Thursday · March 26, 2026 Entry No. 247 · The Almanac

The menu changed yesterday.

Northern Larder is a seasonal kitchen. The menu is set the night before, by what came in that morning, from the people who grew it. Read it like a journal.

— cooked what came in this morning.

Open 5 — 11 Closed Mondays Bar opens 4

Seasonal produce on a wooden kitchen counter in morning light, from a partner farm. — — spring greens from Hartfield, on this morning’s arrival.

Entry Ii.

Tonight, by course.

— written before five, served at six.

To Begin · 5 dishes

A salad of spring greens

First lettuces, ramps from the woodlot, soft cheese cured by a friend in Vermont.

$18Hartfield Farm

Bone broth, quietly.

Veal and chicken, twelve hours, finished with the smallest dumpling.

$15Marsden Bros.

A plate of cured fish.

Brook trout we cured ourselves, two kinds of seed cracker, butter.

$22Stillwater Trout

Eggs en cocotte

From the Calloway girls, on toast, with bone marrow and a little salt.

$16Calloway Hens

The Larder · 5 dishes

Roast lamb shoulder.

Whole shoulder for the table, slow-roasted, with new potatoes and the first peas.

$42Hartfield Farm

A piece of pork loin.

From a Berkshire we’ve waited for, grain mustard, apples from cold storage.

$36Marsden Bros.

A trout, whole.

Brought up overnight, cooked on bones, herbs, brown butter.

$32Stillwater Trout

A bowl of spring grains.

Spelt and farro from the field, the first asparagus, an egg if you’d like it.

$24River Mill Grains

To Close · 3 dishes

A piece of buttermilk cake.

With the first rhubarb, a spoon of cream, a glass of something cold.

$12Calloway Hens

Cheeses (three.)

From Vermont, Wisconsin, and a sheep’s cheese we just started carrying.

$18Various

Coffee & a little something.

Coffee from a roaster we trust, a small sweet, the meal closed properly.

Entry IIii.

The people we buy from.

— measured, by the mile.

VEGETABLES · LAMB

Hartfield Farm

Tom and Lee Hartfield, 18 years on the land. The first spring greens, lamb three times a year, and the strawberries everyone waits for.

Hudson Valley, NY/47 mi

A small dairy and meat operation in the Catskills.

PORK · BEEF · BROTHS

Marsden Bros.

A 90-head Berkshire and shorthorn operation. We buy the whole pig; nothing is wasted. The bones become the broth that opens the menu.

Catskills, NY/72 mi

A trout pond at Stillwater, with mountains in the background.

TROUT · FISH

Stillwater Trout

A spring-fed pond, a half-mile of brook, and three generations of patient people. We cure their fish ourselves; the rest goes on the bone.

Berkshires, MA/118 mi

Brown hens in a field on the Calloway farm.

EGGS · CHICKENS

Calloway Hens

A small flock, pastured, three sisters running the operation. The eggs that open the menu and the chicken that closes a Sunday.

Hudson Valley, NY/34 mi

A grain field at River Mill, with sheaves in the foreground.

GRAINS · FLOURS

River Mill Grains

Heritage grains, milled the same week. The spelt for the bread, the farro for the bowls, the rye for the cracker we make ourselves.

Finger Lakes, NY/214 mi

A small cheese aging room with wheels on wood shelves.

CHEESES · CURED DAIRY

Three Cheesemakers

A board we rotate weekly — one from Vermont, one from Wisconsin, one new each season. Names told at the table.

Northeast/Various

Entry IIIiii.

Notes, from the line.

— short, written between services.

MAR 24, 2026— Chef Eli M.

The first asparagus arrived this morning.

Five pounds, finger-thick, from a row Tom planted four years ago. We’ll cook some on the grill, raw-shave the rest into a bowl with last week’s farro and an oversteeped lemon. That is the season’s first card.

— tonight’s entry will say so.

MAR 21, 2026— Chef de Cuisine

The last of the winter pork.

Two shoulders left from the December pig. We’ll braise them slow Thursday, with the parsnips that wintered well, and the apples we still have in cold storage. After this, no more pork until June.

— a closing dish, properly.

MAR 18, 2026— Chef Eli M.

A change in the cheese board.

A sheep’s cheese from a maker we just started visiting — soft, three-week, surprisingly mineral. It will be on tonight’s board with the Vermont semi-hard and the washed rind from Wisconsin. Try it second.

— mineral, three weeks.

MAR 14, 2026— Bar Lead

We’re pouring a cider by the glass.

Dry, four-apple, from a small press in Hudson. We’ll pour it at the bar through April. With the broth, with the fish, with the meal. It is the season’s glass.

— ask for it cold.

Entry IViv.

Tonight, the room.

— tell us how we should cook for you.

We seat at 5:30, 7:30, and 9:30 — three turns, two hours each, no later. The bar opens at four and stays late.

Dietary notes belong with the booking, not at the table. Tell us when you write, and we will cook the room you describe, plate by plate.

— we read every note ourselves.

MusicOld soul, low

LightCandle & warm

DressHowever you came

Last booking9:30 sharp

Buyouts, private suppers, the kitchen

The room is yours, some nights.

Mondays we’re closed; on those nights we cook for one party. Tell us what you’re thinking and we will write back, with options.