A dressed-up highball glass appears at the bar, double-fried frites piled up beside it. In the distance, chair lifts — now abandoned in the wake of spring — can be seen parading up and down Hunter Mountain. It’s twilight hour at Prospect at Scribner’s, and locals and city denizens alike are settling in for some serious eats.
Situated in the newly renovated Scribner’s Catskill Lodge is Prospect, an ingredient-driven restaurant that opened in November with Executive Chef Joseph Buenconsejo — previously of Manhattan’s Wassail — at the helm. His wife, Pastry Chef Mary Choi, is in charge of all baked goods. Virtually everything that can be made in-house is, be it sauces, pastas, bread, or charcuterie.
The dinner menu revolves around simple, seasonal dishes. There are small plates, such as a beautifully composed beet dish with hazelnut, quinoa, and smoked yogurt, and a well-rounded but small list of larger options, like a farro risotto speckled with pine nuts and onion. The crowning achievement is the shared plates — family-style servings of a whole roasted chicken, a dry-aged ribeye, and a cheese fondue.
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Then there’s the house favorite: the Prospect Burger. The patty is made from a combination of brisket and chuck, with a bit of ribeye fat mixed in. It sits on a brioche bun with cornichon aïoli, caramelized onion, tomato confit, and smoked cheddar, accompanied by Belgian-style fries.
Prospect is currently open Wednesday through Sunday for dinner, and serves lunch and brunch on weekends. It’s then that the house-produced baked goods are front and center, with the menu featuring a thick-cut French toast that, as Buenconsejo describes, is “one big slab soaking in a custard.”
So far, the lodge-like feel here is the main draw for most visitors, but the pair have a bigger vision for patrons: They hope to offer classes in the near future — foraging seminars, charcuterie instructionals, and mixology lessons from beverage director Michael Kang — and eventually add a lobby pop-up shop to sell cheese, charcuterie, and breads. Until then, the perfect provisions and cocktails are enough of a reason to come out of the woods or off the slopes.
13 Scribner Hollow Rd; 518.628.5150; www.scribnersprospect.com
