A rotating group of chefs will be cooking at Stone Barns in 2021.
Photo: Melissa Hom
Blue Hill at Stone Barns has been widely regarded as the best, most influential restaurant in America since it opened in 2004. Chef Dan Barber is practically the face of the farm-to-table movement, and sits at his luxury garden room for luxury barns that were reserved months in advance.
Now, however, the chef tells the The time that if the restaurant reopens in 2021, it will not be Blue Hill, and Barber will not be in the kitchen either. Instead, he plans to transition to a chef-in-residence format with a new chef taking over each season. (Attention, potential resident cooks: A “strong interest in agriculture” is a must.) In a note to his staff, Barber wrote that the program “will support a rotating, diverse set of cooks’ voices who support the farm and interpret the region through their own cuisine and experiences. ”
As for Barber’s Manhattan restaurant, which opened in 2000, the The time reports that it “will ultimately support the striving of the Stone Barns” – who will simply be appointed the chief-in-residence. Barber says he will be away from kitchen duty in the near future, and writes in his note to the staff that he will be assisting “Stone Barns in supporting and teaching these chefs. The kitchen and the kitchen will hear them. ”
So, is this the end of “Blue Hill” as we know it? The name will still be used for events and catering, but the definitive answer to that question will not really be known until at least the end of 2021, when the chef-in-residence program could end, or – do you think – continue on with success.
