Damon Baehrel, Chef of Most Exclusive Restaurant in the U.S., Opens Up

Damon Baehrel is making dinner out of the scrub brush next to his blacktop driveway. First he takes some sumac leaves and steeps them to make tea. Then he adds liquefied wild violet stems cut from his yard, as well as a dozen varieties of grapes cultivated in his garden. He freezes all of this together and serves it on a spoon as one refreshing bite. Baehrel calls it sumac-flavored ice slush and uses it as a palate-cleanser during the 15-course meal he creates nightly for 18 food-obsessives. Many travel three hours from Manhattan—some even fly in overnight—to pay $255 (before wine and tip) for the privilege of eating in the basement of a modest clapboard home in Earlton, N.Y.

Formerly known as the Basement Bistro and now simply called Damon Baehrel, the 12-table restaurant has a five-year waiting list. Patrons have come from 48 countries, and celebrities such as Jerry Seinfeld and Martha Stewart regularly visit. The Obamas reportedly requested a table in 2011, but Baehrel, who prefers to keep his guest list private, won’t confirm or deny this. He doesn’t have to worry about loudmouthed waiters, either: “You’ve probably realized I work completely alone here,” Baehrel says each night before service begins. “I’m the chef, the waiter, the grower, the forager, the gardener, the cheesemaker, the cured-meat maker, and, as I will explain, everything comes from this 12-acre property.”