New To The Restaurant Guide! Bagelish & Nilufers Home Kitchen Plus The New Ice Cream Spot Located Inside The HV Food Hall

ALBB’s Restaurant Guide has been updated! This list changes daily. As restaurants open and close, try new menus, & new methods. We monitor their social media, but if you know of something different than what is on this list, please let us know!

Bagelish & Nilufer Home Kitchen have recently opened right here on Main St in Beacon and added to the Restaurant Guide.

Bagelish

“Experience the Extra-Ordinary”… bagels are produced with a unique process using specially milled flour with no bleaching agents or bromides. When possible, they source locally produced flour, butter, bacon, salmon, and coffee. For their ethnically diverse offerings, they source ingredients from around the globe, including Lebanese extra virgin olive oil, Lebanese za’atar, Irish cheddar, Korean and Portuguese sea salts.

Located at 226 Main St.

Nilufer Home Kitchen

Executive Chef, Numerologist, Life Coach, EFT Therapist… a Turkish table offering breakfast and lighter fare prevail.

Five Pennies Creamery

And incase you missed it on our Instagram… Five Pennies Creamery has opened up in the Hudson Valley Food Hall!

Beacon’s newest family-owned business. We’ve all been waiting. Overheard at the new countertop: “We heard you were coming to Beacon! We have been waiting ever since!”

Owner Dan the Ice-cream Man makes the icecream in the Food Hall. That’s right - 100 flavors made right here on Main Street. What are the flavors? Well, there are many didferent variations of chocolate ice-cream, for instance. Several variations of coconut icecream. Not all at once, but in rotation. There’s a chance there will be different flavors each time you come. Flavors like Toasted Coconut, Cookie Dough, pralines & Cream, Smurfs, Cookies & Cream, Banana Pudding, Chocolate, Vanilla, and others are ready to be scooped. Waffle cones are available. Chunky ice-cream is the norm. Swirls of flavor are prominent.

Hudson Valley Food Hall is a sponsor of ALBB’s Restaurant Guide! Making features like this possible. With sprinkles on top.

New Art Show :: Parisa Karami, "Cinema Scenes" At The Hudson Valley Food Hall

“I paint to help me to remember and help me to forget.”

— Parisa Karami

Beaconite Parisa Karami is the newest artist hanging in the Hudson Valley Food Hall. This show “Cinema Scenes: Paintings 2012-2022” features paintings of scenes from films. Parisa’s exhibit is on view until mid-late July, and the paintings are for sale. Meanwhile, A Little Beacon Blog interviewed Parisa to learn more about where she is coming from with her art:

ALBB: Why scenes from film?
"I had originally studied film in undergraduate - so it was natural for me to paint scenes from films by my favorite filmmakers when I was trying to figure out my painting style. I think storyboarding and mise en scene in film are very similar to painting in many ways. Some of the filmmakers who created these scenes originally are Tarkovsky, Fassbinder, Fellini, Antonioni. The paintings are are mixed media, approximately 9x12.

“I believe, as Louise Bourgeois stated, ‘art is the guarantee of sanity.’ In order for individuals to maintain their psychic well being in these accelerated times, it is urgent to get to the root of their personal stories.”

— Parisa Karami

ALBB: What inspires you?
"Through a process of gleaning and foraging, I paint to help me to remember and help me to forget. I paint in a naive outsider style. I work in watercolor, acrylics and oil paints. My background in film lends to the storyboarding style. I believe, as Louise Bourgeois stated, 'art is the guarantee of sanity.' In order for individuals to maintain their psychic well being in these accelerated times, it is urgent to get to the root of their personal stories. In conjunction with the personal and collective psyche, I am interested in exploring issues of exile, abandoned areas and timeless spaces."

Parisa Karami was born in 1976 in Tehran and emigrated to a Mojave Desert mining town to flee the Iranian Revolution. By the mid 1980’s the desert town was abandoned (due to the toxic environment created by the mining) she was then relocated to the San Joaquin Valley. These early events continue to influence her work. Parisa moved to New York City in 2002. She holds undergraduate degrees in Film and Anthropology and received a Master’s Degree from the New School for Social Research. She worked at AIGA for three years and the United Nations for five years before becoming a full time painter and craftsperson. Selected works can be purchased on Saatchi Art and Etsy. More recent works can be seen on media outlets such as Mc Sweeney’s, Northwest Review, Pleiades, Florida Review’s Aquifer, The Belladonna, New Orleans Review, Drunk Monkeys, The Indianapolis Review, Michigan Quarterly Review’s Mixtape and elsewhere. Parisa lives in The Hudson Valley with her family.

Hudson Valley Food Hall is located at 288 Main Street, Beacon NY 12508.

“Tara” Opens In Hudson Valley Food Hall - Former Employee , Trina, Takes Over & Reimagines

One of the most positive people in all of Beacon is Trina.

“I loved the people around me and loved the guest compliments and reviews about the food which I was preparing. It boosted up my confidence again that I can do it!!!””

— Trina Mazumder

If you don’t know Trina Mazumder yet, she was an employee of Hudson Valley Shawarma, a food stall located at the front of Hudson Valley Food Hall, which is next door to Subway. Trina is also a henna artist. She also burns intricate designs into wood. Some of you were lucky enough to have her paint onto your hands at A Little Beacon Blog’s table at Spirit of Beacon Day 2022.

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Map of Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, and India.

Trina is from Bangladesh. She is an accomplished and credited foodie with Big Dreams. Through the course of events that is small business ownership, Trina purchased Hudson Valley Shawarma with the support of her husband, Buddika Amila Pg who owns the restaurant Lotus Deluxe in Sri Lanka, and her family. She reimagined what she could serve at her own new restaurant: Tara.

“Back home, I completed my Hotel Management Degree and came to the United States as an Intern Chef. It was my dream to open my own restaurant one day. Additionally, my husband used to work in hotel food and beverage service, and he has a restaurant back home in Sri Lanka. So when I started the job in Beacon (at the former Hudson Valley Shawarma), I loved the people around me and loved the guest compliments and reviews about the food which I was preparing. It boosted up my confidence again that I can do it!!!”

Trina shared the idea with her parents and husband. “They inspired me more, and I believe that yes, we are going to do it!!”

The Chicken Samosa at Tara, prepared in Bangladeshi style with a crispy outside.

The food on the menu is a fusion cousin of Bangladeshi, Indian, Sri Lankan and Middle Eastern food. Look for options like Chicken Samosa (Bangladeshi), Moglai Paratha (Indian), Watalappan (Sri Lanka) and Falafel (Middle Eastern).

The name Tara is a combination of Trina and her husband’s name (Buddika Amila Pg…he goes by Amila). Tara also means “star” in Bangladeshi Indian.

Fitting, as you will feel like a star each time you go into the Hudson Valley Food Hall. The vendors are pals and work together. Each trying to make the magic happen.

On a Saturday night in January, the Hudson Valley Food Hall was hopping.

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Beaconites should take special note: if you want to love your town, you will need to go to these restaurants in the middle of the week. If you are going to complain that Beacon is becoming a bedroom community, ALBB is going to tell you that it is your fault. For not coming out for Bangladeshi chicken samosa on a Monday or Wednesday for lunch or dinner.

Are you kidding!?!

Trina is amazing, and so are you. Warm your blood with her food any day of the week. She is open all days except Tuesdays. Because such is Beacon. :)

There is a bar in the back - The Roosevelt Bar. Plus a patio on the side. Plus they are dog-friendly. You have everything you need. Done. See you there!

Beacon Restaurant Owners Respond To 10pm Alcohol Curfew: The Grill Is Hot

As coronavirus cases surge across the country, with states like North Dakota declaring that their hospitals are 100% at capacity and they don’t have enough nurses who are not infected, while Ohio warns that their hospitals may soon be over-capacity, and every day the United States out-does itself with the next highest record, Governor Cuomo nipped it by nixing late night drinking after 10pm at bars and restaurants. They can continue to cook for to-go orders, but in-person service will stop. Gatherings at home are limited to 10 people, and gyms must also close at 10pm.

At first blush, this seems to target canoodling. As one 8 year old observed: “Everybody knows that COVID cases are coming from people kissing at bars.” The truth may be that infections are spreading at home as people get lax in their social circles. With Thanksgiving coming up, Governor Cuomo just decided for you on if you were merging with another family, depending on the size of yours. Which may be good, as family table talk could get fiery with the election still in the rear view mirror.

For some restaurants in Beacon, the surge in take-out, delivery, parklets (seating in the street) and new safety measures have helped keep their businesses alive. We checked with business owners in Beacon to see how this curfew will impact them, interviews with some are below.

The eateries most impacted will most likely be Hudson Valley Food Hall, with the limitation of the Roosevelt Bar, Barb’s Fry Works, who just opened a stall inside HV Food Hall to cater to the late night drinking crowd, and The Beacon Hotel, who is known for their late night lounge service.

Max’s On Main, one of the original a late-nighters in the game, pivoted already to focus on food and take-out. The Eat Church Food Truck used to be hunkered down at Industrial Arts Brewing on Rte. 52, but long ago pulled up the pins and was serving from Marbled Meat Shop in Cold Spring, and will bounce to Kingston next. Sadly, Joe’s Irish Pub, announced their permanent closure and retirement in early November 2020.

We interviewed several owners below, and heard from others as well.

Some Restaurants Already Started Closing At Or By 10pm

MEYERS OLD DUTCH
Meyers Old Dutch (MOD) owner and chef Brian Arnoff used to have a weekend late night crowd, but stopped when he re-opened during the pandemic. “Since COVID started, we’ve been closing by 10pm anyways. We used to stay open until midnight on Friday and Saturday nights. Thankfully, this shouldn’t impact us. At least for now anyways.”

CHILL WINE BAR
Jim Svetz, owner of Chill Wine Bar, is also able to proceed, saying: “Thankfully this won’t impact us that much, since we reopened with already limited hours Friday and Saturdays, from 5pm-10pm. So no change here. I think most places with limited indoor seating will have a difficult time this winter. But we will get through this together.”

HOMESPUN
New owner of Homespun, Joe Robitaille, who is a wine expert (aka sommelier), has increased the amount of wine bottles and specialty beer they sell from the store, which “has helped us so much,” he told us when mulling over Thanksgiving and catering options. Look for a possible fire-pit and heaters in the back garden, but that is not confirmed yet.

BANK SQUARE COFFEE HOUSE
Bank Square Coffee House is a coffee house that caters to a beer crowd for day-drinking and lightly into the evening. Says their manager: “I do believe it might impact our weekend crowd. Now with winter coming along, we depend a lot on our weekday regulars and our occasional busy weekends. Now with not many people being able to stay out late, I think we might see a little less of a weekend crowd. Fortunately, we close at 8pm even on weekends, so we won’t get too impacted.”

Late Night Bars With Food Who Pivoted With The First Re-Opening

QUINN’S
Quinn’s was one of the last restaurants in Beacon to re-open, waiting until summer. For this latest restriction, Quinn’s manager, Stamper, was feeling prepared: “After our hiatus between May and August, we re-opened understanding that we would not be a late night place again for a long while. With this in mind, we shifted our hours to incorporate lunch and closing at 9pm. With the removal of Main Street parklets, losing our outdoor dining, we’ve recently opened up indoor at an exclusive capacity, and with new hours: 5pm-11pm. This change was so fresh, that most customers still assume our kitchen is only open until 9pm, and so orders taper off around then. Ultimately, we’re losing an hour, but the bulk of our business is kept between the 5pm-9pm hours, and I’m certain as word spreads, folks will hang at Quinn’s until 10pm. Thank you!”

MAX’S ON MAIN
Max’s on Main is where you go where everybody knows your name, at practically any time of the day. You need a Blondie dessert at 11pm after having a great dinner at Dogwood? You go to Max’s. However, after the re-opening, they too shifted their late night bar scene to be heavy in food. We caught up with Jesse Kaplan, son of co-owner Richie Kaplan, and bar tenders Stephanie and Mary.

Said Jesse: “We were one of the business that served food the latest. Our customers know that we are available here later than some other places, and they have been very supportive of that. We are going to take a hit for that. But, we care about everybody being safe. If this is what we have to do to help the community be safe, then we are all in favor. I would never want to put the community at risk. We have been very careful here about everything. Face masks. Sanitation. Temperature. If we have to close at 10pm, that’s what we’re going to do.”

Will alcohol sales hurt Max’s? Jesse explains: “Our identity changed a little bit as a result of the pandemic. We made the decision to operate the business more as a restaurant once the pandemic hit, with an understanding that we would lose those alcohol sales, but our customers and our staff would feel more safe.”

Delivery is now available at Max’s. Right now, the crew is driving. “We all have been pitching in. Richie takes a delivery. I have been known to take a delivery or two. Stephanie (a bartender and former reporter and student in cyber crime) will take one one the way home at the end of her shift. The staff has really stepped up to pitch in.”

Stephanie chimed in to say that right away after the pandemic started, the community was very supportive and ordered a lot of food. Jesse recalls phone-in orders, where people will say: “Hi, I’m calling in an order, and I ordered from Brother’s earlier, and the Diner yesterday. I want to do my part to support restaurants in town. We are very thankful for that.”

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True Late Night Bars Are Digging In

HUDSON VALLEY FOOD HALL VIA THE ROOSEVELT BAR
Owner of the Hudson Valley Food Hall (HV Food Hall), Marko Guzijan was cruising right along with the bar business at the Roosevelt Bar until 1am, which was doing so well that Barb’s Butchery, who enjoys popping up on Main Street at the Farmer’s Market from time to time from her home base of Spring Street, had just opened a stall inside the food hall called Barb’s Fry Works, which catered to the hungry late night crowd. HV Food Hall is very spacious inside, with tall ceilings, and has a generous patio on their corner lot.

Said Marko, who was looking forward focusing on his 40th birthday: “The late night crowd has been very good for us. Barb’s Fry Works just opened, and her business model is based on staying open with the bar. So it’s a big hit. Everyone in the Food and Beverage business wants to do the right thing. If shutting down helps end the pandemic, then let’s do it. But it feels like the Governor just keeps punching down and hurting Food and Beverage businesses.

“We try to follow the rules. We implement new business models, and then the Governor changes it all up and offers us nothing in return. We have to help out with overhead and bills. Central Hudson still charges the same rate, Optimum charges the same rate, our insurance is based on the size of the business, but our business is cut by over half. I think all small businesses will do what is best for the greater good, but it feels like we are the ones taking the larger hit on our business.”

What new things has HV Food Hall done to accommodate the pandemic? Marko describes: “The food hall bar business model for us is fast/casual and self-service. With the new restrictions, we have had to hire more staff (2 hosts, 2 servers, a barback, and 2 busboys). Now we need to figure out if we need that staff anymore. I really don’t want to lay people off in a pandemic, but might not have a choice.

“We have limited our seating because of the 6 feet rule, which has forced us to turn people away at times. Because of the food rule, the bar will buy food for patrons instead of forcing them to spend more money on something they don’t want. We have 25+ staff in the whole food hall, and have not had a single positive test. When someone doesn’t feel well, they stay home and close the stall. We then pay for a commercial cleaning company to come in and deep clean everything, at a cost of almost $1,000. Five guys in hazmat suits spend 4-5 hours going over every inch of the food hall. We do these things and we’ve never had a staff member test positive.

“As the rules keep changing, we start running our business in fear. At any point, the Governor can send people in and take away the liquor license. I would love to have live music for Saturday and Sunday brunch, but can’t get clarification on if it is allowed or not. So I don’t let it happen, even though a few of the chefs have pushed for it.”

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THE BEACON HOTEL
The Beacon Hotel was fully renovated a few years ago by a different ownership team. Jon Lombardi started as the general manager there, and is now co-owner. Under his management, The Beacon Hotel has become an eatery for all times: brunch, lunch, dinner, and operates as a lounge in the evening. Jon was walking past his restaurant when we caught up with him. When asked about the change, he didn’t flinch. “We’re ready. I’ve got my flyer. I’ve got my to-go glasses.”

Jon is never one without ideas, and has inspired his pandemic survival package with a “Last Call: 10pm” theme. Patrons can order to-go shots with group discounts, different cocktails in cute mason jars, and perhaps the best part: if you bring back your mason jar for a refill the next day or days later, you get a discount. Food has always been available to go at The Beacon Hotel, and continues to be, which includes rotating specials and themes for whatever is going on.

There are other bar/restaurants in town, but we did not get their definitive plans in time for this article. Wishing everyone the best, and to keep on ordering.

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The Secret To Miz Hattie's Southern BBQ and Pecan Pie In Beacon At The Hudson Valley Food Hall

Pictured here is Miz Hattie (left) and one of her employees, Christasia Jones (right).
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

The sweet tea with the crunchy ice.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

I first had Miz Hattie’s Southern BBQ 10 years ago during an early nice weekend in spring after a harsh winter when one of the worst blizzards hit (30” of snow and three days of no power). A neighbor had organized a block party, and we met all kinds of people while eating spoonfuls of mac and cheese and scooping remnants of pulled pork sandwiches, coupled with fried chicken.

Little did we know that Miz Hattie, who lives in Beacon, was famous for her Southern BBQ, but that BBQ was only available at catered events, parties and festivals. The next time we got to eat her food was at the Spirit of Beacon Day parade, where she had a long table of deliciousness.

And now, for the first time ever, anyone can get Miz Hattie’s Southern BBQ any time they want - in the Hudson Valley Food Hall on Beacon’s Main Street, just past the public library, near the Subway. Featured in this article is the mac and cheese bowl with pulled pork, the sauce for which has a slight hotness to it, but even people who don’t like spicy things will be just fine with this. Paired with the generously cheddary mac and cheese, this is one of the best food bowl combos in Beacon.

The menu.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

Yes. Inside that unobtrusive door of the Hudson Valley Food Hall is a whole lot of food creativity (but have you seen the back of the building?) - including Miz Hattie’s Southern Sweet Tea. The Hudson Valley Food Hall is the perfect destination for finding a variety of street food to eat there at their tables, or on the go. Find soups, salads, BBQ, and even seafood (hello, fresh Shrimp Cocktail!). When you’re walking to the Beacon Farmers Market on Sunday, add this to your list of warm lunch/snack options.

About That Sweet Tea…

Thankfully, Miz Hattie adds her Southern Sweet Tea to the mix on Main Street - with crunchy ice. One must get the sweet tea to wash down the Southern goodness, even if one gets a pecan pie.

Miz Hattie’s famous pecan pie.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

How do you know if you’ll like sweet tea? If you are a Snapple drinker, you already drink sweet tea, but that is imitation, and you may as well abandon that, and just go to Miz Hattie’s to get real sweet iced tea.

What Made Miz Hattie Expand To A Main Street Storefront From Her Catering Truck?

This is Miz Hattie’s first spot in a storefront ever. How did it come to be? “The opportunity came to me,” she recalled, while packing mac and cheese for a catering order. “I am in a book club, and everyone was talking about the food hall coming. Friends were telling me to open up there. Once a week, I sit with an elderly woman for lunch. One afternoon, we went to Brothers Trattoria, and as we entered, I saw a pair of keys on the floor. I picked them up, and showed them to the next person in front of me - the building inspector for Beacon. They were his keys, and he and I go way back. I asked him if he knew about this food hall. He did, and put me in touch with the owner right away.”

Miz Hattie’s Southern Secrets

Where does Miz Hattie’s Southern cooking come from? “I grew up in North Carolina on a small farm. I was one out of nine kids. I loved being in the kitchen with my mom cooking. When my father would roast a pig for all the farm workers, I would love hanging out with him and learning, I sat up all night watching. Cooking is just something I love doing.”

Miz Hattie moved to Beacon in the 1980s to attend CIA for pastries. “Baking is also my passion. But when I moved here, I always knew I would start doing BBQ at some point.”

What is the secret to her pecan pie and corn bread? “My sister sends me pecans from Texas. My aunt told me how to make the sugar sauce. The corn bread I just tested until I got it the way It is - lots of work!”

The front of Miz Hattie’s spot in the Hudson Valley Food Hall.
Photo Credit: Katie Hellmuth Martin

The decor is unique to the Hudson Valley Food Hall. All of the food venues are, actually. Miz Hattie’s is wooden, rustic, and Southern. “My setup is all the things I had collected over the years,” Miz Hattie told A Little Beacon Blog.

The Hudson Valley Food Hall is open seven days, and so is Miz Hattie’s, open Monday to Thursday, 11 am to 8 pm for now (or until the bar closes), and Friday to Sunday, 11 am to 9 pm.

The Hudson Valley Food Hall is located at 288 Main St., Beacon.