Wildflower Farms, the brand new lodge from luxurious hospitality firm Auberge Resorts, opened in Gardiner within the final days of September 2022, as fall’s colours began to flourish. Rooms again then began at $1,000 an evening, plus taxes and charges. (Charges have some down considerably for the winter.) Inside just a few weeks, the leaves had been at their most vivid and Wildflower’s car parking zone was filling up with Porsches, Maseratis and BMWs. Apparently, Peak Idiot had arrived within the Hudson Valley.
Extremely-luxe resorts require fancy eating places, after all. The one at Wildflower is known as Clay, a beautiful-looking eatery with considerably patchy delicacies—typically sensible, typically meh—that can be ruinously costly.
Approaching Wildflower Farms within the winter darkish, the buildings glow from inside, all suntan orange and gold bullion yellow. The restaurant is accessed by way of a welcome space with a big firepit, which is a wonderfully cozy gathering spot. (Locals welcome.)
The restaurant itself is eye-catching with a flowery ski lodge really feel, acres of wooden and hearth heat. 4 waxy-leafed bushes attain for the excessive beamed ceiling, and a gorgeous open kitchen runs easily even when bare flames belch inside.
Every part feels good and stress-free. After which the menu arrives.
Clay would not publish costs on its web site, so I took images of the menu. Maybe it desires its visitors to start their meals by experiencing the unforgettable style of sticker shock. For instance, appetizers: yellowfin tuna ($24); Black Angus tartare ($30); candy potato ($22). Fundamental programs: halibut ($44); grilled rib eye ($68); porterhouse ($210, however “serves 2-3”). The most cost effective wine by the glass price $17. There’s a bottle of Dom Pérignon on the menu for $3,750.
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The menu at Clay. The restaurant would not submit its costs on-line.
Christopher J. Yates / Particular to the Instances Union
At these costs, the meals needs to be unremittingly distinctive. However a starter of salsify (an edible root, $22) was clumsily plated with clumps of mustard greens seemingly thrown on the plate like last-minute Hail Marys. It was the primary meh.
A lot better was the appetizer of risotto ($26) with sage, Tellicherry pepper and caulilini (the infant cauliflower sibling to broccolini) which arrived in a bowl, a flat sea of beige. The flavors had been something however beige and flat, nevertheless. The meat-free broth during which the rice was cooked had an intense, soothing depth with a pointy Parmesan-umami tang.
The pork chop entree ($56) with chicory, grits and lardo (cured pork fats) was tender and actually succulent. The chop was draped with chicory, a naturally bitter vegetable, right here given a vibrant kiss of vinegar, an amazing match for the sweet-tasting pork and its underlying grits, which attained each an intense creaminess and deep flavoriness.
One other major, “Hen in Clay” ($62), gave a clue to the restaurant’s identify. Apparently, when the chef first walked the country grounds, he returned with clumps of purple on his boots and the concept to make use of the abundance of native clay to create a cooking vessel. (Now made elsewhere from off-site clay.) “Hen in Clay” arrived on the desk within the grey sarcophagus during which it had been cooked, an fascinating presentation for a so-so dish of rooster and rice. It isn’t that the dish was dangerous. However for such a sky-high worth, an entire bronzed beast with intense taste is likely to be anticipated. This half-bird was small and pale-skinned. Nice in a zen type of approach. Sixty-plus bucks of serenity.
One other criticism. In most Hudson Valley eating places, if you happen to requested for a advice for an excellent bottle of purple wine beneath $100, the sommelier would take a while guiding you thru the menu. However Clay’s sommelier appeared upset by this fiscal problem. After a number of minutes, he lastly settled on three sub-hundred-dollar wine decisions from a menu the scale of a coffee-table guide.
The opposite higher-ups at Clay equally drifted across the room with an air of aristocratic hauteur. Nonetheless, the final waitstaff had been a pleasure, all of them clad in shirts that had been each gingham and seersucker—two rich-bro staples for the value of 1.
I simply wished they’d winced on my behalf once they introduced the invoice. It listed a pair of appetizers, two mains, one of many most cost-effective bottles of purple and a single dessert—the latter maybe the most effective worth on the menu, $16 for a bowl of rice pudding arancini, crisp clouds of pure pleasure.
The ultimate price, together with a 20 p.c tip, was $324. This isn’t jet-set pricing — that is non-public jet-set pricing. In different phrases, in all probability greater than anybody with mud on their boots would ever want to spend.
clay
Deal with: 2701 Fundamental St., Gardiner
Hours: Breakfast 7-10:30 am (every day); brunch 10:30 am to three pm (weekends); lunch 11 am to three pm (Mon-Fri); dinner 5-10 pm (every day)
Costs: Small dishes, $22 to $30; entrees, $36 to $210; wines by the glass, $17 to $38; dessert, $16
Data: aubergeresorts.com/wildflower-farms/dine/clay and reservations by way of Resy
And so forth.: Spacious out of doors seating deck with a firepit, open to the general public