Tuesday, December 10, 7:00 P.M.
Members $85, guests $110

Shortly after opening Depuy Canal House in 1969, at the age of 27, John Novi received three unexpected guests: Craig Claiborne, Pierre Franey, and Jacques Pépin. That night a star was born—Claiborne, then The New York Times restaurant critic, gave the Ulster County establishment four stars. These days, new restaurants tout "seasonal menus" and "international influences" as if they had invented the concepts. Novi, who grew up in High Falls, has been cooking with fresh regional ingredients and adding eclectic touches since the time when "frozen" was the normal state of food. A 1985 Time magazine article on the "new American cuisine" cites Novi as predating Alice Waters when it came to "free-associating ethnic influences for dishes." Today his thoughtful, artful compositions might combine soy-marinated halibut with wasabi-fava bean purée and fried pickled ginger. But he can also go classic, as with his roasted organic poussin with truffled mashed potatoes, and beachwood-smoked ham with dandelion greens.

Novi, long a champion of foods produced in the Hudson Valley and the Catskills, continues to play with new ingredients. He recently discovered a local farmer who is raising goats, which yield a flavorful, low-fat meat that Novi finds intriguing. Another newcomer to his menu is Japanese maitake mushrooms, also now being grown in the Hudson Valley. "I remember in Italy, eating mushrooms like porcini is like eating steak—maitakes have that same distinctive rich earthiness," Novi rhapsodizes. Last August the chef opened the New York Store next door to his restaurant, featuring unusual foods and products made in New York. It's not just the cooking that has lured diners to the Depuy Canal House for more than 30 years. Novi, a hard-core history buff, bought the 1797 building in 1964 and restored it himself. Today, its burnished wide-board floors and colonial antiques can make you feel you're in Simeon Dupuy's tavern—the Canal House's original incarnation—which dates back to the time when Thomas Jefferson (had he been in the neighborhood) might have dropped in for a drink, thirsty after a day buying the Louisiana Territory, eliminating the whiskey tax, or sending a naval squadron to fight Barbary pirates.

The wines for tonight's dinner are supplied by Letchworth Wines & Spirits, a small distributor in upstate New York, specializing in fine wines and spirits. The wines will be presented by David Gross, who works for Letchworth Wines and who now lives in Woodstock after a long career selling wine in New York City.