The Red Barn Blog

Good2Go, Thursdays, and Brunch!

Well, we're a month into our 8th season, and so far, so good.   Many of our loyal fans have come in once (or twice!) since our opening and we've enjoyed listening to how they missed us while witnessing their zeal in being back for dinners at the Red Barn.  Already, we've had a few people, new to the Red Barn, and it's so exciting for us to find new customers, who will, we hope, become regulars.  I won't mention that getting our sea legs back has been rough, as usual. 

Besides refining the menu for a new year, we've been very busy making a take out menu, Red Barn Good2Go, which offers our customers many of our most popular dishes to order via email or phone and enjoy, tucked into their own kitchen table or in front of the Fridge as a late night snack.  We're including heating and serving directions and we're packaging it all in the most recyclable packaging. The Red Barn is also striving to be Green!

Our hours are evolving too.  We're beginning dinners on Thrusday on May 14th.  It's not the end of the week, it's not the weekend, but a comforting dinner out on Thursday, is sometimes the perfect bridge to the weekend. Come from 5:30 to 9pm if you're inclined, and we'll try to start a Thursday night tradition of comfort food,a nice glass of wine, and a preview of the weekend offerings. 

Friday night and Saturday night are dinners as usual, but Brunch is what's doing at the Red Barn on Sunday.  We will be serving some breakfastie, brunchie, lunchie things from 11:30 to 3pm, with the Sun pouring into the dining room and possibly a little music which will soothe as you read the paper, talk to your partner or just eat a big chocolate waffle. We hope you'll come in for Sunday brunch at the Red Barn.

That's all for now.  My next update will be all about my farming efforts, but I'm going to bed now so I can get up with the chickens!  Cheers to all!

Season Eight!

Amazing as it seems,on Friday, April 11th, Bert and I will reopen the Red Barn for our eighth  season. Last year was diverse, busy and a great 50th anniversary year for the Barn. We have met so many great friends through the Red Barn and we hope to see all of you for dinner in the comming months.

In our eighth season,  we have some exciting plans in store.  Red Barn Good2Go, our take out business ,will launch in May. So many of you told us you needed some basics to take home and have available for snacks, meals or just on hand for the weekend.  Or you can order things to take home for dinner on Monday night if that's what you prefer.

It's very simple.  You view our menu on our website, order the items you want by Thursday at noon, and we'll have them packaged and ready to pick up when you want them.  Of course we'd love to see you for dinner in the restaurant, but when you need to take Red Barn Good2Go home, we'll be happy to help.

Next, The Red Barn is a charter member of the Columbia County Bounty, an organization whose mission is to put culinary businesses in contact with local agricultural producers.  The organization is just over a year old, and is one of the ways that we can keep our farms healthy and our dinners tasty.  We will continue to purvey our ingredients locally as they are available from farms and dairys that are our neighbors.

AND...this year we have decided to farm one acre of our own land.  We will be planting organic vegetables, heirloom tomatoes, herbs, and flowers for The Red Barn.  It's a huge undertaking, which I intend to document here in the blog and also with pictures.  Hopefully, this summer you will see descriptions on the menu of  items which come from our garden.  I'm excited,  but very nervous about pulling it off.  We used to joke that the only thing harder than running a restaurant is farming.  I'll let you know how it goes.

So, we're looking forward to seeing you for dinner.  Our hours this year will be Friday and Saturday night, as usual and Sunday for Brunch from 11am to 3pm.  We will be open on Thursday as well once we're up and running. 

Come see us at the Red Barn!   Chris and Bert

The Red Barn is turning 50!

Welcome to the Red Barn blog, in this, our 50th year.  Well, actually, Bert and I have owned this Route 9H establishment in Ghent for seven years.  In this seventh year, we're itching with excitement (so sorry!) to bring continued fine dining experiences to The Red Barn customers as we celebrate the 50th year milestone. 

For those of you who have already been to dinner on Friday or Saturday night since we opened the week before Memorial Day, you know that we've dressed up the decor again and are now more of a roadside "bistro" than ever.  A few architectural "botox" injedtions moved both the front door and the bathroom door to the red room, eliminating some traffic in the dining room from coming and going. We think it's a great improvement and hope you agree.

This season, we're continuing to bring local ingredients to the forefront.  Bert has always purveyed produce, meat and seafood from the area, filling in only with speciality items from Ninth Avenue, the Village or Chinatown, when necessary.  This year, the blue cheese dressing on the iceburg wedge is made with Old Chatham Sheepherding "Ewe's Blue" cheese, which is an award winner and an exceptional blue.  We have some of the best arugula in the area and local spinach for our new-to-the-menu, creamed spinach side dish from Migliorelli Farm near Tivoli.

We have a brand new shellfish ice bar which offers three kinds of fresh oysters, jumbo tiger shrimp and chilled 1lb lobsters for a delicious start to your summer dinner.  Beside the shellfish bar is a vegetable antipasti assortment of pink, ruby and blush baby beets, carrots, Chippolini onions in a velvety balsamic glaze, roasted red peppers, confetti beans with oil and vinegar and 1/2 stuffed purple artichokes from Upstate Farms near Livingston. 

Also in our focus this year, we are presenting to our diners the best dry aged beef at several price points, and this delicious meat is already getting major raves from our meat loving patrons.  Of course, we still have Grandma's Chicken, Home Fried Chicken, Veal Chops   and a whole roasted fish of the week and many other favorites as well.  I hope this description has your mouth watering and makes you want to book a reservation for dinner with us very soon. 

And last, but not least, last December, Bert and I finally got married after a fourteen year courtship.  The Red Barn was only 36 when we met, and now we've owned it for half of the time we've known each other.  Just to further mess up your math, when we celebrate our anniversary on December 16th of this year, it will really be our 15th anniversary which is crystal, not paper. 

Thanks for your continued interest in our restaurant and the efforts that we make each year to improve our food and service standards.  Some of you have been with us the whole 7 years through some painfully bad nights and some perfectly great nights.  Cheers and thank you.  Some of you have come to The Red Barn since you were kids for ice cream on your bikes.   Thank you for growing with the changes and supporting us up to now. 

Housekeeping Notes:  Please make a visit to our new website at www.redbarnfood.com and send us an email with anything you'd like to share, suggest, or pass along to chef@redbarnfood.com .   Bert and I look forward to meeting new friends this year, as always, and seeing all our old friends again too.  Happy Anniversary!

I'M BAACK!!!!

Hello Red Barn Fans and Curious Others....

It's been more than a year since I posted something to this neglected blog! I'm guilty.  In truth, I liked writing this every week while I was doing it.  It was fun to think of who had come for dinner, what had happened or what food fun had presented itself that I could share with a wider audience of  Red Barn loyalists.  Last weekend a few newcomers commented on how they liked reading the blog before their visit and how much more interested they were in coming because of it. Wow. Blog leftovers and they liked it. So, I'm back in the saddle and hope to hear from you with ideas, comments and other ephemera relating to our efforts

What have we missed?  Hannah, our daughter, made it through her Freshman year at U Iowa with flying colors, and is back for the second year with the Hawkeyes.  She loves her classes, has some great midwestern new friends and misses NYC only a little bit now and then.  We sold our apartment, moved into a rental on the 39th floor of a great building, and are really enjoying the view.

At the RB, our staff, is carefully seasoned and otherwise smaller.  We were glad to have Beth, Melissa and Danielle working the front of the house this summer with a smaller staff in the kitchen.  Back there, Houston and Dennis work with Bert which is going better this year.  Dennis is a grad of the CIA looking for his own restaruant in the area and Houston is an aspiring CIA student, so it's a good mix of eagerness to learn and seasoned experience working together.

It's our 6th year at the RB and Bert seems to be at the top of his game now.  People are commenting that the food is better than ever which is very good to hear.   So, we hope if you haven't been in a while, you'll call us and make a reservation to come in for lunch or dinner.  The biggest change this year is we're open for Friday night dinner until 10pm and open on Saturday for lunch from 12 to 3pm and for dinner from 5:30 to 10pm.  We're closed on Sunday to recooperate. When people say "we never remember when you're open" I say, it's easy. Friday dinner, Saturday lunch and Dinner.  Or you can call and I'll remind you.

Our customers are what makes this effort to serve great food in a plesant atmosphere exciting and worthwhile and when you tell us we have succeded, we're thrilled.  Both Bert and I hope we see you soon...We'd love to hear what you've been doing.

I'll leave you with one of my Blueberry Pies from this berry season at The Red Barn which some of you missed!  We're on to Peach now. 

WE'RE ALMOST READY.....

Yes, I said I would be writing about our time off, but I didn’t. And here it is April 5^th and  we’re not open yet and people are starting to

send me emails to wake us from what they imagine has been a long winters nap. 

Yes, I have been trying not to turn the pages on the Wegman 2005 calendar, but at the same time I am  wondering what all our Red Barn friends have been doing. We haven’t been napping, but let me assure you, we’ve been enjoying ourselves.

To recap, it snowed every weekend in January and Bert could be heard to mumble the word, “vindicated” as he slipped back into bed on at least three Saturday mornings when the snow was piling up. No worrying about who would come, how the driveway would be plowed in time, and other profit and loss questions. But don’t get the impression we were in hibernation, we had lots to accomplish in our downtime. 

January we activated the long forgotten expression” if you won’t wear it, get rid of it”.

And blew through bags of ancient -trendy items like long deceased Uncle Al’s cashmere camel coat that made Bert look like a preppy Soprano and my blue and red Sargent Pepper-style band jacket that hadn’t been out of the closet since the 70’s.  We also painted the entire apartment covering a red living room and Hannah’s lavender bedroom with the best primer around.  But it wasn’t all work, we went to movies, the theater and had some great dinners out in the city, and of course, went to our other jobs.

February! Hannah was waiting nervously to hear from colleges. We spent lots of time pumping her up about why she was about to hear good news and calming her down when there weren’t any letters in the mail. Luckily, she has been accepted to many schools and might now have trouble deciding which one to attend.  We went to the opening of the Gates and happened to be standing in a place that Cristo and Jean Claude decided was the best “gates” place to give interviews so we got to see how excited and pooped out they were with only half the gates unfurled.  We wandered around many paths with our dogs while the Gates were up, enjoying the good feelings and loving the attention that the most beautiful park got in its least beautiful season. Bert had a birthday and skipped having a cake.

March!  Hmm. Bad weather comes to mind.  I’m worrying now about how I’m going to put back on my clogs and apron on the weekends since I’m now used to not having to do so.

To take my mind off this kind of thinking, Bert decides that we need to do some research.  We had several wonderful meals at Brasserie LCB, formerly La Cote Basque, the former A tiny little dollhouse with a few seats on ground level and more up a steep staircase. The list of oysters was only slightly less amazing than the oyster sampler that we had.  The Luxury part might be all the tabletop accessories that enliven the experience.  Antique silver toast caddies, pearlized knives and oyster forks, red crystal goblets and pretty little champagne flutes.  They must have a very special dishwasher.  A finely dressed gentleman came over to us as we finished with a black and white photo of a French Bulldog named Jack and told us all about how the restaurant got it’s name.  But after oysters and champagne, who can remember? 

Palace of Gaelic Haute cuisine and known as the kitchen where all of America’s celebrity chef’s first trained.  Chef Jean-Jacques Rachou, has completely re-orchestrated the restaurant but is playing the same flavorful tunes including Quenelles with classic lobster sauce, Pigs trotters (feet!)Roast Duck with sour cherrys, Frisee salad with warm lardons, and a poached egg  and steak Frittes.  Everything was so tasty, served with great silver plate cover-pulling fanfare in a belle époque room that made you believe you were in Paris. A tiny negative were the frittes, not up to Red Barn standards, which were skinny and limp.  Near the Ides of March we had an amazing experience at Jacks Luxury Oyster House on East 5^th Street owned by the same team that owns Jewel Bako.

We also went to our friend Jacques Torres and Kris Kruid’s Chocolate Haven Factory opening party.  It’s a cross between Willy Wonka meets Steve Jobs,  located  at 350 Hudson at King Street.There were lots of chocolate lovers, friends and culinary luminaries celebrating in their big space surrounded by chocolate Easter bunnies of all sizes and big equipment  that heats, rotates and otherwise makes cocoa beans into chocolate just like magic.

And here we are at April.  We’re almost ready to come back and make our fifth season of the Red Barn a better dining experience with some new tricks up our sleeves. We’re finishing some work on the kitchen, will dust up the dining room, and then we’re ready. We will be opening up on (gasp!) Friday, May 13^th for dinner at 6pm.  Making a reservation is a good idea, if you’ll be joining us on the opening weekend. We hope that you’ll come for dinner soon and bring tales of your winter to share. We missed you.

A Restful New Year!

We had a lovely Christmas Eve at the Red Barn, our first since we’ve been open.

Some of our favorite friends came to share the evening and the buffet including our neighbors Saad and Michael and their dear friend Grace, loyalists Al and Donna Knoll, a big family of Santa enthusiasts whose names we don’t know yet, but will ,we hope, in the future.  Beth and Judy and Bob and Richard finished out the evening sharing a great conversation and a wonderful bottle of dessert wine with us that had traveled back with them from a trip to Italy.

Normally, the week between Christmas and New Year's Eve is time I spend with our family and getting my thoughts organized for the year ahead.  This year, our family is celebrating the holidays elsewhere and I'm not that organized.  But, Bert will be appearing on WNYT 13 on Thursday December 30th at 12:15 on a "Let's Eat" segment.  This is the fourth time they have asked him to appear, and he'll be making the famous Red Barn Onion Soup.  If you're in the area, be sure to tune in to channel 13 and catch him on TV.  Do I hear Bam?

So, I have finally convinced Bert that our New Year's resoulution should include the word REST.  We've been at this business for four years now, and also doing our day jobs in two locations. It's taking a toll.  Bert's standard answer, at this point, to almost anything I tell him is "how can that be?" with a certain tinge of attitude.  It get's different emphasis, depending on what I'm telling him, but it's a sign, to me, that he's "overtired".  I have also convinced him that he better get started with this resolution in January, when everyone else is starting.  So, we're going to be closed after dinner on January 1st for January and Feburary. 

The weather is usually cold and unpredictable, and we are a BARN after all, so it’s cold in the building no matter how high we crank up the heat.  We will be doing some of the ongoing repairs to the barn during that time and doing a little research by going out to dinner in NYC and Massachusetts and Columbia County. I’ll be going to the dentist and getting Hannah ready for graduation from High School in June. You can visit the blog to follow the resting. 

We’re open for New Year’s Eve at 5-7pm with a limited menu and then special menu from 7pm on, so if you're plans for the evening have changed or your wondering what to do, join us.  Just give us a call.  We will also open on Januay 1st for a lunchie-brunchie kind of thing at 12 noon until you're ready for dinner which we'll be serving until 10pm, as usual. 

We thoroughly appreciate all of our loyal and devoted customers.  You've been there when we got rid of the frozen fish and replaced it with oysters, mussels, and real lobsters(what are fake lobsters?). You came back time after time for Grandma's roast chicken, roast duck  and the mighty veal chop.  Some of you(you know who you are) love the liver with mashed potatoes and and bacon, and we also salute the rib and fried chicken lovers. And, we're grateful to know when the bathroom isn't "right", the lights are too low, or the music too loud.  Remarkably, some of you were in the dining room on labor day weekend when I was missing and so was the service, and you still keep coming back. Mostly, we've learned from each of you that the food and experience are one, and we will continue to strive for the best of both in the new year. 

So, we wish you all a very healthy, happy and prosperous New Year. 

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Chris & Bert, Hannah, Roxanne and Louis

ps; i don't get what's going on with the typeface. will resolve to get that right in '05

It's Hanuaka & Christmas is coming!

Recently, I was thinking about how the holidays always get ahead of me beginning on the day after Thanksgiving. I simply think it’s too early to start decorating the tree, humming the music and generally getting in the mood. “Black Friday” as it’s called, doesn’t sound festive enough for gearing up for Christmas and I’m still recovering from the fact that the major food holiday is now past and there are more days of leftover turkey eating ahead of me. To my way of thinking, putting up a tree on that Friday in November is just asking for an early snow storm of needles on packages by the second week in December and certainly guarantees a tree stand with a needless spindle by January 1st. Playing Christmas music the day after Thanksgiving is annoying too, though lots of radio stations (remember radio stations, ipod listeners?)switch to an “all Yule” format at 12:01am on Black Friday. There’s no snow, the temperature is in the high 40’s, but it’s time to start listening to Bing crooning out White Christmas as many times a day as possible, as if hearing it will make it so. In past years, I got some lights up on the Red Barn’s dilapidated little porch roof by the weekend after Thanksgiving. It was always windy, cold and tricky with the plugging in as the building still suffers from “wiring inadequacies” orchestrated by Fred, the previous owner who had little respect for wiring intelligence. This year since the little roof is thankfully gone, I’m forced to rethink my lighting. The front of the Red Barn has been all red lights, old fashioned big multi colored lights, all white pin lights, and multi colored pin lights. Each year someone had a comment that it looked “nice” but they really liked the idea of “fill in your light choice here” and thought that I should go with that next year. So, last weekend, I ventured out with a new look. A big wreath with white pin lights centered over the door. I’m bracing for the comments but this year, I might be used to it. We have, however, been getting into a BIG holiday mood in another way since Black Friday. We are orchestrating a fantastic Italian Christmas Eve which I hope some of you will come and enjoy. Here’s what we’re going to be serving on a big, groaning, Christmas Buffet: Assorted Antipasti Hot and Cold including Salami, Sausages, Proscuitto, Roasted Red Peppers, broccoli rabe, stuffed mushrooms and other delicacies as we orchestrate them. Stuffed pork loin Shrimp scampi Braciole Chicken Marsala Lasagne Manicotti Eggplant rollatini Baked Clams Mussels And more…… Followed by samplings from a Red Barn dessert table The festivities begin with a small version of our regular menu at 5pm and the Christmas Buffet which is $45 per person not including spirits and begins at 7:30 and goes until ? We hope that you’ll make a reservation to celebrate Christmas Eve with us so we know you’re coming, AND…you can comment on the wreath and the lights if you feel so inclined. But…if you’re booked with family on Christmas Eve then you need to think about spending New Years Eve at the Red Barn. Beginning at 5pm we will serve a modified version of our regular menu and at 9pm we will start our New Year’s Dinner Party. The menu is as follows: A complimentary cocktail to kick off the evening Hello 2005! Amuse Bouche from the Chef A choice of one of the following appetizers: Oysters Rockefeller Lobster Bisque with a dollop of caviar crème Vegetable Terrine with 100 year old Balsamic Vinegar Our New Year’s Salad course The Entrée Course A choice of: Rack of Lamb Steak Diane Red Barn Veal Chop Or a fish entrée: Potato Crusted Stripped Bass Lobster Thermador Scallops in Black Tie Our vintage cheese course The dessert triplets; Baked Alaska Chocolate Marquis Mousse Crepe Suzettes The evening will include hats, horns, balloons, a homemade ball drop and a hug or two at midnight. It’s $65 per person without spirits, which we now are serving. Please make a reservation for your party as seating is limited. We hope you’ll join us. And on the spirit front…..We’re working with Michael Albin, proprietor with his wife, Marianne, of Hudson Wine Merchants to build up our wine and liquor selections. Their store is just North of the Opera House on Warren Street. Michael is very knowledgeable about new and surprising wines that compliment food and he has launched our list with a terrific Malbec, and a few hand picked wines to compliment our foods in a reasonable price range. Visit their store and introduce yourself as “ a Red Barn patron” and he’ll suggest some great wines for your own holiday parties or dinners. We hope to see many of you this weekend after shopping hard hanging the lights and mistletoe or trimming that tree. And hey, it’s the middle of Hanukah so tomorrow night we have a FABULOUS brisket and potato latkes with apple sauce to celebrate the fourth night. I give up…it’s time to get with the holiday program in this fabulous season Happy Hanukah! Chris & Bert

I hear jingle bells

I haven't bought anything to get ready for the celebration season. No gifts tucked away for people that I thought were perfect when I saw them back in August.  I have that wrapping paper from last years day-after-Christmas shopping spree at Wal-Mart, but I'm not sure where I put it.  I will be grappling with that narly ball of five connected strings of pin lights this weekend, hoping that they all work, as I deck the halls of the Red Barn.  The good news about holiday pin lighting, however, is it's now super cheap for a string of lights, so if they don't work, out they go. 

Getting a tree, bringing the boxes of ornaments that I love down from the attic, lighting and all the other Christmas prep seems like a lot to me this year, and I do admit that I was thinking of an "alternate" kind of tree. Maybe a FAKE white tree with lots of white lights only.  Very 60's just like the tree my best high school friend Val Armstrong's family had every year. Or a theme tree of all blue lights and ornaments. A one-of-a-kind tree and not one that follows tradition.

The Red Barn won't be following tradition either this year.  We're going to be OPEN for our first Christmas Eve and our first New Years Eve.  Christmas Eve Bert wants to do a feast that is a variation on the Italian Feast of Seven Fishes.  Of course we'll alter it a bit and will have some meat offerings as well.  I will be making some classic Christmas desserts to send you off to midnight services or dreamland with a satisified sweet tooth. 

On New Years Eve we'll be celebrating the beginning of 2005 with hats, horns, champagne, and very special holiday menu which I'll post here next week.  I have simplified the idea of a tent, dj and dancing to let our first effort be about a fabulous meal with friends and family.  Unfortunately, I'm a bit behind in contacting Swarowski in Austria to see if I could get one of their New Year's Balls shipped over in time to drop from the Taconic telephone pole outside the Red Barn at midnight.  I'll have to rig something up myself.

I think both Christmas Eve dinner and New Year's Eve dinner will be delicious and fun  cause it's the one thing Bert and I have been working on and for the holidays.  We'll be open tonight for dinner, as usual.  There might be holiday music playing and depending on how early I get up tomorrow, there will be decorations up for lunch or dinner on Saturday night.  I hope to see some of you this weekend. Give us a call if you want us to save a table. 

Hello dear readers! i

t’s been such a long time since I sent out news of the Red Barn on our Blog.

Summer just got away from us and then we were in “back to school” mode and obsessed with the election and our daughter Hannah’s college hunt and we were always short on time. Phew!

Luckily, we have calmed back down a bit and guess what?  I’m in the mood to blog. 

It was in the fall of 1621 that 90 Wampanoag Indians and 52 English settlers(not English Setters)shared the food from the season's harvest. The settlers were out numbered, but they must have kept those blunderbusses handy while eating the delicious turkey, in case one of the Wampanoag’s thought they didn’t get enough creamed corn and started a protest.  Since then, The Food Network, the Cuisinart, and place cards have come into favor and  the Thanksgiving season has been celebrated with foods based on the hearty, simple cuisine the pilgrims brought with them and adapted to their new environment. Little did the Indian’s and pilgrims know but they had created the best food holiday in the American calendar! 

Once again, the Red Barn will be cooking the parts of Thanksgiving that you don’t want make  or that you’re bringing to the dinner you’re attending but don’t feel like shopping, chopping and making.

Pies, breads, vegetables, potatoes, stuffing, and turkey or the whole thing as dinner for 6 or 8.  As long as you order by Monday night, we’ll have your order ready on Thanksgiving morning between 9am and 10:30am sharp for pickup so we can get into our own Thanksgiving.  We make everything at the Red Barn so it’s going to please your guests and fellow Thanksgivers.

Here’s our menu:

Butternut squash soup

Roast Tom Turkey

Giblet gravy, Herb stuffing, mashed potatoes, string beans Almandine, creamed pearl onions, Brussel sprouts, cranberry sauce, and apple or pumpkin pie.

Dinner for 6 or 8    $40  per person

Or, sides for six people:

Cranberry sauce                  $6.00 pt

Scalloped potatoes             $18.00

Sweet potatoes or

Roasted potatoes               $18.00

Sweet Potato Pie                 $17.00

String bean almandine       $18.00

Turnip and Parsnip Puree $18.00

Corn Pudding                        $18.00

Soups:

Butternut Squash Soup      $6.00 qt  Serves 3

Split Pea Soup                      $6.00 qt  Serves 3

Chicken Noodle                   $7.50 qt  Serves 3

Banana, Pumpkin Nut, Cranberry Bread

$8.00 per loaf  (serves 6)  (even better toasted for Friday breakfast!)

8 inch pies serve 6 people

Pumpkin or Apple                                $18.00

Pecan Pie                                              $22.00

Four layer chocolate cake                 $22.00

Three layer coconut cake                  $28.00

Pumpkin Cheesecake                        $18.00 (serves 6-8 )

And, while we’re talking holidays….New Years is coming up! Where did 2004 go?    We have never been open on New Years Eve, but this year we’re entertaining the idea of the first Red Barn New Years party! A festive and fantastic five course meal…hats/horns and a champagne toast to midnight.  I’m working on a tent with a DJ as well. Yes, it will be heated.  We’re thinking two dinner seatings….6:30 and 9:30pm If the idea of spending new years with us at the Red Barn appeals to your or your crowd, send me an email with your thoughts, the number in your party and a phone number where I can reach you and you’ll be among the first lucky New Years guests.  I’m going to try to make a fantastic night to usher in 05.

Our big ongoing news is, drumroll please….we have our full liquor license! That was an ordeal as all of you know!

We hope some of you will let us help with your Thanksgiving celebration.  We’re open on Friday, the day after Thanksgiving for lunch and dinner and on Saturday for lunch and dinner till ten o’clock.

We’re thankful for all of the friends we’ve met since we started the amazing odyssey known as the Red Barn.  All of you reading this make our labors to create and keep a restaurant going with carefully prepared and well seasoned food a pleasure. You’ve been there when we were without staff and ran out of many items, when the weather was lousy, and when the place was packed and  there was a bit of a wait for the main course. Ahem.   Your loyalty and feedback mean the world to us.  On our fourth Thanksgiving, we wish you and your families, a warm, loving and tasty holiday of giving thanks.

Chris and Bert

341.5 Warren Street

on our wine offerings.  Anyone who has been in Michael and Marianne’s store know that they’re doing something very special. Our list will focus on affordable but unusual wines that are great discoveries and go well with the Red Barn menu and Bert’s flavorings.  We hope you’ll enjoy tasting the list or having a drink at the finally functioning Red Barn Bar.  If you want to bring your own bottle though, you’re more than welcome, but we now have to charge a corkage fee of $15 .

Brussels

Sprout Gratinee   $24.00

The Liquor Authority & Fresh Ricotta, I give up

Hi readers....
Our liquor license...well, you know it's taken awhile. A WHILE? FOREVER!
So it seems that "the worst person" in the NYSLiquor Authority has been reviewing our application and it's the one guy who has no motivation to clear out that inbox. Our lawyer has been working on this and cajoling, manipulating and trying to make it "pass" like a big kidney stone. This week he called to tell me that several of our customers had called and "pestered" the authority about what's taking so long! We LOVE that news!

Now it seems, this slowpoke needs 1. a better picture of my passport, 2. our bank statements from April/May/June, and 3. a menu. See, you all think I'm making up the red tape, but it's not just 3M that makes tape.

First, I sent a really good xerox of my passport. I like to look good, even for unknown bureaucrats. I know they make comments like "look at this one". Second, they have a few of our menus. Third, they cashed our check so we should be serving liquor. I am really upset by this un-american,bureauocracy-encouraging process. We're missing the sales, of course, which is what our business cares about, but we're also not collecting sales tax which might help this "budget strapped" state. We can only hope that our Albany expert in these matters can find a way through the very sticky red tape.

This week I had a meeting in New Haven Conn. Not at Yale. As I sip my coffee and tell Bert that's where I'm headed in the day..he tells me to go to Pepe's Pizza for the White Clam Pizza. How do he know? It's amazing. You give him a city and a time of day and he can tell you what and where to eat. Detroit, Buster's ribs, Boston, Pigalle, Phoenix, Sand bistro, Denver, Uncle Sams Bobcat Cafe, San Fran, there are too many to list...he has a place and what to order. I almost never go there but it's good to know where I should be going.

Tonight, I surprised Bert with some great cheese from DePaola's at 200 Grand Street Wow. This is the kind of thing that thrills him. The first time I was in the store, everyone but me spoke Italian as their first language. Beyond the Italian, the fresh Ricotta is A M A Z I N G. Really amazing. A good chunk of bread and this cheese and you'll forget your name. If you don't want the bread, just eat the cheese and you'll forget where you live. Also got some very good Parmesean cheese. These people are not from Wisconsin, but they really know and keep great cheese. Also, Speck is now available in the US and they have a great one. Speck is cured Procuitto and it tastes phenominal. Go there if you're in the neighborhood. It's really worth the trip.

Speaking of go there...we hope that you'll consider having one meal with us this weekend. For my part, I'm making several summer ripe fruit tarts for a big finish to your meal. Bert is working on some excellent entrees, salads, fish, vegetables and a great fresh pasta, so come in, bring your own wine (AHEM!) and toast our lawyer. We look forward to seeing you at the Red Barn.
Chris & Bert