Modern Cantonese Fare in a 19th Century Mansion

Photo Credit: All Good NYCIt’s an unlikely combination: a restaurant featuring reimagined Cantonese food in a historic 19th century Georgian mansion on an old estate. But that eclectic mixture of past and present is what you’ll find at Goosefeather Restaurant at Tarrytown House in Tarrytown. Finding it might not be as easy as you would think – as once you enter the 26 acres estate off East Sunnyside Lane you are taken up a long winding drive, passing a conference center and hotel rooms before reaching the King Mansion at the top of the hill.

Built in 1840, the home changed hands many times. In 1900 it was purchased by Thomas M. King, Vice President of Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, and the house retains his name more than a century later. The main floor of the house has several dining rooms and a bar where Goosefeather is thriving. Upstairs the mansion operates as a hotel, with ten bedrooms available.

Downstairs the ceilings of the four dining rooms and bar have been painted a la Jean Miro, making for another juxtaposition in era and style.

The menu is the work of Chef Dale Talde who has run several successful restaurants, appeared as a popular cast member on Top Chef and authored his own cookbook, Asian American. With a big variety of small and large plates, vegetables, noodles, barbecue, fish and beef, there’s something for everyone, no matter what their food preferences or dietary restrictions. It’s a great place to sample and to share.

The menu is divided into seven categories: Salads, Vegetables, Dim Sum, Chinese Barbecue, Noodles and Rice and Large Plates. Our party of four was able to try quite a few selections, and we ended up cleaning the plates.
To start we ordered the grilled delicata squash, served with sesame leaf green goddess and Imperial style Chinese broccoli. Also tempting were the dry aged beef pot stickers with Chinese mustard horseradish. In fact every imaginative dish in the menu is topped with an even more flavorful sauce.

On the waiter’s recommendation we ordered the Char Sui Berkshire Pork Belly, with grilled scallions and Chinese mustard and we were glad we did. The pork was blackened on the outside, tender on the inside and well complemented by the spicy mustard.

Not to be missed was a large bowl of pork fried sticky rice topped with chicharrones, egg and Chinese bacon. There was plenty for everyone and the rice was flavorful and done right. Another hit was the Cantonese roast duck with scallions, caramelized hoisin, lettuce and drunken cranberries. Roll all this up in a lettuce leaf and enjoy.

What else? From the large plates we ordered steamed branzino with ginger olive scallion relish and Marcona almonds as well as wok-roasted scallops with snow peas and cashews. The fish was fresh and both seafood plates were tasty.

We should also note that our servers were friendly, helpful and efficient – and we were able to enjoy our meal at a leisurely pace in a spacious dining room that allowed for private conversations.

We booked on RESY and were cleared for a table using the NOTIFY feature that alerts users if a table becomes available at your desired time.

So if you need a diversion consider taking a short trip across the county to sample exotic cuisine in a novel setting at Goosefeather.

Goosefeather
49 E Sunnyside Ln,
Tarrytown, NY 10591
914-829-5454
www.goosefeatherny.com
[email protected]

Photo Credit: Matthew Mancuso