Make this Blue Fox sugar piece
- Kim Simons
- May 24, 2023
- 4 mins
- Kim's Kitchen
- catskills edible paper sculpting sugar art tutorial
Originally published at: https://www.riverreporter.com/stories/make-this-blue-fox-sugar-piece,98336
I always joke that I’m the cake artist who can’t eat cake.
Why?
Because I have an allergy to gluten.
And to rice, potatoes, oats and barley too, as it turns out.
Needless to say, my dietary needs spill over into our frequent visits to regional restaurants. In my experience, there have been restaurants that won’t accommodate my allergies; restaurants that say they’ll accommodate my allergies, but don’t (causing me to get sick); and restaurants that go out of their way to accommodate my allergies.
One restaurant that accommodates my allergies is the Blue Fox Motel, located at 5670 Rte. 97 in Narrowsburg, NY.
And their food is good!
I had a chance to sit down with Meg Sullivan, one of the owners of the Blue Fox, and pick her brain about her restaurant, her view of hospitality and her philosophy regarding food allergies this past week.
To begin with, Meg’s partner in business and in life, Jorge Neves, has been in the restaurant business for almost 30 years! In fact, he has run several successful restaurants in New York City.
“Jorge bought a summer cabin in Barryville more than 20 years ago as an escape from the city, where he could relax and recharge from the hectic schedule of running restaurants there,” Meg relates. “We started coming up together about a decade ago, bought some land and built a year-round second home near Jorge’s lake cabin.”
This meant that they started spending more time in the area, enjoying all the natural wonders it has to offer.
“In 2017,” Meg explains, “we bought the motel and restaurant—now called the Blue Fox Motel—and spent three years renovating in order to keep the charm of its mid-century roots…but also bring it up to today’s standards.”
The restaurant opened in the fall of 2019, but was temporarily shut down during the early days of COVID, starting in March of 2020. Undeterred, Meg and Jorge built a large outdoor patio, reopened in the late summer of 2020, and—in Meg’s words—“We haven’t looked back!”
The Blue Fox Motel restaurant has a very warm and inviting rustic mid-century vibe that makes it unique.
“We have a roaring fireplace going in the colder months,” Meg points out, “and tables and umbrellas out on the patio during the summer. It’s an inviting space where the team remembers your name.”
The team is great, too. Our server/bartender was none other than Luke Forbes, by day an actor featured on Amazon Prime’s “Dog.”
And the menu? It’s a mix of classic American fare and European-influenced dishes. The prices are geared to attract city dwellers and locals alike.
“Most importantly,” Meg notes, “our chef, Honorio Anguisaca—who has worked with Jorge for almost 30 years, and we consider him family—brings an incredible consistency of quality to all the plates he produces.”
This is all great, but what does it mean for people like me—those who suffer from food allergies?
“We try to accommodate all food allergies,” Meg says. “If we can’t accommodate, we recommend another item on the menu.”
This is broad-minded, since Meg estimates that the percentage of customers who need special accommodations is pretty low, maybe five to seven percent.
But I can tell you that they’re real. In fact, my friend Yvonne is so allergic to peppers that she carries an EpiPen. And, sadly, she’s had to use it more than once when restaurants don’t take food allergies seriously.
The Blue Fox does.
“The major allergies that we tend to hear about are gluten, dairy, nuts, bell peppers and black pepper,” Meg relates.
For Meg, it’s important to accommodate customers with food allergies.
“We want everyone to come and be able to enjoy our food, so we try to ensure there is something for everyone on the menu, including folks with allergies,” she says. “For example, we don’t use any dairy in any of our soups, and we have several gluten-free options.”
So, if you have a food allergy, how should you approach the staff at the Blue Fox?
“We hope that customers will let us know right away about any food allergies,” Meg says. “Where and when we can make changes to existing items, we do. If we’re not able to make changes, we’ll steer customers in a different direction towards foods that might be better for them.”
In the end, the Blue Fox is all about customer satisfaction.
“We want everyone who comes to the Blue Fox Motel restaurant to enjoy their experience,” Meg explains. “We work hard to make it a place where you’ll feel at home, and we want you to come back again and again.”
This is why this month’s project is a Blue Fox sugar piece. It’s a cute project, and makes for an ideal cake topper. Plus, it also honors a restaurant owned by people who are willing to put themselves out to accommodate the minority of folks who—like me—couldn’t enjoy a restaurant experience otherwise.
Blue Fox Sugar Piece
Create a fondant Blue Fox sugar piece cake topper inspired by the Blue Fox Motel restaurant. Follow these steps to sculpt a cute fox out of blue fondant.
Supply List
Instructions
- Roll a ball of blue fondant a little larger than a golf ball. Shape as desired, and use cake tool to carve out and shape arms and legs.
- Roll out and shape a second piece of fondant for the head. Attach it to the body. Add eye sockets using a ball tool.
- Roll out a smaller cylinder of fondant. Snip in half with scissors. Shape each into an ear and add to the head. Smooth with cake tool.
- Roll out a larger cylinder of fondant, shape into a bushy tail, and add to body.
- Roll out lighter-colored fondant thinly. Snip into shapes that will fit into the eye sockets, ears, and chest area. Add each piece and smooth out with ball and cake tools. Trim as needed with a small precision knife.
- Roll out another thin piece of lighter-colored fondant. Trim to resemble the tuft of a tail with scissors. Add to tail, and trim any excess with a small precision knife.
- Roll out three tiny balls of black fondant. Add to face as eyes and nose.
- Roll out an extremely thin cylinder of darker fondant. Outline ears and eyes, trimming away any excess.
- Shadow using edible petal dust.
