Since 2001, New Yorkers have delighted in discovering New Leaf Restaurant & Bar, nestled in Upper Manhattan’s Fort Tryon Park. A short walk from
the Cloisters Museum, the New Leaf
offers a dining experience that is truly
unique, even in a city of superlatives.
Indeed, it only takes a few steps inside
the park, with its majestic views of the
Hudson, to feel as if one has left the
city altogether. And it’s against this
setting that the New Leaf offers a world-class dining experience—within, and
somehow apart from—one of the busiest
cities on Earth.
• 212-568-5323 • newleafrestaurant.com
concierge/chef spotlight
Campbell’s “American with nuance”
approach to cuisine, the complementary flavors announcing themselves
with the unmistakable clarity of locally
sourced, seasonal fare. In his quest
for the freshest ingredients, Campbell
makes frequent forays upriver to the
Hudson River Valley’s rich farmland.
“What they do in the field,” he says,
“we try to do in the kitchen.”
The New Leaf restaurant exterior.
Campbell succeeds mightily, with
dishes infused with integrity and fun.
Terrine of Hudson Valley duck, framed
by orange-ported figs and a cranberry-ginger compote, possesses the visual
flair of an old master’s still life. Perfectly
textured, flash-fried rock shrimp with
Thai peanut sauce has you reaching for
“just one more” until the plate is bare.
That’s just for starters on a spring
menu featuring bacon-banded pork tenderloin and cocoa-spiced duck breast, and
steak frites—a grilled filet of beef sirloin
drizzled with bourbon peppercorn sauce,
served alongside garlic-herbed fries.
It all amounts to a “trip to the country” for senses and self, only
20 minutes from Penn Station.
“Everyone thinks they know what
Manhattan is,” says Campbell, “but then
there are places like this.”
New Leaf and NYRP:
Doing Good
by Eating Well
A memorable site on the Hudson River
isn’t the only thing that the New Leaf
shares with Fort Tryon Park. The restaurant and its setting are inextricably
linked through the efforts of New York
Restoration Project (NYRP), an environmental nonprofit founded by Bette
Midler in 1995 that works to clean and
green New York City parks, community
gardens and open spaces. Dismayed by
the state of neglect in which she found
the historic park, designed by the heirs
of Frederick Law Olmsted and given
to the city by the Rockefellers, Midler
decided to take action.
It was while cleaning the park with
volunteers that Midler literally stumbled upon the
then-dilapidated
structure that
would, in 2001,
become the New
Leaf Restaurant
& Bar. It’s a name
that evokes the
fresh start that
the restored
park has granted
the neighboring
communities.
The New Leaf provides sustenance for
NYRP’s effort, with all its net proceeds
going to support the restoration and
maintenance of NYRP-managed parks
and community gardens throughout
the city’s five boroughs. Supporting
a greener New York City never tasted
so good. nyrp.org
