Juniper - A berry? Or a restaurant with a cult following in Hastings?

Juniper - a berry known for its spice or better known for Gin, or now for a tiny restaurant holding no more than 30 people at a time in Hastings on the Hudson in Westchester County NY.

Tonight after reading much hype about it, I called Juniper in Hastings and was able to secure an 8pm reservation for dinner! Juniper is known for simple, creative food that is locally sourced and seasonal, clearly right up my alley, since we all know I'm a locavore I was very excited to try it. Yes, the food did live up to the hype and if you are lucky enough to score a reservation you won't be disappointed.

I won't go into detail about the courses but I have to highlight the appetizer that I had which was PERFECTLY executed. I ordered a pasta with a fried poached egg, spring peas with braised rabbit. Sounds simple right? But no, the flavors and textures were so complex I was swooning from first bite to last. First of all, the rabbit was perfectly braised; tender but still had substance, and oh so flavorful, and there was quite a bit of it, not just a hint of rabbit. The spring peas were fresh, and sweet and clearly a pick of the current local harvest (it is pea season after all)...and it was paired with sweet fennel and the licorice flavor wasn't overpowering because the fennel was sauteed perfectly...but most of all I must talk about this egg. I make eggs constantly at Catskill Maison because at a Bed and Breakfast people expect egg dishes. But rarely do I make poached eggs, because to me, a poached egg must be very soft and runny in the center as a runny egg makes the dish, it emphasizes the richness of the yolk, especially if the egg is a farm egg...however there are people that are turned off by a runny egg. So I shy away from preparing poached eggs. But not these innovative chefs. Not only do they perfectly poach the egg so it's firm on the outside but runny on the inside, but they delicately flour the egg and then flash fry it for about 30 seconds to have this crisp, crunchy texture on the outside but when you break into the egg it pours into the pasta like a carbonara...simply brilliant and really one of the best appetizers I've had in a really long time.

Put Juniper on your to do list, I promise it's all that and a bag of Doritos!