We can't wait for Chapter 2!
A hearty greeting, a modest table, and — be still my heart — projected scenes from Fritz Lange’s Metropolis and Orson Welles’s Citizen Kane. Folks, you could not get me out of this place with a crowbar, and that was even before the barley wine and charcuterie. Let’s just say that if this dish were a man, I’d accompany it to the men’s room: we’re talking pork terrine with lemony mustard-seed caviar, spicy lamb sausage with red-onion jam, and a seared bacon lardon with apple butter and mesclun. I LOOOOVE Birdsall House.
Julia Sexton - Westchester Magazine
Our very own Chef Matt Hutchins was named one of the "Chefs to Watch" by the Journal News!
A big THANK YOU to everyone that made it out for our last two Saturday Events: Fall Fest & Halloween (last night)! They were both huge successes and we look forward to bigger and better outdoor events when spring hits next year. In the meantime, there will still be plenty of fun to be had inside the Birdsall House:
Happy Hour M-F 4-7pm all draughts $5 & Cheap Eats.
Sunday Brunch 12-5pm every Sunday w/complimentary Bloody, Mimosa or Beer.
Nov. 4th: Singer / Songwriter Paul Magliari
Nov. 8th: Straight Outta Greenpoint - Kelso of Brooklyn Comes to Peekskill
Nov. 11th: Singer / Song Writer Steve Chizmadia
Nov. 14: Irish Session
Nov. 18th: Singer / Songwriter Shanna Sharp
New on draught: Brooklyn East India Pale Ale, Jolly Pumpkin Luciernaga, Goose Island Minx.
Weekend Specials:
Soup
Cream of Mushroom (garnished with creme fraiche)
Appetizer
Stuffed Mushrooms
Goat cheese and mushroom stuffing, cayenne-toasted walnuts, over lum and concord grape syrup.
Salad
Bacon-Wrapped Rabbit Loin Salad
Belgian endive, radicchio, carrot tops, sunflower seeds, raisins, pickled carrots,
mustard seed caviar, mustard-sherry vinaigrette
Entree
Girlled Leg, Loin and Chop of Lamb
Sunchoke and potato mash, wilted garden greens (mustards and rainbow chard),
red wine-braised fennel, fennel and caper gremolata, lamb jus
Dessert
Pumpkin and Apple Tart
Apple syrup, toasted pecans, nutmeg whipped cream
The Birdsall House now offers a Sunday Brunch with complimentary beverage (beer/mimosa/bloody/coffee/tea)!
Noon till 5pm every Sunday!
The Brunch Menu is updated every week!
We've posted new menus for Dinner, Lunch & Late Night. Also, don't forget about Smuttynose tomorrow night! We've already started tapping a few of the beers (Barleywine, Vunderbarh Pilsner & Big A IPA) and rest will be on by 5pm tomorrow. Dining room reservations are recommended (914 930 1880). The full draught list can be found on the events page.
We added a few menu items last week (9/16 blog) and here are a few others:
Chili Cheese Nachos
Pork and stout chili, cheddar cheese, apple salsa,
sour cream, blue corn tortilla chips, roasted jalapeño
Jerked Shrimp Skewers
Black bean puree, habanero hot sauce,
gingered coconut cream, wilted spinach
Black-Eyed Pea Potato Pancakes
Goat cheese cream, sun-dried tomato pesto, fried leeks
Rabbit and Pistachio Sausage
Parsnip puree, braised kale, glazed carrots, mustard and tarragon sauce
As the seasons begin to shift from Summer to Fall, we're starting to reflect that shift in our new menu. There will be more changes to come, but here are some highlights:
Roasted Beet Salad
Sliced plum, radicchio, frisée, toasted sunflower seeds,
goat cheese, mustard-sherry vinaigrette, apple butter
Grilled Belgian Endive Salad
Old Chatham Sheepherding Co.’s Berkshire Bleu cheese, sliced pear,
cayenne-toasted walnuts, Meyer lemon vinaigrette
Goat Cheese En Croûte
Goat cheese, roasted pumpkin, portobello mushroom, and spinach baked in puff pastry with mesclun salad and Dijon cream
9-Spice Roasted Pork Loin
Sweet potato and cheddar mac-n-cheese, braised brussel sprouts, smoky tomato marmalade
Duck Fried Wontons
Stuffed with goat cheese and fig and apple jam;
house-cured duck prosciutto, baby arugula, balsamic gastrique
The Birdsall Reuben
House-made corned beef, Cajun rémoulade, braised cabbage,
Adirondack Black Wax cheddar, Wild Hive rye bread, French fries
This past Wednesday and Thursday, I took my family on a little brewery road trip in search of New York State IPA's, that are not available in the Westchester beer market, for next Wednesday's New York State IPA Fest. Our final destination was Lake George, NY and we made stops in Chatham (Chatham Brewing Co.), Troy (Brown's Brewing Co.), and Glens Falls (Davidson Bros. Brewing Co. & Cooper's Cave Ale Co.). We picked up an IPA from each brewery and also an Imperial IPA from Chatham Brewing.
Our first stop was Troy, where we had an excellent lunch at Brown's Brewing and when we went downstairs to pick up our keg, my 4 year old son, Henry, toured his first brewhouse: "Wow! What is this place?" Our next stop was Cooper's Cave Ales in Glens Falls, were we met up with Patty Bethel. At Cooper's Cave they not only produce beer, they crank out ice cream, a laundry list of soda pop and operate a restaurant. After packing up our keg of Irate Pat's IPA, we headed to Lake George to check into the Tahoe ($52 a night on Hotwire!), which is right on the lake. After a quick dip in the pool we headed back to Glens Falls to meet up with Rick Davidson at Davidson Bros. Brewing to pick up beer and have dinner. Rick runs a great place with a welcoming atmosphere. The service and the food were outstanding - not to mention the beer. We even talked Rick into coming down to Peekskill for our NYS IPA Fest! Rick set us up with a couple of growlers (red ale and brown ale) and we headed back to the hotel to put the kids to sleep. Then my wife and I sipped Davidson Bros beers on our lake front balcony. Bliss.
The next morning we started heading back south and stopped off to see brewmaster Matt Perry at Chatham Brewing Co. We had kegs of IPA and Imperial IPA waiting for us. Matt (a home brewer turned brewmaster) is cranking out some great beer on a 3.5 barrel system and he's brewing at capacity. According to Matt, there may be an expansion in the near future.
The above IPAs and 13 others - all from the Empire State - will be tapped next Wednesday (Sept. 15th) at 6pm. So mark your calanders and stop by the Birdsall House to celebrate local beer and local food.
This past Saturday, Chef Matt Hutchins and Sous Chef Denis Fewer escorted a group of students from the Culinary Institute of America to Hemlock Hill Farm. The students are part of the CSA (Chefs for Sustainable Agriculture) group at CIA, of which Chef Matt was a core member while attending the CIA. The CSA is overseen by Professor Elana Raider, who asked our Birdsall House Chef to guide a group of 27 students on a tour of Hemlock Hill (where the Birdsall House gets most of its proteins) and talk about sustainable farming, the importance of utilizing the whole animal after slaughter (Mr. Hutchins in passionate about the art of charcuterie), and why we should know where our food comes from. Mr. Fewer documented the day in pictures.
After touring the farm the students dined at the Birdsall House: house pickled vegetables; charcuterie (pork terrine, pork & fennel sausage, and house made sopressata); Hemlock Hill beef burgers or Beet veggie bugers and bacon maple ice cream.
Join us this coming Wednesday, Sept., 1st @ 7pm for a Founders Brewing Nemisis 2010 release party.
What you have here is a rarity. A special, one-of-a-kind ale that is only made once a year. Sometimes that’s all. Forever. No more. Nada. Limited-time only. You never know what you’re gonna get. But you can be sure that it’ll be damn tasty. This year's offering is a Barleywine clocking in at 12% ABV.
We will also be featuring Founders Porter, Founders Centennial IPA & Founders Curmudgeon.
Also, we've decided to take a road trip to collect even MORE NYS beer for our first ever New York State IPA Fest:
Chatham Brewing
Davidson Brothers Brewing Co.
Cooper's Cave Ale Co.
C.H. Evans Brewing Co.
Adirondack Pub & Brewery
Thanks to everyone who made it out to the Goose Island Event and helped to make it a huge success. We've got a couple of the other events to announce: On Wednesday, September 15th at 6pm we'll hosting a New York State IPA Fest, featuring IPAs from at least 12 NY state breweries, as well as some hop-friendly viddles.
Then on Sunday, September 26th at 5pm we're excited to announce that our friends from Smuttynose, Director of Brewery Operations, Dave Yarrington & New York Field Manager, Pat Fondiller will be paying a visit the Birdsall House and bringing some rare liquid treats with them - including Short Batch #9 & Short Batch #10.
More details to follow...
Stay up to date! Follow us on Twitter.
We are proud to now be serving coffee from the illustrious Peekskill Coffee House. Last week we began serving TPCH's Flatiron Blend and it pairs most excellently with our Maple Bacon Ice Cream. The Peekskill Coffee House takes it coffee as seriously as we take our beer and the proof is in the cup - TPCH baristas pull some of the best espresso in the Hudson Valley. It's a great space with a great vibe.
We've just posted the draught list for our August 21st Goose island event. Click here for the full draught list with descriptions!
Saturday, August 21st @ 5pm
20 Draught Lines of Presidentially Apporved Craft Beer!
Join us for an evening of music, food and craft beer.
Greg Hall, brewmaster of the Goose Island Beer Company, will be on hand to pedal his wares, many only available in Chicago. Our entire draught tower will be dedicated to Goose Island - a first here at the Birdsall House. We're still working out the draught list with Greg, but it's guaranteed to knock your socks clean off and into the washing machine.
Our Chef, Matt Hutchins is busy assembling a special tasting menu to complement Mr. Hall's liquid creations. The festivities start at 5pm.
In conjunction with the Peekskill Downtown Entertainment Series, the party continues outside at 7pm, featuring the Shanna Sharp Band followed by Julie Corbalis. And, of course, the Goose Island continues to flow on the streets, featuring IPA, Honkers Ale and 312 Urban Wheat.
There will be more details to follow, so keep checking back or follow us on Twitter.
We're proud to have our first review in the New York Times! You can find it here. We've also been named Best New Beer Bar by Westchester Magazine and WM has also called Birdsall House one of the coolest places in Westchester.
If you are already a BH regular, thanks for the support. Our best marketing tool has been word of mouth. If you haven't visited us yet, we look forward to serving you.
Cheers.
Thanks to the Happy Hour Guys, Jimmy and Mark, for making the trip up to Peekskill to document what's going on at the Birdsall House. Jimmy and Mark take thier fermented and distilled beverages very seriously and they're also serious about documenting their adventures. Click here to check out the video.
We just tapped two new kegs: Dogfish Head Sah'tea - a sahti style beer apparently with roots in finland from the 9th century! You can find more info on DF Sah'tea here. We also tapped a keg of Founder's Devil Dancer, a imperial IPA clocking in at 12% abv. Get it while you can - there are not too many kegs of Sah'tea out there.
We've updated our menu format! Our "laser like" menu has been revamped with fancy sections and headings (Sandwiches, Small Plates, etc.) to make it more user friendly. It is also available as a PDF for easy printing. The new menu can be found here.
For those of you who made it out for the Lagunitas event last night, thank you! The event was a great success! We poured some amazing beers and if you missed the event last night, there's still plenty of Lagunitas to go around. Check out the draught list.
Next Tuesday at 6pm we'll be pour some beers from Harpoon Brewery's 100 Barrel Series and Leviathan Series. A rare treat indeed. The draught list is on the events page. Music will be provided by our very own harpist, Adrienne Knauer.
This Sunday is Johnny's 40th birthday and his sister Shanna Sharp will be providing the music. Please stop by - the party starts at 8pm.
Have a great weekend!
Tim
We've just been named the Best New Beer Bar in Westchester by Westchester Magazine!:
"Don’t ask for Stella, don’t ask for Bud: this is a serious beer bar for serious beer drinkers. Birdsall House’s Niagara Falls-like, 20-tap draft system specializes in local brews, with the vast majority of its beers sourced within a day’s drive. I.P.A., lager, pilsner, stout, ale, bock, lambic, weiss—you name it, they got it (and plenty more, besides). Even better, Birdsall House slings a sophisticated, beer-friendly menu, whose locavorian ingredients celebrate our region’s food as much as its beer."
-Westchester Magazine, Best of Westchester 2010
