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Dining Review – Hive Restaurant at the Renaissance Westchester Hotel

1030141906Recently we found ourselves in White Plains, New York for a few nights.  Unfortunately it was for a sad occasion, and during times like these it’s nice to have a place to relax and unwind during the evening.  Fortunately we happened to stay at the Renaissance Westchester Hotel, and right there in the lobby is Hive.  The decor is eclectic, the backdrop is a large blackboard with chalk designs

The restaurant area

The restaurant area

covering one wall, and the menu is pretty enticing.  We settled in our first night for a late dinner.

Somehow whenever it comes out that we write a wine, food and travel blog the chef ends up at our table, and this was no exception.  When we saw Coq au Chinon on the menu I asked about the Chinon, and that prompted the waiter to ask if we were interested in wine.  Next thing you know Chef Ryan is table side telling us about

The local single malt

The local single malt

the menu as well as a scotch we should try.  I’m game, so I sampled the 287 single malt whiskey from Port Chester.  A limited edition, this single malt has a beautiful entry, then it gets a little weird, then it gets incredibly complex.  There is a magnificent nose of orange, cinnamon, vanilla, and more, some coming from being aged in American oak for one year.  Incredible length goes on and on. This is really very good, actually very, very good.   We ended up finding the last bottle on a local shop’s shelves and brought it home.

On Chef Ryan’s recommendation, our appetizers consisted of grilled Spanish octopus salad and crab cakes. Dinner to follow was Coq au Chinon and fish and chips. The octopus was beautiful, one large tentacle perfectly grilled, tender and smokey sweet.  With it came a bitter greens salad

A perfect octopus tentacle!

A perfect octopus tentacle!

that worked well, accented by watermelon cubes. The crab cakes were all meat, came with a mayo mustard sauce and were tasty. My fish and chips was just the way you want it, the fish light and not greasy. Really well done. We ended up with double fries courtesy of Chef Ryan and the second batch was topped with a truffle and cheese mixture that was crazy good, earthy and comforting and sooo delicious. There’s something that feels almost sinful about a perfect french fry,

What's left of fish and double chips

What’s left of fish and double chips

and if that’s true then these are going to send you straight to hell.  The Coq au Chinon was homey, warm and comforting.  Great flavor here, with the drumsticks falling off the bone and cooked with onions, herbs and Chinon red wine. The potatoes were a little underdone actually, and we would have liked to see the Chinon available to order, as it would have been nice to pair it with the dish it helped create.  These are minor though, and overall this was very good indeed.  Dessert was a classic tiramisu, light in texture with just the right balance of lady fingers, mascapone and cream.

Service here is also excellent, attentive but not smothering, and the wait staff

Hotel lobby at Rennaisance Westchester

Hotel lobby at Renaissance Westchester

knows what’s on the menu and the wine list. There’s a very comfortable feeling, but it is upscale from a culinary perspective.   Completing the night was coffee, hot and rich.  This was a good meal, and not what you expect from a hotel lobby restaurant.

We ended up back at Hive the next night as well for pizza and drinks, and once again enjoyed the atmosphere and the food.  We can see why it is rated so highly among restaurants in the area.  Even though it really is in the middle of the lobby they have created a relatively quiet and private space, with an assortment of regular tables, booths and high tops.  There’s a long bar as well if you’re in the mood for that.

Our wallet is out for The Hive if we’re near Westchester.  It was exactly what we needed during a trying few days.

A votre sante!
Hive on Urbanspoon

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