SILVIA OFFERS DINERS WOOD-FIRED FARE
Mill Hill Road eatery reflects ‘vision of connecting food and people with back to basic cooking’
WOODSTOCK, N.Y. » Inside Doris and Betty Choi’s restaurant patrons can watch their selected fare sizzle in the open flame of a woodfired grill.
The Woodstock sisters are convinced the dining experience at Silvia, the name of their Mill Hill Road eatery, is truly enhanced with the roaring flame combined with a chef-to-diner intimacy.
“I think the most important aspect was having an open kitchen,” Doris Choi, 48, who is Silvia’s chef, said recently. “And with a wood fire grill that is the focal point.
“You have an immediate connection and know where the food is coming from and who is making it and how it’s being made.”
At 42 Mill Hill Road, Silvia claims a spot a block or two from the Woodstock Village Green. The 30-seat restaurant opened on July 21, 2017.
Silvia webpage boasts its owners’ approach.
“Silvia reflects our vision of connecting food and people with back to basic cooking that is honest and sustainable,” the website says. “Our open kitchen with a wood fired grill and organic vegetable-centric pantry, reflect our commitment to locally sourced ingredients.”
As a result of the building’s extensive overhaul, the Choi sisters have also created new life in a local legendary Woodstock venue — the former Joyous Lake Club.
Betty Choi’s husband, Craig Leonard, and Doris Choi’s husband, Niall Grant, are also partners in the establishment.
“Our open kitchen with a wood fired grill and organic vegetablecentric pantry, reflect our commitment to locally sourced ingredients.”
— Silvia webpage
“We were aware of the Joyous Lake history,” said Betty Choi, 43, a Brooklyn native who has lived in Woodstock for 10 years. Her sister, born in Korea before coming to the U.S. when she was 3-years-old, has lived in town the past four years.
“We were bringing life back into the place that had so much life and gathering,” said Betty Choi, who serves as Silvia’s bookkeeper. “There are a lot of people with happy memories and you get a little peek of what it was like.”
The historical restoration nature of the project, she added, “was a big motivating factor.”
The origin of the restaurant’s name also refers to legend.
“Silvia name is derived from the Roman god of the forest and the fields whose name is Silvanus,” Grant said in an email. “We are a restaurant in the forest serving
food from the local fields.”
Before Silvia, the building housed the Not Fade Away Trading Company.
It was not an easy decision to start up a restaurant, the Choi sisters said.
“There were a lot of sleepless nights,” Doris Choi said. “We knew that running restaurant would not be an easy thing. There were a lot of meetings.”
The two would not say how much of an investment they made describing it only as “huge.”
Doris Choi likes to describe the menu as “new American with global flavors.”
Choi, who has many years of restaurant work in Manhattan eateries and bars as well as places abroad, said she has also “dabbled in the raw food movement for a while.
“I think that gave me more of a foundation to create foods that are really light, healthy, and creative, not so mainstream,” she said.
Choi said Silvia interior – hosting 13-foot high
peaked ceilings in spots – has an “artist studio” feel to it where “food is the art.”
She noted the bar/lounge area emanates a warm kind of cozy.
Outside, a deck that had fallen into disrepair has been replaced by a new wooden one, complete with a skylight cover that allows for splashes of sunlight.
Eye level new landscaping fills out the top of a bluestone wall that skirts along a Mill Hill Road sidewalk.
And then there is the food.
Silivia starters include Watermelon and grilled Halloumi, $15; mushroom and lentil pate, $12; and deviled eggs, $10.
Vegetables featured are unique, with whole grilled corn, charred shishito peppers, smashed lemon cucumbers, and summer succotash, among others.
Main plates include grilled lamb steak, with chilled rice noodles, pickled carrot, Thai basil, mint, cilantro, nuac chom sauce for $32; wood smoked half chicken, with succotash, zucchini,
asparagus, bell pepper, corn, green beans, tomatoes, thyme for $29; and sustainable seafood chowder, with scallops, monk fish, shrimp, squid, zucchini, corn, and habanerom for $32.
Dinner is served seven days a week from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m.
BBQ BEEF RECIPE
• 1 lb thinly sliced beef tenderloin MARINADE FOR 1 LB BEEF • 4 cloves of minced garlic
• 1 small thumb sized piece ginger, minced
• 2 chopped green onion
• 2 tbs tamari
• 1 tbs toasted sesame oil
• 1⁄4 cup pineapple or orange juice
• 1 tbs organic demerara sugar or brown sugar
• pinch of ground black pepper VEGGIE SLAW • 1 cup grated carrots and/or cabbage
• 1⁄2 cup thinly sliced cucumbers
• 1 tbs toasted sesame oil
• 2 tbs rice vinegar
• 1 tsp salt
• 1 tsp toasted sesame seeds
• 1 tsp gochugaru (or chili flakes) DIRECTIONS • Mix all ingredients in a bowl.
• Place beef in freezer for an hour before using to help make slicing easier.
• Put marinade ingredients in a bowl and whisk to
incorporate. Add beef and let marinate for at least 30 minutes.
• You can cook the beef over a open flame or alternatively, use a cast iron pan. Cook over high heat for a few minutes until done.
• To assemble, place a spoonful of beef on a lettuce wrap, top with store bought or house made kimchi and/or carrot slaw. You can serve with a small dollop of seasoned miso paste like they do at Silvia.