Dining at The Woods Restaurant at Hollow Brook

The Hudson Valley is full of wonderful restaurants and this recently opened restaurant The Woods Restaurant at Hollow Brook is one of them. The restaurant is located at The Hollow Brook Golf Course in Cortlandt Manor, NY and opened this past March just in time for Hudson Valley Restaurant Week.

The restaurant and golf course are owned by the Torso Family. The restaurant features farm to table cuisine, homemade pastries all prepared with french fusion by Chef Rivalsi, formally of La Panetiere of Rye, NY and Maxime's of Granite Springs, NY.

When we arrived we were greeted by Rianna who gave us the choice to dine inside or out on the deck.  Of course I chose outside with beautiful views of the golf course and mountains.  Thursday evenings now through September you get to dine with live music during their Summer Music Series.  We were treated to live music on the deck by Cahill & Flowers Acoustics which we enjoyed very much.  What was nice is the music wasn't to loud so Heather (my date for the evening) and I were still able to carry on a conversation (planning our high school reunion) and enjoy the music.

The food!  Fantastic!  I could have made a meal just on the bread and olive oil alone.  We began the evening of course ordering a nice bottle of wine.  We chose a 2008 Argyle Pinot Noir from Oregon.  It complimented our entire meal that consisted of  beef, vegetable, lamb and veal.

For starters we had the Roasted Beet & Roquefort Salad and Beef Carpaccio.  Incredibly delicious.  My mom would have loved the beet salad.    The mustard with the beef had a nice bite to it.

For the main course I chose the Grilled Veal Chop topped with shallots, baby spinach, shiitake mushrooms and melted gruyere cheese.  This was served over pesto cavatelli pasta with a morel mushroom & Madeira wine sauce. When I am out, I try to choose from the menu items I would not normally cook myself.  This was definitely one of them.   The veal was cooked to perfection and the flavors blended very well with the pesto cavatelli.

Heather dined on the Grilled Rosemary Lamb Chops over white truffle polenta cake with sauteed Swiss chard and a Merlot reduction.  Nothing was left on her plate.

Then came dessert.  The part of the meal that finishes me off. I can dine on bread and dessert!  Heather and I shared the Carmel Flan. It was incredible and a nice end to the meal.

The Woods at Hollow Brook restaurant is open to the public and offers casual dining with an upscale view and is family friendly. The restaurant is open Tuesday through Sunday.  The golf course is members only.  They are looking to expand and will be putting in a pool for next summer, some overnight rooms and a spa.  They will be offering a pool only membership as well.