Stissing House -- March 2009 (dt)
6.16 - 7, 7, 6.8, 6.75, 6.5, 6, 5.25, 4
The best part of the Stissing House? Perhaps it is the
building and ambience. Anchoring one of Pine Plains’ main corners, the
Stissing House struts its colonial-vintage inn status, with two tiers of
porches, even more impressively so as evening descends and the lights illuminate
its features. The history with Washington and Lafayette adds to the allure.
And then one steps inside to the wide floor boards; 1700’s beams; a low
lit interior redolent with the wood fire duskiness curling from the smoldering
fireplace; and a classic bar area that leads to a warren of side rooms, in one
of which we found ourselves ensconced around a half-oval, smallish table,
enlarged by a couple of table leaves. The rough and rustic tables, the kind one
might find in a well-preserved country home, lent to one’s envisioning tavern
and inn life a couple hundred years ago. DP8 has dined at several other
historically important structures and this one places near the top of our list
for historic character.
Adding to the ambience is the muted colors of the rooms (ours, in the
descending dusk, I believe, was a yellowish cream) with the head-level placement
of sconce lights, complemented by candles on the fireplace mantel and one or two
recessed lights. The evening’s low noise level allowed for regular
conversation to be easily heard. The
walls were filled with Hudson River Valley-ish paintings, and the men enjoyed
someone’s sense of humor in the Touch of Class drawing in the men’s
bathroom. After the meal, Nolan led us on a tour of the upstairs, a more
banquet-y type of space, with a classic view of Main Street from the second
story balcony; eliciting comment were the floor boards that were two feet wide
or more.
Another best part? The service certainly is a tribute to the
owners/managers (we think we met the owner as she gracefully seated us). Our
waiter, Nolan, was efficient, informative, friendly without being cloying or
distant, attentive at the right times, smoothly transporting dishes, foods and
tableware to and away from us, with the assistance, at various times, from the
water and bus persons. Plates were cleared promptly when we all were finished
with the course. Service, despite the casual nature of Stissing House, was among
the best DP8 has seen. One minor fault was the five-to-ten minute late arrival
of the Stissing pizzas (not the waitstaff’s fault).
Other service elements included the regular filling of water glasses,
attention to Ken’s coffee cup, Nolan’s attention (and deleting from the
bill) to a poor reception to one dessert, and turning the heat up just a notch
when requested.
As for food, it was hit-and-miss for the group.
Deemed overall excellent were the appetizers. Don and the Debs savored the
roasted beets topped with warm goat cheese and mâche; Ken and Kriss enjoyed
their usual Caesar salad ...; Tim surprisingly ... declared the asparagus soup
excellent; Judy’s crab cake with a cabbage prep got good reviews; and Chay
found the red endive salad satisfactory although the hazelnut dressing was a tad
bland.
The “miss” part was the entrées, and that “miss” originated from the
menu. French cuisine strongly flavors the menu, especially with game (pheasant,
duck, etc), so much so that DP8 considered the decidedly American menu touch of
burgers and pizza, throwing us off balance and showing up in our choices. Even
though two entrées were beef, we avoided the game birds, the baby chicken, the
salmon, and so on. Thus, we resorted to the Stissing pizza, a wafer thin crust
topped with fresh Parmesan Reggiano, paper thin purple potatoes and truffle oil
(both Don and Deb K thought ordinary-to-good, worth the try, but would try
something different next time); the local, all-natural Angus hamburger and
frites (Deb T, medium-well, discarded the bread and was still full; Kriss,
well-done, as usual, and found tasty and filling also); the strip steak (Tim,
medium-rare, deemed good, with a substitute order of mashed potatoes – one of
his favorites, and a side order of peppercorn-cognac gravy which I liked but Tim
did not try); hanger steak (Ken, medium-well, thought very good), the trout
(Judy, thought it good, with the croutons, capers, and some other vegetable type
we could not identify); and the Special Pizza (Chay, an appetizer became his
entrée, with caramelized onions, bacon, which he thought good). Overall, the
food was good-excellent but we found ourselves at cross-purposes with what we
thought was a limited menu for the choices we like or are willing to try.
The dessert also found us wavering among the French-styled choices. We probably
wanted something a little more classic American but… Thus, we ordered the
marquise au chocolat (Don, a chocolate & pound cake dessert, which was good
enough by itself, barely tiptoeing in a puddle of cream – excellent although
the cream was a bit bland); the crème
brûlée (Deb, very good); chocolate ice cream (Kriss, an underwhelming portion
for $6); sorbet and berries (Judy, a bit underwhelming); blood orange sorbet
(Deb K, very good, and overpriced); tarte tatin (Ken did not like the
preparation nor the “unsweetened” cream on the side, so we passed it around,
resulting in a mix of opinions); Chay had his Sambuca ...; and Tim abstained
....
The pacing for the evening was a classic one. Choice of water was taken
immediately, with two baskets of bread following within 5-10 minutes. The drink
order was taken (Tomaiolo 2003 Chianti Riserva; and Tim discovered, before
opening, the delivered wine matched the wine list number of another wine) and
drinks were delivered promptly enough. Salads came about thirty minutes after
seating, and entrées came on the hour mark, which is about our leisurely
comfort zone. From seating to bill payment took 135 minutes, a nice pace for us,
and we added fifteen minutes because of the tour.
The bill arrived, $102 per couple. Yup, the food was good but ordering such a
hum-drum collection of entrées seemed more expensive than it should be. It was
quite a contrast from our previous DP8 venture. If value is one of the rating
criteria, the bill could have been a reason for a lower rating.
We eased through Pine Plains, past the warmly lit inn, and out the twisty turns
of Route 199, taking the alternative route of the Parkway, braking for the Route
82 exit and wending our way back home, just within the hour time limit of our
rules.
The evening had started at the
On the way, Ken showed us his new proficiency with texting, and we
learned ....
Conversations caught us up on ....