I’m a bit late posting this but here goes anyway. Chappaqua resident Hillary Clinton gave a surprise satellite speech at the DNC from none other than the Tap Room at Kittle House, right in front of the fireplace.
I wonder if she has to ask for the different menus multiple times and has no fewer than ten confused waiters waiting on her who all disappear when she wants the check. Lol.
Jokes aside, I still like the Tap Room’s food, even though their idiosyncratic service has been discussed ad nauseum. (Mostly on old Chowhound threads.)
Yep, I’m one of those!!! I love the Tap room but I had to laugh wondering if HC got the same treatment as the rest of us!! Actually, I could go for those sliders about now!
I wanted to update this thread with my latest experience, which was much much better than others in recent past in terms of service.
My husband and I decided to return after a few month absence. I asked for a pretty specific table in the tap room (away from the bar) and they gave it to us, no problem. We had only two servers: one was our beverage server and one was our main server for food, etc. We were also checked in on by another server who I assume from past trips is a head waiter. Menus were given without having to ask. Our entrees were a bit slow coming out because they were packed but proper apologies were made and I was more in the mood for leisurely than rushed.
The food was great, as usual. Beets with burrata and their fantastic brisket chili to start, followed by eggplant parm for my husband and a salmon dish for me. Their eggplant parm is delicate and not too heavy. The salmon was perfectly cooked with nice accompaniments-- Jerusalem artichokes and a squash puree. The real highlight was the raw milk cheesecake with some sort of pear ginger ice cream and honey which was positively delicious. So creamy and rich and a great combination of flavors.
We’ve always forgiven Kittle House for its service missteps, mostly because we just love the romantic and warm atmosphere of the tap room and the consistently well prepared food. It’s not cutting edge by any means but we can always count on a good meal. I’m hoping our good experience with the service Friday night was not a fluke. In any case, we’ll be back.
Glad to hear this, ice cream! You turned us on to the tap room and while I do love the atmosphere, service and food lately were not good, especially given the price. I recently found out that the piano player is actually a grammy winning piano player who played on albums with John Lennon and many others!
We often ate at the Kittle House when I lived in Chappaqua quite awhile ago. Do they still serve the Valharona chocolate cake? I’d travel back one day just for that!
As Gwenn said, they have a pastry wrapped Valrhona confection. It’s not a cake per se.
Gwenn, New Castle is a bit of a dining wasteland and Kittle House is now only a 15 minute drive for us. 15 minutes doesn’t get us a ton of choices so that also probably makes us more forgiving. I can understand not wanting to travel for an inconsistent experience. As for the price, we do tend to order off the tap room menu which is slightly less expensive, although I had a salmon dish off the regular menu and at $29 I felt the portion was appropriately sized. Not an every week visit for us, but we do tend to get there every few months.
I have to say, since DeCicco’s opened, we have been eating their hot buffet food and sushi at the bar occasionally in lieu of shlepping to an actual restaurant!
Thanks for the replies. It sounds like the restaurant scene in Chappaqua hasn’t changed much since I left 15 years ago. We always had to drive elsewhere for special meals.
I get confused. New Castle - isn’t Armonk in New Castle? We are in Goldens Bridge and kittle house is about 15-20 for us, and we are kind of in a wasteland too. Honestly, Westchester has become a dining wasteland!!
Yup - still going strong. Not sure why. Besides Kittle House, there’s Little Thai Kitchen and Jardin du Roi which is good. I hear people love Spoon for Asian fusion but I still haven’t been. Other than those, there really is nothing…sad! But the neighboring towns have it going on!
We had a really awful meal and time at Spacciarelli. I’m not a fan of Jardin du Roi either. I had duck breast there and they cooked it without the skin. It was truly disgusting. Weird texture.
Well, New Castle (somewhat) makes up for its lack of dining options with its natural beauty! You can see why we were so excited about the new DeCiccos. Honestly our favorite place within 5 minutes is Rocky’s Deli. It’s a complete hole in the wall but it’s a fun community gathering place, always good people watching, and their egg and cheese on English muffin is my weekend standard.
Like Lauren said, though, luckily the neighboring towns have many options. And having visited other suburban areas in other states, I think we are lucky in comparison, really. At least there are non-chain places. I remember visiting suburban Franklin in Tennessee and other than the cute downtown it’s mostly chains. And don’t get me started on Binghamton’s Vestal Parkway.
It’s a bit overpriced but the food is good and the sandwiches are really inventive. I love the “Chip-Chip.” Turkey with monterey jack cheese, avocado with spicy mayo on ciabbatta. I can’t bring myself to order a hashtag (bacon, egg & cheese with a hashbrown in the middle) but that’s the millenials’ sandwich of choice!
HAHA! Yes - I remember visiting my friend when she was a student at Bing and thinking, “You poor thing!” You do have Lupo’s Char Pit in Endicott for speidie subs, so at least Binghamton has that going for it!
