The Queen City Bistro in Poughkeepsie NY opened under CIA-grad Chris Pearson 6 weeks ago and it's a winner.
There were three pages of menus, largely of delicious-sounding small plates and two pages of wines. And a 5-course tasting menu for $27! We had a very tough time deciding, but......
Chef Pearson prides himself on providing farm-to-table, locavore, changing seasons food and with such food it seemed fitting to start off with a local Pinot Noir from nearby Millbrook. As a first we shared deep-fried artichoke hearts and calamari with chipotle aoili, the latter two ingredients I suspect soming from over 50 miles away - no matter, it was one of the best dishes of the century. Then we had clockwise from the upper left: duch breast with sliced apples, black angus filet with asparagus and an incredible St Louis style set of spare-ribs with cherry tomatoes and greens.
At this point I was ready to declare him the young American chef find of the Year but no, Colette wanted more - dessert -and she was right. The lemon tart with a blueberry mousse and peach cake and home made caramel ice cream were head-snappingly good.
With 2 cups of rather ordinary French press coffee (no espresso, alas)and no bottled water, our bill before tip was $86.47.
Go back? Same time next year if we can work it out.
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