Metroland Online - This Week's Dining Review

‘My family has been coming here every year for 43 years,” a woman told me. “Back when we started, Mohonk didn’t advertise. But they asked the people who stayed here to recommend others who might like the place. Two friends of my father were stuck in New Paltz one night and couldn’t find a hotel room in town. Someone suggested they check with Mohonk. A room was available, so they made the trip up the mountain—back then you did the last section in a horse-drawn carriage—and stayed the night. And the next day, when they were asked for those recommendations, they gave my father’s name and address. We’ve been coming here ever since.”

Having stayed a few times myself at this venerable property, I’ve heard variations on this story several times over. The 265-room main building of the Mohonk Mountain House is an astonishing feature, as is the mountaintop lake it overlooks. The state-of-the-art spa that recently was installed is so complete that there’s even underwater music for enhanced pool enjoyment. Hundreds of miles of trails crisscross the thousands of surrounding acres in the Shawangunk Mountains, much of it part of the Mohonk Preserve. Even more of it constitutes a state park.

But even more spectacular, in my view, is the food. Dinner at Mohonk comes in two varieties: table d’hôte and buffet. Except for Sunday brunch, the buffet is served from June 29 through Sept. 2, as well as on major holidays and during late-in-the-year weekends. I visited the day after Christmas, when the buffet was in full swing, but I’ve been there during other times of the year and ordered off the menu. Either way, you don’t leave hungry.

Let’s take a tour that begins with the main dining area itself. It’s a sweeping ballroom with honey-colored paneling and expansive windows, offering a panorama of the Shawangunk Ridge. You’re seated and beveraged with gentle drinks such as iced tea, lemonade, fruit juice and soda. Liquor was a relatively late addition to the resort, but the wine list is impressive and thorough.

Approach the buffet display slowly, avoiding a glance at the desserts. There will be time enough. Sample a couple of the cold selections: ginger-soy pork, scallops and shrimp with grilled eggplant, or tortellini stuffed with boursin, ricotta and parmesan. Or carve some slices from the fruit-adorned cheese platter.

Remember to take just a taste of each, even if those scallops and shrimp are shrieking for an encore, because twice you’ve passed the braised lamb shanks, and you know they will feature into your next course.

As they should. As they must. Keep your Frenched racks and minted chops—for me, a slow-cooked shank is as good as meat-eating gets. Now, add to your plate a spoon of red quinoa, a couple of gorgeous little pattypan squash, a serving of roasted fingerling potatoes. Groan inwardly when you notice that tenderloin tips are being freshly sautéed nearby.

Pace yourself.

The poached sole with fennel ragout couldn’t compete with the lamb for bigness of presence, but it smiled with its own gentle charm. Only the grilled chicken breast with Guinness Stout reduction was disappointing, and only then because it had succumbed to buffet dryness by the time I forced myself to try a sample.

Recent dinner menus have included other braised meats, among them wild boar and pork shank; these are complete plates finished with appropriate and seasonal garnish. Roasted monkfish comes with red pearl onions, for instance, and Serrano ham with Indian-style cauliflower and potatoes with garam masala and mint. The latter is one of the menu’s “sound choice” items, crafted to go easy on the bad stuff (fat, cholesterol, etc.).

Table d’hôte dessert offerings might include caramelized pineapple meringue tart, walnut apple baklava, espresso panna cotta or sugar-free spice cake. When it’s laid out at the buffet, you pause first at the chocolate fountain, daring yourself to dredge anything you can lay your hand on in the swirly goodness. But I also had chocolate mousse, cheesecake, chocolate-caramel tartlettes, strawberry amaretto cake, toffee crunch pie, Black Forest cake and hot cherry crisp to choose from. And ice cream. My table split up the duties, ultimately unable even to taste one another’s selections.

Executive chef Jim Palmeri is a recent addition to the resort’s staff and is renewing the Mohonk culinary tradition of sustainability by finding local sources of ingredients and designing menus with the season in mind.

It’s only fitting. During its 140-year history, Mohonk has placed ecological consciousness at the forefront. The hotel itself is a National Historic Landmark. You can work off those meals with activities on the 85 miles of hiking trails or with ice skating (there’s a new, handsome pavilion), cross-country skiing or snowshoeing.

A day visit grants you access to the house and grounds and culminates in spectacular dining. Reservations are mandatory, but you’ll see why when you’re cordially received at the gatehouse and then eased into the relaxation of the place.

But why limit yourself to dinner and the view? Benevolently priced packages abound this time of year. “Winter Weekends,” priced at $210 per person, per night (double occupancy) for a two-night stay, include theme programs such as a Taste of Tuscany (Jan. 9-11), Mohonk on Ice with Gold Medalist Oksana Baiul, and an Oscars celebration (Feb. 6-8). These rates include three daily meals, afternoon tea and the aforementioned resort activities.

There’s also a midweek special to celebrate the resort’s 140th anniversary that runs through Feb. 26, when a rate of $140 per person, per night (double occupancy) gets you dinner, afternoon tea and continental breakfast, as well as all that resort access.

As you make that left turn from the Thruway exit and head through New Paltz, you can look at the tower on the hilltop in the distance and happily murmur to yourself, “I’ll be there soon.”

Click here for a list of recently reviewed restaurants.

TABLE SCRAPS

Grab a taste of historic food, historic drama and a freshly crafted (but historically inspired) beer when the New Old American Company previews The Poor Soldier (George Washington’s favorite operetta) with food from Troy’s The Irish Mist and Poor Soldier Porter created by C.H. Evans brewmaster George de Piro. Wet your whistle as you whet your appetite for vintage musical comedy at 7 PM, Jan. 15, at the Arts Center of the Capital Region in Troy. Tickets are $30 and seating is limited, so call 377-3623 for more info and reservations. . . . Book now for a final dinner at JT Bakers “New Cuisine” (27 Main St., Greenwich). Chef Jason Baker ruefully announced that the place will close on Feb. 21, when he starts a new position in the kitchen of The Inn at Erlowest on Lake George. “We would like to thank everyone who has supported us and our business,” writes Baker, “and hope we can look forward to seeing a lot of familiar faces in the next month and then to follow us to the Inn.” Call 531-2000 for that last reservation. . . . Remember to pass your scraps to Metroland.

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