Thyme & Co.
347 Warren Street, HudsonHoping to break the confines of a traditional restaurant kitchen, Carrie Fogg-Shaw and her wife Rebecca opened Thyme & Co in 2018. Together, with help from their small team of professional chef friends, the Fogg-Shaws have created a positive working environment that allows patrons to dine in an unpretentious and inviting atmosphere. The breakfast and lunch menus are small but the dishes are substantial, centered around comfort food made with locally sourced ingredients. For breakfast, they serve a $5 egg and cheese sandwich, also available with bacon, sausage, or avocado for $8. If you're in the mood for something heartier, the meatball sandwich on the lunch menu, made with Fat Apple Farm pork meatballs, tomato salsa, provolone, and garlic braised greens, is $13. Recent highlights on the specials board include porchetta and short rib sandwiches, a gorgeous charred cauliflower sandwich, and a vegan "cream" of broccoli soup. Sweet treats like cookies, doughnuts, and cakes are usual suspects on the countertop, as well.
Bloody Mary Festival | April 4
Senate Garage, 4 North Front Street, KingstonOnly rest, water, and electrolyte replacement can cure a hangover. In a pinch, however, a Bloody Mary will do just fine, thank you. Now in its seventh year, Golden Tomato Productions has been staging events across the country celebrating everyone's favorite brunch drink (sorry mimosa). On April 4, the Bloody Mary Festival comes to the Hudson Valley for an afternoon of day drinking at the Senate Garage in Kingston. Expect innovative, weird, and wacky concoctions from participating local restaurants like Liberty Street Bistro, Phoenicia Diner, Gracie's Luncheonette, and Oriole 9, among others. Two sessions: 12-2pm and 2:30-4:30pm. Food will also be served, for those who go in for that sort of thing.
Saisonnier
11 Chatham Street, Kinderhook
666 Broadway, Kingston
After sitting empty for over a decade, the former Midtown Chophouse space on the corner of Broadway and Downs Street in Midtown is getting new a lease on life as Masa Midtown. ("Masa" is the Turkish word for table.) The new proprietor is Ozlem Oguzcan-Cranston, known as Chef Oz. Oguzcan-Cranston and her husband purchased the building housing Masa at 666 Broadway last April and have spent the last year renovating the 60-seat restaurant space. Masa Midtown, like Turkish-born Chef Oz, is Turkish to the core, and will feature traditional Turkish and Mediterranean fare like zucchini herb fritters with lemon garlic yogurt; raki-steamed mussels with fennel seed, tomato jus, and charred pita; yogurt-marinated chicken thighs on the bone with basmati rice; and filo spring rolls with spinach, kale, shallots, and feta cream. Masa is set to open as a catering and events space on March 1. Oguzcan-Cranston plans to operate in a limited capacity for a few months while the restaurant works out the kinks and Chef Oz can secure a full liquor license. She plans to open Masa as a full-service Turkish restaurant by summer. Liberty Street Bistro Update
We're big fans of Michael Kelly's Liberty Street Bistro in Newburgh. Kelly's meticulous attention to detail at his restaurant continues to set a high standard for food and service in the region. It was with some trepidation that we learned in late February that Kelly had promoted Layla Saif to chef de cuisine, essentially ceding day-to-day oversight of the kitchen to her. Nothing against Saif, we're just sad to see Kelly out of the kitchen. Saif is a Jordanian native who attended the CIA and joined the Liberty Street Bistro team in November 2017. Prior to coming to Newburgh, Saif worked at The Hop in Beacon. We contacted Kelly via email. "My goal here was to allow Chef Saif to shine and express her creativity and talent," Kelly says. "She is a force all her own in the kitchen and it seemed irrational to squander that talent by not giving my her my full authority to put her mark on Liberty Street Bistro." Expect to see a dinner menu relaunch, as well as the addition of lunch service at the restaurant.
