Getting out of Town: Blue Hill at Stone Barns

A rainy afternoon on the farm

By Mollie Chen
On Friday, my editor Gully and I took a little field trip up the Hudson to Pontico Hills, New York, to Blue Hill at Stone Barns. There, we met up with Tim Stark, who is writing a feature on farm dinners for us, to do a little research (but mostly just to poke around the farm and eat). I had been to Chef Dan Barber's Blue Hill in Manhattan, where the food is bright and fresh, but the setting unmistakably urban. I don't know what I was expecting - a few gardens and vegetable plots perhaps, a cow or two - but this was a real, working farm.

While Gully settled in near the fire with her New Yorker (Manolos not being optimal farm footwear), Tim and I toured the grounds with Stone Barns Center's farmer Jack Algiere. The weather was less than pleasant - drizzly and a chilly fifty-five degrees - but somehow made the grounds look misty beautiful.

A Cookbook for the Google Generation

By Mollie Chen

I've got shelf upon shelf of cookbooks at home - everything from Julia Child's classic Mastering the Art of French Cooking to Michel Richard's gorgeous Happy in the Kitchen - plus dozens more squirreled away in my desk drawers and cabinets. But when it comes to actual cooking, my first stop is usually online search engines. Or Google - a fun trick is to plug in random ingredients that you have on hand (Garlic scapes? Pesto! Beets and fennel? Delicious farro salad!) and see what you come up with.

The problem is, instead of smeared and tattered cookbooks (the sign of a well-loved kitchen, I think), I end up with shreds of computer print outs with scribbled notes on them. Not nearly as charming as glossy cookbooks. Plus, when I lose the shreds of paper, then I'm back at square one, clicking through websites trying to remember which plum cake was ethereal and which was leaden.

Cali, Final Edition: Keller Unbuttoned, Greasy Burritos, and Barbecued Oysters

Nick's Cove: gorgeous views and fantastic oysters

By Mollie Chen

And finally, five last reasons to love California. Now I can stop procrastinating and get started on all the very late copy I owe our Production department.

  Liberty Farms duck at Ad Hoc

11. At Ad Hoc, Thomas Keller takes a step back (he isn't even digitally present in the kitchen) and lets you serve yourself from family-style platters. The menu is scrawled on a blackboard (Liberty Farms duck breast encircled by a cheery heart) and the servers claim to be the best-fed staff in town (their staff meals even include dessert). Plus, unlike at many star chef-run restaurants, the patrons seem like neighborhood folks and not rabid foodies with to-eat checklists.

12. In tiny, crunchy Point Reyes, the Tomales Bay Food Company only has a few tenants but they are an impressive bunch: Cowgirl Creamery, which has a display kitchen where you can watch cheesemongers making Mt. Tam; the Cowgirl Cantina, where you can get a scoop (or three) of the to-die-for Three Twins cardamom ice cream; and Little Shorty's small but wonderful produce stand.

13. The corner of Mission and 25t St. in San Francisco: within a few storefronts radius, you can have a delicious burrito at La Taqueria, a gooey pupusa directly next door, or a slice of homey pie at Mission Pie (the retail outlet of Pie Ranch, an educational farm in Davenport, CA).

14. When you order a fruit salad, whether at the hippy-ish Homemade Cafe in Berkeley, where we stood out as the only non-tattooed clientele, or at the self-consciously sleek SolBar at the new Solage Resort in Calistoga, the fruit actually tastes like fruit and not like water. I believe bountiful is the word: strawberries that were bright crimson in the center instead of white; firm, happy persimmons, oozy figs, and sweet-tart plums.

15. A crazy, serpentine drive from San Francisco, recently opened Nick's Cove occupies a surreally gorgeous stretch of Tomales Bay. Sit in the light-filled patio, where you feel like you're floating over the crystalline water, and order the oysters - raw, barbequed, and fried. Slurp them noisily, then lean back and enjoy the view. If you can afford it, rent one of the cabins that are perched on stilts over the rocks -- then you can settle into your own rocking chair for the sunset.

More Reasons to Love California: Dancing Cows, Au Courant Dishware, and Loveable Neighborhood Grocers

Brand-new Spruce has style and substance

By Mollie Chen

I had strawberries yesterday and it was a sad reminder of what we on the East Coast are missing. Even as I am excited to cook my favorite fall soup (green apple, squash, sweet potato, turnip, and any root vegetable you can think of - roasted, then pureed with maple syrup and cayenne), I am still stuck on California.

6. In Napa Valley, you can have fresh-baked goods at any number of stylish, overpriced breakfast spots. Or you can pull off Hwy 29 at the ten-foot tall dancing cow that marks Taqueria La Vaca and have a belly-busting meal of red hot chilaquiles with hand-mashed guacamole. Don't leave without posing for a picture with the aforementioned cow. Smile big.

7. Peet's Coffee. On every street corner, cheaper than most Manhattan deli cups, and without the guilt that accompanies your Starbucks latte.

8. Barely larger than my corner bodega, Bi-Rite Market in the Mission District is packed with all manner of natural, organic, sustainable, responsible, and local foodstuffs. I left with Kika's Treat's caramelized graham crackers with dark chocolate and a jar of June Taylor blood orange marmalade and then walked up the block to their sister shop, the Bi-Rite Creamery. I'd heard about their salted caramel ice cream and it didn't disappoint - with a deep, just shy of burnt flavor and pronounced saltiness. The malted vanilla with peanut butter is a close second.

9. No Styrofoam anywhere, just biodegradable bowls, cups, and utensils. They're understated, minimalist, sturdy -- just the thing for all of us Al Gore groupies who can't give up our ice cream and coffee breaks.

10. In many ways, San Francisco's Spruce is just another irritatingly hip new restaurant: cool architectural quirk (former car garage); chic industrial decor (exposed steel trestles, textured, sisal-covered walls); and hot ticket menu items (burrata, foie gras, heirloom tomatoes, house-made salumi). But wait. There's a fat, juicy $12 burger served with top-notch fries and a refreshingly simple shaved zucchini salad, plus any number of other dishes worth coming back for -- tender Berkshire pork with just-shelled beans and a deep, dark chocolate fondant. At the canteen at the front, you can buy charcuterie (don't miss the decadent duck mousse), cheese, and other prepared foods.

Still more to come...

Reasons to Love California, Including the Requisite Paean to Alice Waters and Gushing Account of the Ferry Plaza Market

Annie hearts Hayes St Grill po'boys

By Mollie Chen

The genial woman behind the Avis counter paused and looked at me. "You know," she said, "you can get a Prius for the same price." Sold. As I smugly approached our zippy little hybrid, I felt like I was beginning my eating tour on the right foot. Over the course of the next week, my family and I took our eco-friendly car all around the San Francisco Bay area, from San Francisco up through Napa to Calistoga, then back down through Sonoma, Marin County, and Point Reyes, with dining excursions to Berkeley and Brentwood. Part of the reason we were on this journey was research for an upcoming feature on farm dining - which we took to mean that we would stop at every farm stand, sustainable market, and seasonal restaurant we spied. We ate, bought, and ate some more. To rehash the entire trip would only serve to highlight how utterly spoiled I am; instead, I present a few reasons to consider moving west.

I have a crush on Virgin America

Snacks anyone? 

By Mollie Chen

My recent experience on Virgin America makes me wonder whether it is the airlines that make travel so uncomfortable or simply the number of travelers. The flight I took early Tuesday morning from JFK was conspicuously empty - at most 30 passengers for a full-size plane (three seats on either side of the aisle). Consequently, the entire trip felt absolutely luxurious, the flight crew (or "team," as they referred to themselves, as per Virgin's cool kid style) relaxed and friendly, and the cabin noticeably quiet and pleasant.

As for the cheeky newcomer, well, it's pretty charming. The seats are indeed large and leather (and especially nice when you have a row of three to yourself). Intentional or not, the so-called mood lighting (magenta track lighting along the sides and hazy violet along the middle ceiling) feels very 1960s mod and, for me at least, seems to reference the glamorous early days of air travel when flight attendants shimmied down the aisles in rompers and go-go boots and pilots were sex symbols.

Test Drive, Part One: Virgin America

By Mollie Chen

When I was a kid, I loved flying. I remember sprawling out across three seats and playing cards with my sister in the aisles, and even the food seemed fun and novel in all its prepackaged glory. That was before torturous security procedures, overbooked flights, and a general deterioration of the in-flight experience.

For all those reasons, I have begun to dread going to the airport. But not today. I leave tomorrow morning for San Francisco and I am flying on brand-new Virgin America. Not going to lie - I am seriously excited. I've been totally sucked in by their cheery (although seriously flash-heavy) website touting cushy in-flight amenities like on-demand movies and mood lighting. After being subjected to The Last Mimsy and Blades of Glory on my last cross-country flight I am more than happy to pay a little extra to be able to choose what I want to watch. And that's not even mentioning the food. (You had to have known this was coming.) I am hopefully optimistic about the airline's self-serve minibars and in-seat food ordering system - so much so that I am going to leave my typical overstuffed snack pack at home. It's a bold move for me but you gotta take risks.

So there you have it. I am throwing myself on the mercy of Sir Branson - and I'm interested to see what he's got. Check back in a few days for a full report - possibly with pictures.