Exciting New Restaurant in Red Hook
By Charles Dubow
Photographs by Ryan Lavine
Normally I don’t get too excited about eating at golf clubs. Country club food, as a general rule, tends to be reminiscent of the nursery, with a bland emphasis on burgers and equally unexotic fare. That, however, is not the case at The Grove Restaurant and Bar at the Red Hook Golf Club, a semi-private club in Red Hook.
“The club has been here since 1931,” says The Grove’s owner, Kyleigh Zengen. “But the board members asked me for advice about how to improve their dining facilities, and after talking with them it was apparent to me that it was something I should take on myself.”
The former general manager at the Copake Country Club, and a Rhinebeck native, Zengen has long been interested in starting her own restaurant. So she and her contractor husband, Patrick, took over the space, stylishly refurbished the interior and outdoor dining terrace (which overlooks the fairway), and opened just this past April.
“My goal was to be able to serve golfers in a hurry, but also to be a dining destination in our own right,” she says. The challenge was to come up with a menu that not only has enough variety to appeal to someone who might golf three or four times a week, but also to tempt diners for a leisurely lunch or romantic dinner during the months when the course itself is closed.
With the help of executive chef Cassandra Jarrin, Zengen has succeeded in creating just such a menu. To be sure, there are many of the dishes one might expect at a 19th hole, such as shrimp cocktail, club sandwiches, and, yes, burgers; but Jarrin’s deft touch lifts her offerings above the ordinary. Of Puerto Rican and Ecuadorean heritage, her cooking is both simple and refined.
“I have been going to Spain since my student days,” Jarrin says. “After studying at the Culinary Institute of America I did an internship cooking in the Basque country, which, along with seasonal products from local farms, really now informs so many of my recipes.”
These influences shine through in her Mediterranean swordfish, served with an olive tapenade and chilled Greek orzo salad of tomato, cucumber, feta, olives, red onion, and arugula; and her seared scallops with cheesy grits, Mexican street corn, Cotija cheese, and cilantro gremolata. And I would be remiss in not mentioning that her tangy pulled pork, combined with chipotle BBQ sauce and red cabbage-onion-carrot slaw, might just be the best I’ve ever eaten.
So whether you are a golfer or a gourmand (and no reason you can’t be both), if you live in or near Dutchess County, a visit to The Grove is highly recommended.
The Grove Restaurant and Bar, 650 Route 199, Red Hook—thegroveatredhook.com
