At Matilda in Upstate, New York, Jeremiah Stone and Fabian von Hauske find room to breathe—and crisp potatoes.
The Henson, a newly opened boutique hotel in Upstate New York, doesn’t need to have spectacular food. Visitors to the 16-room inn would eat at its restaurant anyway; it’s nearly impossible to call for a rideshare pickup in the region, there’s only one taxi service in town, and packing it into one’s own vehicle would require a designated driver for the 20 to 45 minute journey to nearby spots. So the existence of Matilda—a restaurant helmed by Jeremiah Stone and Fabian von Hauske of Wildair, The Tusk Bar, and many more—is a testament to a new kind of upstate hospitality. One where “rustic potato” means a quenelle of crispy pomme dauphine with a strip of Casella prosciutto draped over it while hot to slowly render, and a “tuna sandwich” is composed of two brittle sumac crackers swaddling a scoop of tender confited tuna belly and dijonnaise made especially perky with preserved lemon.
A shallow bowl of roasted onions with bonito and sourdough makes the case that alliums can and should be the whole point. And there are two different takes on a shrimp cocktail: one in the dining room that consists of coarse salt and a shiso leaf wrapped around a raw scarlet prawn, and another in the bar next door with a red pepper cocktail sauce piped directly onto each poached and peeled crustacean. Visitors should plan for more than one visit since the menu at Matilda is not only generously lengthy, but also accompanied by a completely fresh bar menu that includes super herby chickpea panisse and a perfect little bar steak. Stone and von Hauske have also opened up a diner down the road for hotel guests to stumble over to, bleary eyed, for a hearty breakfast of lemon-ricotta pancakes, chive and gruyere omelets, and chocolate egg creams.
Restaurant Matilda, 39 Goshen Rd, Hensonville, NY 12439.