The Chef’s Garden at the Grand Cascades Lodge at Crystal Springs Resort, 3 Wild Turkey Way, Hamburg is open for the season with an all-new menu and new hours expanded from three to five days.
Executive chef Anthony Bucco has introduced an entirely new menu for this beautiful outdoor restaurant set amidst a working garden with mountain views. The cuisine focuses on the seasonal bounty of local farms and nose-to-tail dining. All of the restaurant’s cooking is done in wood-fired ovens and grills. No gas is used.
Appetizers at Chef’s Garden include field lettuces with fire-roasted vegetables; English peas with tendrils and edible flowers; cucumber yogurt soup with radish and mint; and heirloom tomatoes with burrata and basil. Entrees showcase local seafood from Barnegat Light and bird farms such as Griggstown and Goffle Road. Griggstown Farm quail is roasted in the wood-burning oven while both Goffle Road Farm chicken and Berkshire pork ribs are smoked in the garden’s smoker. Vegetarians can opt for ancient grains with dandelion, foraged mushrooms and fontina.
New resort mixologist Carlos Ruiz, formerly of Ryland Inn and Agricola, crafts cocktails with a focus on locally sourced spirits from New Jersey and New York. Designed for summer drinking, Chef’s Garden cocktails highlight herbs and vegetables from the surrounding garden in drinks like Drop the Beet! (Brooklyn Gin, beets, sage), What’s Up Doc (Hudson Baby Bourbon, carrots, dill), and Summer at Crystal Springs (Tuthilltown Indigenous Apple Vodka, tomatoes, thyme, agave).
Open Thursday to Monday from noon to 10 PM. No reservations; first come, first served.
Crystal Springs Chef’s Garden
Photo courtesy of Crystal Springs Resort
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