The Making of a Foodtown U.S.A.
Adding one restaurant style—plus farmers' market, winemaker, and food artisan—at a time, the little Hudson River town of Rhinebeck has evolved into a very good place to eat. Sally V. Keil reports on America's jubilant food revolution in microcosm.
Posted: June 12, 2009
It's Friday night at Mercato Osteria & Enoteca, and appetizing smells waft from the open kitchen as chef Francesco Buitoni, red bandana keeping his dark hair out of his eyes, shouts "Ciao, Bella! Ciao, Bello!" to us through the steam of boiling pasta water. The phone rings with people calling in reservations on their cell phones en route from the city to their country houses. Buitoni's restaurant partner and wife, Michele Platt, a film production manager who worked on Chocolat, welcomes us with kisses and seats us at the wine bar for glasses of Santa Maria La Palma Le Bombarde, enoteca-style from the all-Italian wine list. On the wall, two rustically framed burlap bags, once filled with Pasta Raffinata Extra Buitoni, hint at the pedigree of the chef. Soon the food and beverage service activity is just this side of manageable, and the animated voice level in the room, a former 19th century tavern, is just the friendly side of cacophonous, while in an adjacent room decorated with shelves of packaged Italian artisanal pastas, a private party sits down at a long sturdy table, where Mario Batali and friends recently celebrated his birthday.
Welcome to Foodtown U.S.A., specifically Rhinebeck, New York, and environs, situated 100 pastoral miles up the Hudson River from New York City. Twenty years ago, my husband and I bought an old Victorian farmhouse here and moved our business and ourselves out of the city to become, unbeknownst to us, participants in a nationwide phenomenon: the serious "fooding" of a small American town. In lockstep with food lovers like us, the American food revolution has spread from major cities to smaller cities and beyond into small rural townships, creating pride of place and unprecedented opportunities to eat well in the heartland.
As a food town in the making, Rhinebeck has always had "there there." Settled around 1700, it's a very American place, with one stoplight, a real five-and-ten-cent store, a rousing Memorial Day parade, and streets that are a living museum of American architecture. The Lutheran church's parishioner-cooked turkey dinner has been going strong every autumn since 1861 (the secret of their legendary dressing: mix everyone's together in a big pot and serve). Surrounding farms have fed the New York metropolitan area for generations, right up to today's green markets. The Culinary Institute of America happens to sit just a short drive south. Activities at nearby Bard and Vassar contribute to a multigenerational mix of longtime locals, urban émigrés like us, weekenders, and visitors to a picturesque destination town near good antiquing, music festivals, and local fairs. "But as insiders know," a New York Times travel reporter noted, "the best activity in Rhinebeck is eating."
Astute town officials, in a firm but genteel way, have maintained the town's golden-goose authentic charm by making it difficult for chains and franchises to get a foothold here, thus giving independent eateries the chance to thrive. When looking for a fund-raiser, our local hospital thought up A Taste of Rhinebeck, now an annual event attracting 300 food enthusiasts who make a passeggiata through town sampling from nearly two dozen participating food establishments.
A Taste of Rhinebeck would have been unthinkable 20 years ago. As city folks embracing country life, my husband and I planted a kitchen garden, an orchard, and a small vineyard, but we immediately began searching for good restaurants. Our home terroir then boasted three: Le Petit Bistro (traditional French), an affable family restaurant called Foster's Coach House Tavern, and the Beekman Arms—"The Beek," as locals nicknamed it—a sprawling white clapboard establishment claiming to be the oldest continuously operated inn in America. But in the evening, when we exited Upstate Films, Rhinebeck's film-buff haven, the streets of the town were empty.
In the late 1980s, a CIA graduate, sticking a toe in, opened a gourmet take-out shop across from the Beekman Arms that quickly became the talk of the town. Then a restaurateur from across the Hudson installed a wood-fired oven in a former Baptist church and brought gourmet pizza to Rhinebeck. As welcome as these openings were, Rhinebeck was poised to take a culinary quantum leap. In 1991, An American Place founder Larry Forgione opened The Beekman 1766 Tavern (now The Tavern at the Beekman Arms) in the Beekman Arms. Unimaginably, Rhinebeck was now home to one of the New York Times's 10 best regional destination restaurants. Forgione recognized that the homegrown, homemade American regional food movement was Rhinebeck. His menu featured local Coach Farm cheese on locally grown mesclun, locally raised venison and vegetable potpie, local foie gras, and Hudson Valley apple crisp. Just reading "Hudson Valley" on the menu brought a flash of pleasure and pride.
After Forgione came to town, one food "event" after another energized town life. Chef Pam Barich with artist Bruce Murphy opened China Rose, with a river view and serving freshly made goat cheese wontons and sake Margaritas. Rhinebeck opened its own farmers' market Sunday mornings in the town parking lot, where we greeted our neighbors—Ben and Phyllis Feder of Clinton Vineyards, offering tastings of their local Seyval Blanc; Elizabeth Ryan of Breezy Hill Orchard, selling her orchard-ripe fruit and freshly made ciders; and local growers Darryl and Debby Mosher of Brittany Hollow Farm, offering farm-fresh produce. Meanwhile, in the cheerful blue and white front room of an old house across from the Beekman Arms, CIA graduate Anthony Balassone and his pastry chef wife, Leslie, both Hudson Valley natives, opened Calico Restaurant & Patisserie (see "How Green Is My Valley," Food Arts, June 2000, page 50). Their fresh-daily New American cuisine, an accessible microcosm of Forgione's fare, was an instant success, though for many of us, the main event was a mouthwatering glass case filled with Sarah Bernhardts, marquises, arlequins, and other truly world-class pastries created in the basement kitchen by Leslie, who had apprenticed with Boston's Delphin Gomes and with Manfred Hirtz at Patisserie Salzburg in Rye, New York. Calico and its pastries became a destination in themselves.
For the Balassones and other chef/owners to come, our town was not just an off-off Broadway venue to hone their skills for the big time but a place to live and do what they love, with a life-work balance elusive elsewhere. The Balassones work 13 hour days, five days a week, leaving time for Leslie to run marathons and Anthony to play golf, even for the couple to take overnight trips together. The secret to a happy marriage of co-chef/owners in a food town? "Separate kitchens," Leslie says.
The autumn of 2001 brought a restaurant event that both reflected and transformed Rhinebeck. The introduction of Mediterranean cucina rustica in a full-blown trattoria was cofinanced by actor Stanley Tucci; chef, nutritionist, and cookbook author Laura Pensiero; and her then partner, Italian-born chef Gianni Scappin, consulting chef for Big Night. Since 2003 with Pensiero at the helm (Scappin opened Cucina in Woodstock in 2008), Gigi Trattoria not only serves authentic Italian dishes such as rigatoni with sausage and peas, handmade gnocchi, and tomato-braised lamb shank but also focuses on fresh local ingredients such as maple syrup and squash for the polenta and free-range chickens from nearby Northwind Farms. Just as important, Gigi's spacious, Tuscan-hued interior with a high-design metallic bar is the perfect platform for the stylish Pensiero to greet new arrivals. The Prosecco flows at the town's first see-and-be-seen Manhattan-style evening scene.
While we were thronging to Gigi's, extensive renovations were going on across the street at the former Baptist church-turned-pizzeria. Josh Kroner, the young chef/owner of Terrapin, a highly rated restaurant across the Hudson in Woodstock named after a Grateful Dead song, was creating his longtime dream of a Gramercy Tavern-inspired dual restaurant in Rhinebeck. A French Culinary Institute graduate and third generation chef/owner, Kroner not only brought experience working with Bobby Flay at Mesa Grill and with Emeril Lagasse at the Food Network, but Woodstock had made him an early adapter in the local, organic, and gourmet vegetarian food movement. His ever evolving network of suppliers included "back door farmers," who still come to his kitchen with a flat of tomatoes or 10 pounds of chanterelles.
Kroner's new Terrapin opened in 2003 and served up a two-tiered food experience that was perfectly suited to a burgeoning food town. On one side of the old church, Terrapin's fine dining restaurant served a New American blend of classical French with Asian, Italian, and Southwestern influences, along with Kroner family recipes like Uncle Vinny's special rigatoni. On the other side, Terrapin's Red Bistro featured a 25 seat eat-at bar, comfortable booths, an easygoing atmosphere, and a modestly priced menu including tapas (the macadamia nut tempura calamari with pineapple dipping sauce continues to be our favorite) and assemble-your-own sandwiches, from beer battered cod to a grass-fed beef burger. What's more, Red Bistro stays open until 1 a.m. Now, after we emerge from Upstate Films, the streets of town are lit up and lively.
As Rhinebeck grew as a food hub, young chefs spread out, seeking lower rents minutes north in more laid-back Red Hook, near Bard College. Pastry chef Dan Budd opened Taste Budd's, an academe-flavored crash pad-cum-global village eatery with WiFi that was instantly filled with students and town residents sitting at tables eating "alternative foods," lounging on slightly sprung sofas and drinking cappuccinos and smoothies or munching Budd's artisanal chocolate confections.
Meanwhile, in a quiet debut, Buitoni with Platt opened Mercato Tivolio, a homey, rustic eat-in/carry-out tucked away behind a local Federal-style inn. There, using a butane-fired camp stove, a panini grill, and a toaster oven, Buitoni made fresh pastas and sauces, hearty Italian soups, and innovative panini that soon drew a devoted lunch crowd savoring the intense experience of Italian food. True to its name, Mercato displayed high quality imported Italian olive oil, olives, and exotic dried pastas for sale, which also served as decor.
A winning combination of talent, blue-chip culinary heritage, molto simpatico personality, and committed locavore attitude, Buitoni himself personified the American food town phenomenon. The seventh generation scion of the Italian pasta dynasty of Buitoni, he was born in Manhattan in 1969, while his father boldly introduced Buitoni pasta to the American market. Buitoni lived half of his childhood outside of Rome, being taken out to the wheat fields of Puglia with his paternal grandfather and cooking at his maternal grandmother's elbow, dipping bread into her sauces simmering on the stove ("Francesco, basta!"). Back in America, Buitoni expanded his culinary skills, including stints with Tony May at Gemelli and as Batali's sommelier at Otto.
In 2007, Mercato lunch/take-out was reborn Mercato Osteria & Enoteca, a fusion of Northeast American storefront and authentic Roman ristorante. Mercato's menu, emphasizing traditional Italian seasonal eating, changes daily and includes fresh pastas, a risotto, and several entrées, all made with the finest imported ingredients, combined with fresh local produce and meats. Local organic free-range chicken is roasted with imported Italian olives; imported farro is cooked with local white raisins macerated with imported olive oil and vinegars. Buitoni's flavors are harmonious and sumptuous, the portions generous, the dishes subtly educational. He has introduced us to grilled wild ramps, smashed pink potatoes, and fregola, delicious toasted couscous-like semolina pasta served with fish in Sardinia. "The typical feedback about our food is 'It tastes fresh!'" Buitoni says. "We try to cook everything that day, unless it's better if it sits overnight, like a haircut."
Typical of foodtown chefs, Buitoni is constantly on the go, driving into New York City once a week and around the countryside the rest of the time picking up freshly picked produce, local cheeses from Old Chatham or Coach Farm, freshly slaughtered meats from Adams Fairacre Farms. As in his European childhood, Buitoni enjoys going to the source. "At Ronnybrook Farm Dairy, I go into this big cooler and pick out my cream and ice cream, and I always think, 'There are people in some big city buying this product, and I'm right here where it comes from,'" he says.
Increasingly well-fed and well-traveled, we "foodtowners" eat out, in part, to spark our souls about a wider world "out there." In 2004, "out there" came to Rhinebeck. Entering the new Sabroso, we wondered, "Where are we?" Buenos Aires? Barcelona? Sabroso was impressively haute decor for Rhinebeck, with its black-clad waitstaff, Latin backbeat, and Reidel glassware and Fortessa dishes set on soft white linens. The engaging co-chef/owners Marcia Miller and Erica Mahlkuch, encouraged us to try a Caipirinha made with Brazilian sugarcane rum. The waitstaff were like enthusiastic translator/tour guides through Sabroso's menu, which combined the local familiar (picked up at local farm stands by Mil-ler and Mahlkuch on their way to work) with the exotic and authentic (from a large Latin food market in the Bronx and a quality Latin foods supplier in New Jersey). There were South American arepas; a salad of crisp pork belly, fresh and pickled watermelon on local mesclun; startling platos principales, such as coconut-crusted crab cakes on mashed yuca with guajillo sauce and tropical fruit salsa and pork tenderloin with Puerto Rican mofongo and balsamic molasses mole sauce.
While Sabroso expanded our horizons, Rhinebeck's new Arielle Bistro brought us back to the very essence of this food town—gracious country living. The atmosphere is country French with comfortable tulle-covered cushions, rustic exposed beams, and a whiff of North Africa in the air. Patricia Rebraca, co-owner with her husband Nick, greeted us with a smile worthy of the movies (in fact, she soon left town for a two week film shoot) and proudly showed us Arielle's upstairs lounge—a Rhinebeck first. The Rebracas, after 20 years as chef/owners of Panorella's in Manhattan, moved their family to Rhinebeck and turned the Gilded Age Belvedere Mansion, with its columned porch and commanding view of the Hudson and Catskills, into a successful boutique wedding and conference center. Once we were seated for brunch, we met Arielle's and the Mansion's executive chef, Darek Tidwell, a Dallas native and CIA graduate. "The town was bistroed out," Tidwell told us. "So we decided to go back to basics." Arielle's menu includes such classics as steak-frites, rack of lamb, and cassoulet.
The arrival of each new restaurant here has followed psychologist Erik Erikson's dictum that "the baby raises the family as much as the family raises the baby." "People have come to trust us and are eager to try new things," adds Leslie Balassone, after gleefully adding cinnamon cake with a cayenne pepper mousse to her pastry case. "This is such an amazing town for food," Tidwell says. "Our customers are driving us." Tidwell recently offered foie gras brûlée with peach and Sauternes chili. "Thirty-five of them flew out the kitchen," he says.
No matter how sophisticated the food or the customers become, though, keeping a small town flavor is key to success.
Facing economic uncertainties without access to big-city crowds, chefs must be creative outside the kitchen. Kroner blogs amiably to his e-mail list, hosts tastings and other events, and offers invitingly low prix-fixe fine dining during the week. Budd drives his locally famous "chocolate truck" to serve at events at the local fairgrounds (see "Four-Star Fair Fare," Front Burner, Food Arts, July/ August 2005, page 23). Pensiero has opened Gigi Market and Café in an old dairy barn in Red Hook, providing a venue for local farmers and food producers, including Gigi's own products.
As chefs here continue to attract us with culinary adventures, this American food town has come of age. "People who grew up here or who went to the CIA now come back remembering when," says Murphy of China Rose, which opened in 1995. "We keep it small," adds Anthony Balassone of Calico, celebrating its 15th anniversary, "and we keep getting it down right."
Sally V. Keil is a Rhinebeck, New York-based freelance writer.
