Willow is the new Charlie Palmer restaurant at Rhinebeck’s Mirabeau Inn and Spa.
It’s always a bit risky (and some might say unfair) to hit up a restaurant in the first week.
And doubly so on a Friday night (with a chef in the party).
But we were looking forward to trying it–friends had “previewed” it at brunch on the opening weekend and wanted to go for dinner.
Unlike recent, much anticipated openings that were hugely disappointing, Willow came through with delicious food.
The room is much more formal than we’ve gotten used to seeing. No dark grey walls or Edison bulbs to be found. A fireplace at one end, with framed vintage Hermes (I’m assuming) scarves on the other and interesting carpeting to mute noise. It looks very much like what it is—a hotel dining room in an upscale inn.
I started out with the Shelter Island grilled oysters, with pancetta, garlic and parsley oil. They were delicious, plump and juicy and the garlic and parsley made a nice sauce for them.
Other appetizers that were passed around the table were a salad of beets and endive blanketed with a blizzard of ricotta salata. I’ll have to take everyone’s word that they were good. Frank had the tuna tartare Niçoise with olives, haricots vert, potatoes, radishes and a tiny “HV” quail egg. It was good, but someone went a little overboard with the olives—almost overwhelming the tuna. We were all happy when John went for the fois gras (and was willing to share). It was a nice piece of seared fois gras with a couple of brioche slices and a row of apple slices. All good, but as I said to John, almost everything goes with fois gras (and tastes wonderful).
Thinking there might be dessert, I went for the small portion of gnocchi with wild mushrooms. It was a risky move, as good gnocchi are rare, but the risk/reward paid off with delicate, melt-in-your-mouth gnocchi. The mushrooms led to one of the funnier moments of the evening. There was a small bunch of (I’m guessing) hen-of-the-woods and somehow my knife had disappeared. When I asked for a knife, the server returned with a huge streak knife, capable of doing serious damage. We will now jokingly refer to any steak knives as “gnocchi knives”.
We all decided that John’s halibut was the best-looking plate of the evening and the fish was perfectly cooked on a bed of risotto with chanterelles.
Frank had the chicken—it’s his new test for restaurants—how well can you do chicken? They passed with flying colors—crispy skin and tasty meat. He wasn’t fond of the sunchokes that accompanied the chicken—they seemed a little overcooked, but the “heirloom” spinach was very tasty. He also ordered the Brussels sprout side dish—roasted with an agrodolce sauce, chipotle aioli and another blizzard of ricotta salata. It was a good combination and once we got the grilled lime that came with it to actually produce juice, it made it even better.
Our other friend had the duck breast with farro and huckleberries. The duck was nice and rosy and tasted good, but I was missing the crunch of duck skin. The combo of farro and huckleberries was a nice change from the usual duck with a fruit sauce.
Having saved room for dessert, I went for the bittersweet chocolate cake with salted caramel and chocolate bourbon ice cream. After being assured by our waiter that the cake was nut free, I was surprised when the base of the cake turned out to be marzipan (almond paste).
Which brings me to the big issue. Service. Our waiter was a great guy, helpful, eager and completely overwhelmed. When asked, he admitted that his training was basically “sink or swim.” If you remember the scene in Ratatouille where Linguini is roller skating through the restaurant you get the idea.
Luckily, that’s something that some training can rectify, but it was a bit surprising in a fine dining restaurant that has Charlie Palmer’s name attached.
What’s more important is that we had a great time that night and the food was terrific. We’ll definitely be back and look forward to being there when the kitchen and staff have had the time to get into their groove.
This sheet pan chicken recipe is supposed to be the most popular recipe on the 
Bake chicken, without flipping, until cooked through and deeply browned all over, 25 to 30 minutes.
My verdict: I think Frank liked this better than I did. It might be because for once, I cooked him a breast and kept the thighs to myself. Both were crispy skinned and tender inside, so I would definitely use this technique to make chicken anytime.
The basting brushes would have been great if we were still grilling, but that sadly stopped when we sold our house. However, I’ve managed to use both of them to spread marinade and baste chickens. Like most of the GIR products, they work better than our previous silicone basting brush. They come in two sizes, the longer one being great for grilling and other high heat uses, when you don’t want to get too close to the heat source. The smaller one is good for more delicate, close up uses and both of them are one piece, so I’m not searching the sink for the head of the brush.
It was also a great excuse to use some of the potatoes from our CSA and make mashed potatoes. It mashed the potatoes easily and I was able to get them pretty lump-free. If you like smoother mashed potatoes, you might want to try their perforated masher; as my golf group says, you have options.
Sometimes you just crave good pork chops.
I picked up some nice looking poblano chiles from my CSA last week and wanted something other than chiles rellenos to make with them. This looked good, with chorizo and goat cheese. Serves 4:
Rub off the blackened skin, then cut an incision in the side of each one, starting 1/2-inch below the stem end and continuing to the tip. Make two more cuts on either side of that opening, next to the stem, to extend the open at the top, about 1/2-inch on both sides. Open up the poblanos and remove all the seeds. Rinse the the chiles,to remove the remaining seeds, being careful not to rip the opening any wider; and drain on paper towels, cut-side down.
Preheat the oven to 375°. Crumble the goat cheese over the chorizo mixture and stir to combine. Stuff each poblano with 1/4 of the chorizo-goat cheese mixture and then fold the chile around the sides of the filling leaving a gap in the center. Place the filled chiles into a 13 x 9-inch casserole dish and wrap tightly with aluminum foil. Bake for 30 minutes.
Heat the olive oil in a 10-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Once the oil is hot, scoop in the panko crumbs and pine nuts. Cook for about 3 minutes, stirring constantly, until the mixture is golden brown. Cool completely. While the chiles are baking, stir the chopped cilantro and 1/4 teaspoon salt into the panko/almond mixture. Remove the casserole from the oven, slide the chiles onto a serving dish and sprinkle the panko topping over the top. Serve and enjoy!