La Duchesse Anne

We’ve been wanting to visit this Zen Monastery near Woodstock, NY. Yes – that Woodstock of hippies and monster rock concert fame. Well, we finally got to see the monastery – actually two – one Zen and another Tibetan – all within the Woodstock area. There is a French restaurant called La Duchesse Anne in Mt. Tremper, a town right next to Woodstock, which naturally we had to try. Marita and I were not expecting much, New York food snobs that we are . We were so pleasantly and unexpectedly surprised. The chef is a Breton, from the northern part of France and he had a decidedly different take on some classic French dishes.

I had their bouillabaisse, the classic fish stew from the south of France. I liked this chef's version. It actually didn't have any of the fishes from the vrai bouillabaisse recipe such as scorpionfish, sea robin, rascasse, etc.; instead it had mussels, shrimp, clams, salmon and shrimp. It also wasn't too garlicky which is how the "real" bouillabaisse is. In fact, the first time I tried it in Marseille, the waiter served it with slices of French bread and instructed me to rub garlic cloves on them.

Marita had lobster that was cooked with white wine, thyme, almonds, and served with rice and greens – the best lobster we’ve had. She likes it even more than the lobster cooked in ginger and scallions in Chinatown. And it was just as good as the lobster we had at Booth Bay, Maine, which was simply boiled.

The escargot we had for appetizers was also quite good. The snails were served out of the shell with some fresh arugula; again, the chef used a light hand with garlic, and the result was preferable to the more garlicky version served in French bistros. Dessert was creme brulee with tiny chocolate bits and berries on the side.

Actually, before dinner at La Duchesse, we had lunch at Bread Alone, a very popular bakery in the center of Woodstock. We had a wonderful tart with pistachio and walnuts, and a raspberry scone that we smothered with their rich homemade butter.