Craft House client, Troutbeck, Featured in Food & Wine

Troutbeck in Amenia, NY Photo by Paul Barbera

A Chef’s Guide to the Harlem Valley

Award-winning chef Gabe McMackin of Troutbeck in Amenia, New York, shares the makers, farmers, and fisheries that make his community so special.

By Maria Yagoda

The pandemic has strained every corner of the restaurant industry. Not only do a record number of workers remain unemployed and unprotected as businesses shutter or adapt to limited staff, but countless suppliers—the bakers, makers, farmers, and artisans that sell largely to restaurants—are swirling in endless pivots. Many have had to quickly devise ways to sell directly to consumers, only to compete with bigger retailers that already have delivery infrastructures in place.

At Troutbeck, a historic estate hotel and restaurant in scenic Amenia, New York, chef Gabe McMackin has remained resolute in his commitment to spotlighting the small farmers and artisans of his community in the Harlem Valley, a vibrant subregion of the Hudson Valley that includes Amenia, Millerton, and Wassaic, among other towns. The award-winning restaurant's minimalist menu features the hyper-local ingredients that have always driven McMackin's cooking, now served to a small number of guests in the property's dining room and private suites. "I hope we tell more of the story of the Harlem River Valley," he told Food & Wine. "We are so close to such other wonderful vibrant communities and makers. There is such a nexus here."

The chef, who permanently closed his acclaimed Brooklyn restaurant The Finch shortly into the pandemic, moved to Woodbury, Connecticut, last March and has continued his deep dive into the foodways of the Harlem Valley. He's hoping that if one good can come out of the COVID-19 era, it will be an entire rethinking of the food industry—one that shifts the model towards sustainability. This starts small.

"I'm hopeful that we are looking at a correction," McMackin said. "People are reconnecting with restaurants and food businesses in their community. Once we come out of this, I am hopeful that people will feel more compelled to keep their dollars in their communities."

The chef has been pleased to see a rallying of support around small farmers and farmers' markets, and he wants this energy to continue in the restaurant world, as well. "I am hopeful that as we rebuild, that we rebuild better—that the people in our communities, maybe they won't be going to that bigger, bolder place, because we will want naturally to stay in smaller spaces," McMackin said.

"If you don't have to buy the great ingredients, if you don't have to treat your staff well, if you don't have to buy the thing that's going to make the job easier for the people, you might not do it," he continued. "None of these things are for charity; this is a business. But we will build a better experience for all of us when we make the right choice. It's about more than just making it profitable. It's about making it feel right."