Damon Baehrel (born 1961 or 1962[1] in Massapequa, Long Island[2]), is a New York–based restaurateur.[1] He is the owner of the restaurant that carries his name, Damon Baehrel, located in the hamlet of Earlton in Coxsackie, New York.[1] Baehrel acts as the chef, the waiter, the grower, the forager, the gardener, the cheesemaker, the cured-meat maker.[1]
Restaurant
The restaurant is located in the basement of Damon and his wife's, Elizabeth Baehrel, home in the hamlet of Earlton in Coxsackie, New York.[3] Originally it was known as Damon Baehrel at The Basement Bistro, which was established in 1989 initially providing catering services.[1] The restaurant purports to acquire all its ingredients, such as pine flour, acorn oil and vinegars directly from the 12-acre property [3] except salt and seafood, and meats are sourced from a neighboring organic livestock farm.[4] The 16-seat restaurant as of February 2014 has a waiting list, in some reports, of 5 to 10 years.[3][4][5]
Criticisms
An August 2016 article in The New Yorker questioned many aspects of the restaurant's story, including whether the waiting list could actually be a decade or more long, and whether Baehrel is self-taught as a cook.[2][6]
