American Bounty: Our New Favorite Special Occasion Restaurant

American Bounty: Our New Favorite Special Occasion Restaurant

They had us at the rolls. The buttery, flaky, salted reimagining of the American dinner roll. Grandma’s dinner rolls. Lunch Lady Cafeteria rolls. Old fashioned yeast rolls reimagined by starting a war between sweet and salty – and letting the butter win. We loved them and it set the tone for our anniversary dinner at the Culinary Institute of America’s (CIA) American Bounty. Which turned out to be one of the best meals we have had in Westchester and the Hudson Valley in a long time.

Blame it on Open Table

It didn’t start off on a promising note. In early March I set my outlook alarm for August 1 to make reservations at the CIA’s heralded French eatery, Bocus. My target date was October 1 and Bocuse opens reservations exactly sixty days in advance. After waiting five long months, I opened Open Table’s reservation system only to find Bocuse was already sold out. It wasn’t. I had run into a glitch in Open Table’s system. But didn’t figure that out until it was too late and it really was sold out.

Beside myself, I called the CIA, pulled my press badge in protest, and spoke to someone higher in the organizational chart than any mere mortal has ever done before. She was very nice and talked me into American Bounty. The next thing we knew we were eating those rolls.And it went uphill from there. We had a lovely beet, watermelon and citrus salad on arugula with a mound of spiraled Locatelli and mint with a champagne vinaigrette. The jolt of acid and pepper with the sweet melon cut the salted butter of the rolls and cleansed our pallets for the entree.

Or maybe we should thank Open Table

The sea bass served with Savannah red rice, mussels, crawfish broth, and anise crema would have been a standout in any foodie fave rave. But the star of the meal was the Scallops and Pork Belly with cauliflower puree and an apple, radish salad. You can see the perfect sear on the scallops but I have never had pork belly better prepared. It was meaty and crispy and dare I say it cut relatively lean. And that  brown sauce you see? It was not described on the menu and I never got a decent answer from the wait staff on what it was but it sure was fun running those scallops through it – a little trip to Flavor Town as they say.

Other standouts on the menu include the Port Braised Short Ribs with goat cheese-thyme grits; Hudson Valley Duck Breast with chestnut spoon bread and kumquat gravy, and the Roasted Delicata Squash with trumpet mushrooms, caramelized cippolini onions, pomegranate molasses.

Guess which one was voted most likely to Beat Bobby Flay?

For those of you who do not know, the Culinary Insitute’s restaurant (there are four) are all student run with faculty supervision. CIA’s restaurants range from the aforementioned Bocuse to the more casual Apple Pie Bakery and Caterina de Medici, their Italian offering that is currently closed. American Bounty’s mission is to elevate traditional American regional dishes with a contemporary twist and to celebrate seasonal products of the Hudson Valley. The effort is apparent and uncompromising and they delivered. Every puree, sauce, foam, dressing or whipped preparation  was executed as if it was the one and only star of the meal. The same was true of the proteins. And, the rolls. Did we mention they make their own Craft Beer?

The restaurant is formal with its Georgian style brick columns, arches and high ceilings but its long narrow space gives it a pubby feel. And the best part of the experience was talking with the student staff. We asked the evening’s floor manager, Amanda from Schenectady, to name the student who is most likely to beat Bobby Flay. She nominated our server Bonnie from Princeton, New Jersey (on the left). Whose signature dish is, wait for it, Rib Eye.

We haven’t even told you about dessert…

We finished the meal with the Espresso-Mascarpone Mousse Cake with caramelized cocoa nibs, and mandarin orange sauce which is pictured above. We’re not even going to describe it for you. If you want to know more about it, get yourself a reservation and find out for yourself. Did we mention that the entrees are priced from $23 to $28 and our whole meal came to $154.40 including a 25% tip? It’s like stealing.

American Bounty is open Tuesday through Saturday for lunch and dinner. It is located at 1946 Campus Drive, Hyde Park, 845.451.1011; www.americanbountyrestaurant.com)