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When the Rockefellers decided to turn their old barns into a dining destination, they had the patrician good sense to enlist Dan Barber and his brother, David and wife Laureen are co-owners of Blue Hill, a favorite restaurant among members of the precious slow-food set. The Barbers grew up on the Upper East Side (Dan is the chef, his brother the businessman), but they are card-carrying Greenmarketeers. So while Blue Hill specializes in "seasonal cuisine," its new suburban cousin is supposed to be the real thing: an agro-restaurant replete with its own state-of-the-art, Rockefeller-built greenhouse, its own flock of hyperorganic chickens, its own collection of prize Berkshire hogs and even a few sheep...The menu at Stone Barns is a mildly confusing document, divided into fussy, bucolic-sounding categories (The Pasture, Dug and Picked Today, etc.), from which you're supposed to construct a meal of two to four courses. Whatever you do, be sure to focus on what's in season...Chef Barber is a master at poaching and braising, and he takes pains to showcase ingredients instead of obliterating them with too much heat and sauce. Sometimes this kind of food can veer into blandness, but in the proper hands it's an education in primary flavors. — Adam Platt

Prix-Fixe Menu

Three courses, $65; four courses, $78

Farmer's Feast
Seven-course tasting, $110

Note
Wed.–Sun., 10:30 a.m.– 5 p.m.; a café serves snacks, farm-fresh lattes, and locally grown products.

Weddings
Located in scenic Westchester, near Tarrytown, Blue Hill at Stone Barns is both a working farm and critically lauded restaurant. The private dining rooms can hold up to 64 guests for a seated dinner, and in warmer seasons a cocktail reception may be held on the outdoor terrace with a view of the Stone Barns farm. At the height of the season, 80 percent of ingredients are grown on-site. From $195 per person.

Related Stories

New York Magazine Reviews

• Adam Platt's Full Review (7/19/04)

Best of New York Awards

• Best Foodie Road Trip (2005)

Featured In

• Where to Eat 2008 (1/7/08)
• Celebrate Earth Day at These Sustainability-Minded Restaurants (4/23/07)
• Twenty-five Perfect Places for Outdoor Eating (6/10/06)