Sleek, casual, and creative, Silvia lets the veggies do the talking. Photo courtesy of Silvia.
Silvia
Woodstock
Opened: July 2017
$19 to $29 entrées
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At Silvia, servers dress in white-collared shirts and dark blue jeans, a perfect representation of the atmosphere, menu, and décor at this Woodstock restaurant.
Located on Mill Hill Road, Silvia commands attention with its raven-feather black exterior, which contrasts with more vibrant storefronts throughout town. Inside, half the space gleams clean and white, while the alcove closer to the bar deepens with walls decorated with sketches, paintings, and collages. Outside, an enormous wooden deck welcomes diners in the warm weather, with a pergola to offer reprieve from the afternoon sun.
All this is to say that while uncomplicated, Silvia is difficult to pin down. Opened by sisters Betty and Doris Choi, the restaurant focuses on farm-to-table cuisine, connecting food and people with back-to-basics cooking. Their organic vegetable pantry with locally sourced ingredients reflects their commitment to a sustainable, GMO-free, and cruelty-free business.
Chef Doris Choi spent much of her career as a private chef and caterer, and for a time, played a role in the raw vegan movement. Now, her focus is on fresh ingredients and farm partnerships. The sum total of Choi’s experience is a stripped-down cooking style that allows vegetables to adopt huge flavors. The coal-fired flatbread — made in-house and spotted with smoky char — is smeared with a creamy lemon ricotta with citrus notes so delicate they almost taste foreign. Topped with asparagus, fiddlehead ferns, and an arugula-nettle pesto, the plate looks like a springtime campfire — and it’s only an appetizer.
Following the siblings’ roots, Korean flavors also make their way onto the menu. Bibimbap, literally “mixed rice,” is a colorful comfort food dish loaded with mushrooms, greens, zucchini, cabbage and carrot slaw, kimchi, brown rice, fried egg, and gochujang (red chili paste). Add grass-fed, grass-finished Korean barbecue beef for an extra pop.
Silvia feels like one of those irreproducible products of Woodstock — committed to the land, the local, and the labor of love.
