6 AUTUMN LANE
AMENIA, NY 12501
(845) 373-9800
CHEF/OWNER: SERGE MADIKIANS
Some of the greatest chefs come to cooking via unusual paths, and Chef Serge Madikians of Serevan is definitely one of them. Before cooking, his master’s in public policy and economics took him into New York City Mayor Giuliani’s administration. Says Madikians, “I went into cooking at thirty-seven. In 2002 I was a forty-year-old man. I had been cooking for just three years professionally. And I realized that I just didn’t want to be a chef in New York City. I thought, ‘I’ll just go back to my other career.’ And then I realized that some of the greatest chefs in the world do not work in cities—they work in small villages or near small villages. I thought that maybe I should try that lifestyle. And in 2002 that realization opened up a whole new world for me.”
While Madikians may not have been the first New York City chef to decamp to the Hudson Valley, he was still part of the advance guard. Madikians’s decision to cook farm-to-table cuisine in the Hudson Valley predates Blue Hill at Stone Barns by three years. “At that point, there were a few chefs, Jeff Gimmel at Swoon [in Hudson], who gave up their cooking lives in New York City to come up to the Hudson Valley. In the last couple of years, it has become incredibly hip for chefs to do this, but Jeff gave up his city life and moved up to Hudson a decade ago. It’s the chefs like me and Jeff who showed that coming up here is doable, it’s actually very enjoyable, and it’s a great lifestyle.”
Though Amenia is a town with somewhere around 4,500 residents, elegant Serevan does not fall into the trap that befalls other restaurants located in sparsely settled communities. In the effort to capture every potential diner, many restaurants resort to serving lowest-common-denominator menus in hopes of repelling the few and capturing the many. Instead, at Serevan, Madikians works in an innovative style that celebrates Hudson Valley ingredients with a distinctly Persian point of view. He’s infusing locally raised meats with saffron, sumac, and fragrant flower waters—you’ll also find fish wrapped in kataifi pastry. This balance between Middle Eastern and Hudson Valley locavorian does not seem to perturb Madikians. “For me, as an Armenian who grew up in Iran, living here and cooking is for me very similar to living and cooking over there. I will always be an Armenian from northern Iran. So when I cook, my sensibility is always that of an Armenian who is strongly influenced by Middle Eastern flavors, specifically, Persian.”
(SERVES 8)
3 large English cucumbers, peeled
2 tablespoons kosher salt
¼ cup water
1 bunch (about 8–10 sprigs) fresh dill
1 bunch (about 8–10 sprigs) fresh mint
1 bunch (about 8–10 sprigs) fresh cilantro
⅙ cup extra-virgin olive oil
3 shallots, peeled and quartered
2 cloves garlic
8 cups plain yogurt
1 lemon
1 lime
Dash cayenne pepper
To make the soup: Cut two of the cucumbers in half and then slice them into ½-inch slices. Place the sliced cucumbers with 1 tablespoon of the salt in a blender, then add the water and blend for about 2 minutes. Using a fine sieve set over a bowl, drain the cucumber pulp, reserving the water. Allow the cucumber water to drain without pressing down on it for about 30 minutes. The pulp should yield just about 4 cups of cucumber water. If not, add enough water to bring it to 4 cups.
Meanwhile, wash the herbs and remove the leaves from the stems. Set aside one-third of the herbs and discard the stems (or use them for vegetable stock). Place 1 cup of the cucumber water back in the blender. Add the olive oil, shallots, garlic, lemon, lime, cayenne pepper, and one-third of the herbs and blend for about 1 minute. Drain the cucumber-onion pulp through a fine sieve, again without pressing down on it, for about 15 minutes. Combine the onion-cucumber water with the remaining cucumber water.
Slice the third cucumber in half; remove and discard the seeds. Cut each cucumber half lengthwise into two spears and slice thin. Set aside. Combine the remaining herbs and chop into a fine chiffonade. Set aside.
To serve: In a large bowl whisk the yogurt and cucumber water mixture lightly, then add the herbs and cucumbers and mix well. Serve cold in chilled bowls and garnish with a sprig of herb.