bar and in the Tap Room. Drop by for a Slow Roasted Berkshire Pork Belly and a Spaten Oktoberfest on tap and celebrate Oktober at The Kittle House.
Created in 1872, Spaten is the world's first Oktoberfest beer.
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My Dinner with Lettie
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If you think blind tasting is hard, try fake tasting!
In last month's Food & Wine Magazine, wine editor and my good friend Lettie Teague wrote a very interesting article about a wine tasting dinner party that she held at her home in which I was one of the lucky invitees, or perhaps lucky victims might be more appropriate. Her invitation was simple, she was having a few friends over and everyone was to bring a good bottle of Bordeaux. That was easy enough. Knowing several of the other people who were also invited, I knew we were going to be drinking some very fine wine. With that in mind I grabbed a bottle of Chateau Haut Brion 1989 and just for good measure, a bottle of Chateau Haut Brion Blanc 1989 (after all, we would need an aperitif before the main event) from the Kittle House cellar and off I went. Another night of great food and wine - you know, it's a tough job, but someone has to do it.
I was right, everyone did bring a great bottle of wine. Five of the wines had received a perfect 100 point score from Robert Parker, including the two Chateau Haut Brion 1989 that I had brought. Lettie's wine contribution to the evening's affair was the Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1982, another 100 point wine. After eating a wonderful meal and tasting through all of the wines, Lettie asked us to vote on which wine we liked the most. Everyone was quite sure which was their favorite and for me it was very easy, the Chateau Haut Brion 1989 was singing that evening and was clearly head and shoulders above all of the others. After polling us for our opinions, Lettie then informed us that the Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1982, her Chateau Mouton Rothschild 1982, was an imposter. We had been duped.
She expalined that she had bought a bottle of the 1982 Chateau Mouton Rothschild, drank it with Chris Camarda, the owner of Andrew Will Winery and one of the world's great winemakers, and then filled it with his wonderful Bordeaux-style wine called Sorella, the 1995 vintage. I have to tell you that the wine was absolutely delicious, even compelling, particularly aromatically. It smelled like Bordeaux, a really good Bordeaux, but tasted more new world than old world. I kept saying to Lettie that it reminded me of some of the rich, silky California cult cabernets with the type of fruit extract it displayed - mentioning Bryant Family by name - which is what made it a little confusing to most of us, but no less delicious. No one in attendance expected the switch and since it was Lettie's wine and dinner party, even if it was identified as an imposter wine, I know I would have never risked insult by saying anything negative about it and I think there were others at the table that may have felt the same way. In all honesty, considering that I have experienced plenty of bottle variation in older wines many times over the years, especially with wines from Bordeaux, it would not have surprised me to learn that this wine was just going through some kind of weird developmental phase of its evolution. Though it was not most people's favorite wine of the night, given the context of the tasting and the excellence of the Sorella, none of us at the table said they thought it was a fake. I guess you could say we were faked out.
The point Lettie was trying to make is also the premise of the fascinating new book The Billionaire's Vinegar, a story about a famous and wealthy wine collector who purchased some old bottles of Bordeaux with Thomas Jefferson's initials carved into the glass and his subsequent relentless pursuit to get the provenance of the bottles authenticated. It's a sordid tale about the world's best known rare wine collector/dealer who turns out to be a total con artist and complete fake. But he is also a master blender of wines and has fooled the best palates in the world with his 'fake' old and rare bottlings - for many years and to the tune of millions and millions of dollars! The fact of the matter is even the finest palates in the world can be fooled if given the right circumstances. But those of us who have been around long enough, well, we already new that. One of my favorite wine quotes comes from the legndary British wine writer Harry Waugh who, when asked if he had ever mistaken a Bordeaux for a Burgundy, famously replied "not since lunch".
Looking back now, the best thing that came out of this experience was discovering how wonderful the Sorella 1995 was drinking and knowing that we have a deep vertical of Sorella, including the 1995, and all of Chris Camarda's wonderful Andrew Will wines in our cellar. We have been on our soapbox touting the virtues of Washington State wines for many years (the first Washington State wine to receive 100 points from The Wine Advocate was Quilceda Creek Cabernet Sauvignon 2002 - we have a vertical on the wine list dating back to 1988!) and here we had, though wearing the label of another great wine, the perfect proof of just how great a Washington State wine can be. 1982 Chateau Mouton Rothschild? Maybe not. 1995 Andrew Will Sorella? Delicious!
Wine Matters by Lettie Teague October 2008.
Andrew Will Winery
The Billionaire's Vinegar
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Have Your Holiday Party at
Crabtree's Kittle House
We just sent our recipe for
Roast Free Range Heritage Bourbon Red Turkey to Westchester Magazine for their
feature article in the Thanksgiving issue.
Thanksgiving, already?
The holiday season, our
favorite time of the year is quickly approaching and at Crabtree's Kittle House
we are starting to make our holiday menu and décor plans. We'll be decking the
halls for our 28th holiday season and with all of our years of event
planning experience, we know how to throw a truly memorable holiday party.
Let us help you make yours a
great success.
At The Kittle House, there is
a room to accommodate every size group and a menu to fit everyone's budget. How
about a five course tasting menu with selected wines poured to complement each
course in our Wine Cellar Room? Maybe it's a lavish buffet and an open bar in
The Atrium Carriage Room. Perhaps cocktails and hors d'oeuvres in The Tap Room
and Garden Room with the vintage bar and roaring fireplace, or a three course
lunch or dinner with selections from our a la carte menu in one of our intimate
private rooms.
Whatever choice you make, our
private event planners are ready to assist you in every way with all of your
holiday party details. Call Kimberly or Jessica today and find out what
Crabtree's Kittle House can do to help you and your company celebrate this
year's holiday season in a most joyous and delicious way.
(914) 666-8044
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Some Very Kind Words From A Local Food Blogger
We have made it a point to not get too wrapped up in what gets said about us on internet restaurant blogs, I think most restaurateurs feel the same way. As my kids tell me, the internet is for 'haters', and it becomes very obvious that most of what gets said is very mean spirited and even untrue, most often by someone hiding behind the word 'anonymous'. And just as bad on the other end of the spectrum, are the writers who are obviously 'shilling' for a place, like PR people planting positive stories that read like something only your best friend, your personal assistant or your mother could write. Its for this reason alone that nothing written on a blog can ever be taken seriously - you just don't know who is really writing it or what their agenda might be.
That being said, someone forwarded to us this online review of Crabtree's Kittle House written by A Man Has To Eat. We would like to thank AMHTE for their very nice compliments and for expressing their dining experience with sincerity and honesty. Yours is the experience we set out to present every day to every person who comes through the door. We're so glad to know you enjoyed your dinner and we hope you'll say hello the next time you're here.
: )
A Man Has To Eat
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