Hearth, Craftsteak, Il Laboratorio del Gelato, Blue Hill at Stone Barns, Worth The Trip

New videos:

Hearth with Marco Canora, Craftsteak with Tom Colicchio, Il Laboratorio del Gelato with Jon Snyder and Blue Hill at Stone Barns with Dan Barber.

This week we are introducing a new feature on Savory New York. It's called "Worth the Trip" and it is a way for us to feature great restaurants that aren't found in one of the city's five boroughs. We were inspired to create Worth The Trip while on a recent weekend vacation to Portland, Maine. It took great restraint to leave the camera at home, especially because I knew we were going to be dining at Hugo's, one of Portland's finest and most unique restaurants. Hugo's is owned and operated by husband and wife team Rob Evans and Nancy Pugh and their focus is on providing thoughtful, seasonally driven cuisine. Evans spent time in the kitchens of The Inn at Little Washington in Washington, Virginia and The French Laundry in Yountville, California where he honed his skills in the preparation of creative New American cuisine. Video will be forthcoming but we thought it was worth a mention, regardless of the lack of imagery. Some standouts from our eight course tasting menu included Belgian style sweetbread "nuggets" and a foie gras ice cream float with rhubarb soda.  When you're ready to move on from Portland's non-stop parade of lobster rolls and fried clams, Hugo's is a welcomed change which takes a different approach to the ingredients Maine has to offer.

Shortly after returning to New York City I jumped on the Metro-North Railway with our summer interns, Jane and Jill for a 35-minute train ride up to Tarrytown. After a quick $9.00 taxi ride we arrived at Blue Hill at Stone Barns to find ourselves amidst a bucolic scene. We all looked at each other astonished that less than an hour ago we were in the sweltering city, and now we were standing on a beautiful farm.

At the Stone Barns, you'll find Dan Barber and his staff harvesting produce hours prior to cooking and serving it in a refined country setting. Barber is the prince of local produce these days, and after a trip to the stone barns, you might wonder why everyone isn't cooking like this. Go up for the day, take a walk around the farm, meet the pigs and chickens or just make a reservation and eat some of the freshest food around.