Last weekend, my wife and I were doing the tourist thing in the Hyde
Park, NY, area and had dinner at one of the Culinary Institute of
America's restaurants. The CIA has several restaurants open to the
public, but only two are open for dinner, the American Bounty and the
Escoffier. We ate at the American Bounty.

As with all their restaurants, the cooking is done by students (with
instructor supervision). The wait staff are also students. The
American Bounty looks and feels like a high-class restaurant, although
the prices are quite reasonable; see the menu at http://www.ciachef.edu/restaurants/bounty/.
In fact, I was told that Roth Hall, where the restaurant is located,
is a former monastery, and you could see that if you used your
imagination.

I'll have to say, too, that our waiters were superb - eager to answer
our questions; happy to make suggestions; willing to chat about their
training, the school, the restaurants, or whatever. The kitchen is
glass-enclosed and we had a good view of it from our table, so that
was interesting, too.

The food was superb. My wife started with Smoked Potato Soup, which
contains bacon, Tillamook cheddar, and sour cream. I had the sampler
of their four soups. They were all very good, but I was blown away by
the Southwest Navajo Black Bean soup. We also had salads: Endive,
Bacon and Honey Crisp Apples for me; Blue Cheese Bread Pudding with
roasted vegetables for Elizabeth. Both the bread pudding and the
veggies were sensational.

My entrée was Smoked and Seared Sea Scallops, hers was Free-Range
Chicken Two Ways (corn bread-stuffed breast and sausage of leg meat).
As happens sometimes, we tasted each other's dishes and decided to
swap. They were both excellent. For dessert, we shared a Warm
Chocolate Pudding Cake with toffee sauce and whipped cream. I don't
know how we had room for this, but the three hours (!) we spent in the
restaurant gave us lots of time between courses. Service was slow,
but the waiter said that was unusual; they had had some problem in the
kitchen.

I should mention the wine. They have a nice selection of wines by the
glass, and I had a superb Northern California Red called LadyBug Red.
It's a blend of Zinfandel, Carignane, Merlot, and Cabernet Sauvignon.

So that's it! It was a special evening for us, and I'll go back again
next time we're in that area.

Leo

LeoS wrote:
> Last weekend, my wife and I were doing the tourist thing in the Hyde
> Park, NY, area and had dinner at one of the Culinary Institute of
> America's restaurants. The CIA has several restaurants open to the
> public, but only two are open for dinner, the American Bounty and the
> Escoffier. We ate at the American Bounty.
>
> As with all their restaurants, the cooking is done by students (with
> instructor supervision). The wait staff are also students. The
> American Bounty looks and feels like a high-class restaurant, although
> the prices are quite reasonable; see the menu at http://www.ciachef.edu/restaurants/bounty/.
> In fact, I was told that Roth Hall, where the restaurant is located,
> is a former monastery, and you could see that if you used your
> imagination.

Yes, it was. Have you read Michael Ruhlman's "The Making of a Chef" ??
You have a very full dinner! I can see why that menu was in The American
Bounty restaurant. Do you recall the cost? Did they (were they able) to
suggest wine pairings for the meal?
Have you ever eaten at another of their restaurants?
Thanks for the report!

On Dec 7, 3:48 pm, Goomba38 > wrote:
> LeoS wrote:
> > Last weekend, my wife and I were doing the tourist thing in the Hyde
> > Park, NY, area and had dinner at one of the Culinary Institute of
> > America's restaurants. The CIA has several restaurants open to the
> > public, but only two are open for dinner, the American Bounty and the
> > Escoffier. We ate at the American Bounty.
>
> > As with all their restaurants, the cooking is done by students (with
> > instructor supervision). The wait staff are also students. The
> > American Bounty looks and feels like a high-class restaurant, although
> > the prices are quite reasonable; see the menu athttp://www.ciachef.edu/restaurants/bounty/.
> > In fact, I was told that Roth Hall, where the restaurant is located,
> > is a former monastery, and you could see that if you used your
> > imagination.
>
> Yes, it was. Have you read Michael Ruhlman's "The Making of a Chef" ??
> You have a very full dinner! I can see why that menu was in The American
> Bounty restaurant. Do you recall the cost? Did they (were they able) to
> suggest wine pairings for the meal?
> Have you ever eaten at another of their restaurants?
> Thanks for the report!

Haven't read Ruhlman's book. The costs are on the menu (http://
http://www.ciachef.edu/restaurants/b..._starters.asp). We ended up
paying about $146 for the food, one martini, two glasses of wine, tax
(?), and tip. Suggested wine pairings are given with the entrees.
This is the only CIA restaurant I've been to. We dressed casually,
btw; I wore a shirt without tie or jacket. I've been told that the
French restaurant is a little dressier.

Leo

If you visit the *other* CIA, you can experience the unique sensation
known as waterboarding.

--Bryan

"Bobo Bonobo(R)" wrote:
>
> If you visit the *other* CIA, you can experience the unique sensation
> known as waterboarding.
>
> --Bryan

Bobbing for lobster?

"LeoS" wrote

>Last weekend, my wife and I were doing the tourist thing in the Hyde
>Park, NY, area and had dinner at one of the Culinary Institute of
>America's restaurants. The CIA has several restaurants open to the public

Cool! I'd like to try that one day. Thanks for the run down!

"LeoS" > wrote in message
...
Last weekend, my wife and I were doing the tourist thing in the Hyde
Park, NY, area and had dinner at one of the Culinary Institute of
America's restaurants. The CIA has several restaurants open to the
public, but only two are open for dinner, the American Bounty and the
Escoffier. We ate at the American Bounty.

<snip>

Oooooo...sounds decadent! One of my brothers (a true foodie--owns a catering
business on the side) and his wife (and sometimes their young kids) attend
classes at the CIA every so often. They've eaten at some of the restaurants
there before, although I'm not sure which ones.

Thanks for the report!

Mary

On Fri, 7 Dec 2007 12:25:39 -0800 (PST), LeoS >
wrote:

<snip>

>So that's it! It was a special evening for us, and I'll go back again
>next time we're in that area.
>
>Leo

Thanks for the report. Sounds like a wonderful time.

Lou

On 2007-12-07, LeoS wrote:

> The CIA has several restaurants open to the public, but only two

According to Harry Mathews, that should be "Dinner at CIA".


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