Notes From The City: An Abundant Life - Fair Winds and Following Seas

When I heard that Chef Paul Gerard was consulting on the opening of another restaurant that recently opened in Closter, New Jersey by the name of Stern and Bow, though it's not within my usual traveling routes I had to figure out a way to get there. As I've written in these pages before, I am a foodie who loves to cook, and my tastes are very particular. I like food that is fresh and wholesome and delicious, and though I admire some of the techniques I've seen Chefs experiment with over the years, the food I love the best is seemingly fairly simple. I say seemingly because I've discovered over the years that making delicious food is a gift - even when you start with the best ingredients, it is the art and the talent and honest hard work of a Chef to know the right combination of seasonings and the right way to prepare and cook food so that it can take the tastes and senses to another level. There are many Chefs who I have met over the years, some who I have learned so much from and others who I have just admired from afar, but when it comes to Chef Paul Gerard, the Executive Chef and Partner of Antique Bar & Bakery and the Consulting Chef and Partner of Stern and Bow, the word that always comes to my mind is perfection. And I'm not the only one who thinks so. Time after time when I bring friends and colleagues to try his masterpieces, all conversation stops when the food arrives because not only are people made speechless at the pure joy of the experience, they don't want to interrupt the pleasure of eating to talk. His own Instagram page and the pages of his restaurants have accolades from all over, and whenever I post about something I've had, my inbox fills up with admiration.

Russell Stern, the owner of Stern and Bow, is a Restaurateur with his own history of brilliant excellence. When the opening of his newest restaurant was announced, people who have known him over the years were waiting in expectation and excitement because they had missed having him around to visit and discover new delicacies and culinary delights with. His former restaurant Harvest Bistro & Bar was known and loved by people with discerning palates and was highly acclaimed by local residents and reviewers and others further afar, and though I did not meet him when he was the owner of that restaurant, I can understand why because of my experience at Stern and Bow. A play on his last name that reflects the names of the parts of a ship, Stern and Bow is not only a destination for those who are looking for a new adventure, but it is so beautifully planned and designed in every way that it would be easy to make it a choice for any night out, a lunch or a brunch or a special occasion. And the food is outstanding. The first time I went I was with a group of friends who didn't want to share and try different things, so I chose an appetizer of wood fire roasted oysters with the artisanal pasta Scialatielli Frutti Di Mare to follow. Both were so delicious, the pasta so perfect and the seafood so fresh, that this shellfish snob who grew up digging clams in the Sakonnet River, pulling mussels off of ocean rocks at low tide and catching blue crabs in the shallows felt like she'd finally found a new place to call home. And when it came to dessert and I noticed that Sticky Toffee Pudding was on the menu, I was over the moon. Outside of London there is only one other person I know stateside who once made it for me, and that was so long ago I kept dreaming about finding some way to get back to the restaurant where I first had it. I'm a chocolate lover, and that's usually what I choose if there's anything with dark chocolate on the menu, but Sticky Toffee Pudding is a favorite that so few people even know about never mind make that to have it as the ending of such a wonderful dinner was one of the best treats I've had in a long time. Add to that a delicious cup of coffee, decaf for this coffee lover who used to drink coffee all day but now tries to limit caffeine in the evening, and topped off with Russell Stern's recommendation of the luscious pear liqueur Belle de Brillet and I was ready to ask if I could stay forever.

When I went back recently, I invited a friend who I knew I could share and really try things with. She's a pescatarian, so we chose seafood, but I am sure that everything else on the menu is just as marvelous. After trying one of everything from the entire selection of oysters they had, I can honestly say each one was a perfect delight thanks to the excellent selection and knowledge of Kevin Joseph, the Oyster expert of Empire Oysters and the co-founder of New York Oyster Week who curates the extensive raw bar. I learned about oysters from my father who used to shuck them freshly dug from Long Island Sound. He wouldn't eat them anywhere else except for at the Grand Central Oyster Bar where he first visited when he was a young man commuting to Yale and later to and from his early jobs in Manhattan from his home in Westchester County or summers in East Hampton. These were all so perfectly fresh with carefully made and selected sauces that the experience was not only fun and educational but exquisitely delicious, and I knew my father would have loved the experience. After the oysters, we tried the fried calamari, the lobster roll, and the spaghetti and clam sauce, all things that I have had over the years in such delicious experiences that it's really hard to match or top the memories of them. The first time I had calamari was when I was fifteen, on a first date with my first love in Boston's North End, and how can you compare anything to that? But this one was so delicious and so fresh, with such a perfectly seasoned light and crispy coating that it knocked that cherished memory right out of Fenway Park. Clam sauce is so reliant on the quality of the clams and the skill of the Chef preparing it, and because the Executive Chef Pasquale Frola has such a wonderful way with food, this one was better than any I've ever had or made. The lobster roll brought back the sweet memories I have from beach parties in Little Compton and long conversations over shared lobster dinners with my father who taught me how to clean a lobster before I learned to cut a steak, matching that lovely goodness and bringing it into the present. After starting the evening with a perfect cocktail and sharing an excellent bottle of champagne, when it was time for dessert, though I would have liked to try something else, I had to have my favorite Sticky Toffee Pudding with fresh whipped cream again.

I am lucky enough to live within easy traveling distance of Antique Bar & Bakery, but if I lived closer to Stern and Bow I'd be visiting there more often. There's so much I want to try and explore, like the pizza that is cooked in a wood fired oven imported from Italy, the variety of pastas and meat and fish dishes, and more of those delightful sounding desserts. The experience of the menu and design and the combined knowledge and talents of Russell Stern, Consulting Chef Paul Gerard, Executive Chef Pasquale Frola and Oyster Expert Kevin Joseph makes for such a wonderful experience that I keep telling everyone I know that if they ever want to take a little drive to Closter, New Jersey, there's a restaurant there that's more than worth the trip. Add to that staff who are so friendly and helpful that this foodie who loves sailing as much as she loves to cook will not only hang up her apron, but she'll be more than happy to keep her sea legs on dry land thanks to Russell Stern and the rest of his crew at Stern and Bow.

Stern and Bow Restaurant

171 Schraalenburgh Road

Closter, New Jersey

https://www.sternandbowrestaurant.com

A Few Tastes From Opening Night