Oh Hai! I started this post back in August.. so ... yeah.. LB and I recently read a review of the Farm to Table Bistro in the New York Times.   Since we had a plan to visit Bannerman's Castle which is pretty close, we decided to check it out. First, in case you go, it's in a strip mall. That threw us a bit since evidently this part of Fishkill is like New Jersey, where you can't make a left hand turn.. so you have to go PAST it to turn around and come back.  Whatever. I don't have a lot of pics of where it is etc .. or even of the inside because my phone was pretty much dead so I had to make do with LB's **ACTUAL** camera. How 2001. Our reservation was for 4:30 but we got there early around 3:20 and they sat us with no problem.   Mostly because the place was empty except for a solo diner and a 10 top birthday party.  The hostess sat the four of us and told us about the wine specials (which pretty much went over my head) and then asked if we would like a bottle of water for the table and if we wanted sparkling or flat. We requested sparkling bottled water. Someone (not our server and not the hostesss) brought us glassses of flat tap water... and service pretty much went downhill from there.   We didn't bother to ask for them to change the water.. we figured it was  probably a communication error somewhere. There were some nice beers on tap, a few relatively local.  I went with the Three Penny Ale which was a hella lot darker than I expected. It was totally yum, you guys. We ordered out starters and entrees and LB and I also requested to share the cheese and charcuterie plate in addition to our starters. Our starters arrived.

It was at this point that one of our dining companions asked "What do you DO with all of these pictures?" It was also the point in the day when I realized that I may, possibly, nay.. probably had been very rude. So, from now on.. only pics of MY OWN Damn food... Social graces? I guess I don't have them. My beet salad was quite lovely.  The goat cheese was creamy and the vinagarette had excellent balance. The beets were tender and delicious. For my entree I got the Middle Eastern Spiced Lamb burger. The chutney was amazing. I'm going to have to try and create this burger at home.  The lamb had a seasoning blend that was definately Middle Eastern but don't ask me what was in it.  The server had asked me how I wanted it cooked.  My usual answer is medium rare for lamb but I was interested to see what would happen so I said "However the chef thinks it should be cooked. " Not bad, eh.  It was delightfully tender and not smashed up at all. Oh, if you are wondering about the charcuterie platter? It never showed. Dessert... oh dessert.. oh what a major disappointment.  I actually sent it back. I asked what the peach (something) was and was told it was "like a cream puff".   This.. is not... a cream puff. This was a puff pastry brick of over carmelized nastiness that I couldn't even get my fork through. The bottom was HARD. And the peaches tasted like they came out of a can. Knowing I have a tendency to be fussy about pastry, I asked LB to taste it. She spit it out. Overall, Farm to Table Bistro has some high and low points. Service seriously needs some help. The food was good but was kind of hit or miss. I don't think our dining companion enjoyed his oysters but unlike me, he is too polite to send something back. LB said her entree was "fine"... which in "LB speak" means she ate it and didn't hate it but didn't really love it either. . Would I go back? Absolutely not.