The run up to Christmas and New Year's is one of the best seasons here at Barndiva. Things are buzzing. As challenging as the year has been, all the more reason to bring it to an end in style, with great food, drink and good will abundant. Towards that goal, while we will close on the big day, we are mad for Christmas Eve. This year, on the night before you celebrate St. Nick we invite you to join us in celebrating St. Peter, patron saint of Fishermen. Alongside our full à la carte menu and a cellar bursting with bubbly, Chef Ryan will be butter basting Saint Peter's fish (aka John Dory) with turnip gratin and Dungeness Crab ravioli bathed in the Meyer Lemon butter. Scotty will be baking traditional mince tarts. Isabel will be serving special yule libations - and our just bottled apple juice for the little ones. We’d love to share this very special evening with you and your extended family.
If you’re still up in the air for Xmas eve, come on down!
We'd also love to help you fill those Christmas Stockings. Still the best idea for just about anyone on your list is still The Barndiva Gift Certificate, redeemable everywhere in Barndivaland - for food and drink in the Barn and the Bistro, or for beautiful objet d'art from house artists Manok, Seth, Ismael, and Geoff ... and now, for the first time, for any future purchase in The Somm's Table.
Whether you are giving or taking (as in home) you should check out The Somm's Table, where we are proud to offer uniquely curated wine and champagne sets - great bottles chosen by our extraordinary Somm, Alexis Iaconis. 3 to 5 themed bottle collections, with engaging wine notes that include food pairings by Chef Ryan, come "wrapped" in a very cool Barndiva market bag you can use all year, another first for us. My favorite sets are three Barndiva House Wines: Pinot, Chardonnay, and a plummy, rich, soft and well poised from bottle age Syrah, all made at Copain by the incomparable Wells Guthrie ($82); The Best Bubbles - a four bottle collection of wonderful champagnes which would be a treat to have around the house this time of year ($130); and Rosé Is Not Just for Summer, which in addition to François Chidaine Touraine 2015 and Idlewild's The Flower Rosé from the North Coast includes a delectable domain de Rimauresq, Cru Classé Côtes de Provence, a favorite from this past summer. We went through a lot of Rosé this summer - this set is a treat. (All three Rosés, in our signature bag, with Somm and Chef's notes, $60.)
We are happy to sell single bottles from the table, especially glad to see local clients starting to pick up a special bottle when they've discovered something new after dinner in the bistro. The Somm's Table will expand into our expression of collaborative wine exploration over the winter - including a mysterious 'Wine School @ Home' program we're going to enjoy foisting on the unsuspecting public. But do come in and check it out over the holidays.
Lots of firsts for us in 2016 are available this Christmas - one we are especially proud of is being able to offer our insanely addicting Barndiva Farm Apple Juice, previously only available in the barn by the glass in the few weeks after press. Pasteurized by Manzana in Sebastopol, we have 10 oz glass bottles, available by the six-pack. For those under 21, we're drinking it chilled and neat; when the kids aren't looking you might try it over rocks with rum, or with a smooth shooter of fine bourbon, as we are currently offering in Barndiva and The Gallery Bar. Our apple juice is dry farmed from heirloom trees on the Greenwood Ridge in Philo, certified organic.
For the Wine Paired menu, CLICK HERE.
Which brings us to NYE. Space in both restaurants is going fast, with lots of larger parties this year. Ryan's menu in the Barn is pure Fancher elegance, light, bright and memorable, with many of his classic dishes. In the Bistro, doing NYE for the first time with a different menu, things will be a bit more raucous, but incredibly delicious as well. (Please don't ask us to turn the music down.) If you are dining in the Barn and would like to come over to the Bistro for a dance or two after midnight, you will be more than welcome. Nothing fancy, mind you, just a few hoots to see the year out.
Then it's onward to wherever 2017 takes us. We are expanding food production at the farm - very exciting news - with new greenhouses as we continue to perfect a signature salad and expand into unusual herbs and edible flowers for a reboot of our "lift, flirt, slide" cocktail campaign this Spring. There will be wine events at The Somm's Table, some led by Alexis, others invitational, with talented winemakers and sommeliers we think you should meet. Be sure to sign up so we can let you know when and where. (email wine@barndiva.com)
If you do not wash up on our shores until after Jan, we sincerely wish you and yours a Happy New Year from all of us. The Barndiva Family loves having your patronage and, in so many cases, your friendship. It's going to be an interesting year. Let's embark on it together.
Cheers, Friends of the Barn!