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Hudson Bits & Bites

Photo: New York Locations

• In addition to the Allen Street School, controversial developer T. Eric Galloway is said to be closing in on a deal for at least one other Eleanor Ambos property in Hudson: the vast Pocketbook Factory. Ambos also owns the former Elks Club (the large Italianate building at Union and 6th, which used to have a bowling alley in the basement). There is some indication that she is liquidating her local holdings.
• Title insurer Jim Monahan told this site today that contrary to some reports, the title work he has done for the City of Hudson was performed at no charge; and that until very late in the process he was never asked to answer questions about the Standard Oil site. Rather, Monahan says that his brief from the City was relatively narrow, and that he had been unaware of debates taking place at meetings and online over the status of the Standard Oil site until his pro bono work came under fire. He added that in conversation with Crawford & Associates, he was told that they had “not even started” their environmental review of the proposed acreage; and that he does not have an opinion at this point on the ownership of the 4.4 acres identified by The Valley Alliance as likely being owned by the City of Hudson, rather than by Holcim. 
• Work on Food Studio, a new Asian-influenced restaurant in the 600 block, continues steadily, with hopes of a summer opening.
• Four properties owned by artist David Deutsch, who at one point was contemplating an ambitious northside redevelopment plan with architect Teddy Cruz, hit the MLS recently. These include the former Nicole Fiacco gallery (once the VFW), the cinderblock across from the Opera House (formerly Mark McDonald’s 330 gallery, and before that Harold’s Lounge), and the two empty lots between them, which look like one lot. The asking price for all four is $1.6 million.

Preview of Fish & Game, and bonus pics

My preview of Fish & Game, Zak Pelaccio’s new Hudson restaurant which officially opened this week, went live at The New York Observer (not to be confused with The Hill Country Observer) on Thursday—link here. Below are some bonus pictures by Laetitia Hussain:

Chef Zak Pelaccio, builder Peggy Anderson, Jason Wyckoff, jewelery designer Shana Lee

Architect/designer Michael Davis, headhunter Kevin Delahanty, bassist Melissa Auf der Maur

Bartender Kat Dunn serves producer (and Fish & Game backer) Patrick Milling Smith and filmmaker Tony Stone of Basilica Industria

Peter Heilman, who built Fish & Game’s tables, bar, carts, stools et al., dining with his wife at last Friday’s preview dinner

View of the dining room, second fireplace, and carnage. 

View toward the lounge, showing the old walls maintained as a ruin, Red Light District wallpaper, and staircase to an upstairs private room.

Swan seeks to erase black mark

In December, Tivoli’s Black Swan Pub lost its liquor license after an undercover sting “resulted in documentation of 13 underage purchases,” according to The Kingston Freeman.

Writing in Chronogram, music critic Peter Aaron characterized this as “a dubious bust” which requires the popular pub to lay its hands on $30,000 “to regain its license and get right with the authorities.” Owner Mike Nickerson writes:

“[O]ur license to serve you was suspended by the State Liquor Authority for a number of reasons - underage drinkers got in (the ID’s we were shown seemed to disappear as soon as the cops showed up), an unlicensed bouncer (Licensed bouncers? In Tivoli? Well it’s the Law for the whole state, not just the big cities), and storing liquor and records “off premises” (on the second floor of the Swan, upstairs in a locked office, but considered “off premise” because there is no indoor staircase).

So now the Swan (which does have many fans besides Bard students running up a tab on a parent’s credit card) has launched an online fundraising campaign to try to get those funds together.

The money will go, per Nickerson, to paying a $15,000 fine plus “the purchase of an ID scanner at $2,000, moving the liquor to a new location on the first floor, and registering with the State Department as a Security Company.”

With 11 days left in the campaign, $13,390 has been raised. Donations of $20 or more earn the donor a number of perks. $50 gets the donor a limited edition t-shrit, some partyinvites and a draft beer once the Swan reopens; for $250, you can have a brass plaque with your name on it mounted on the bar for $250. (Less than $20 earns you a “warm fuzzy feeling.”)

What good is red sauce without wine?

Local listings maven, radio personality, and Hudson 3rd Ward Supervisor Ellen Thurston informs this site that Dionysos restaurant in Athens has had its liquor license reinstated by the State Liquor Authority. The plight of the waterfront Italian restaurant with the Greek name had been the subject of a 400-signature Change.org petition. Dionysos will reportedly resume serving wine and booze tomorrow night.

Bits & bites

Image from Star Chefs

It’s been a light week for posting here, due to other obligations, and also the fact that I don’t like to post just for the sake of posting... That said, here are a few regional tidbits worth reporting:

• Chef/author Zak Pelaccio’s much-anticipated upstate restaurant with Jori Jayne Emde on South 3rd Street in Hudson reportedly will be called Fish & Game, with renovations continuing at a fever pace in hopes of opening this winter.


• HUMP, a/k/a the Hudson Museum of Photography, opens this Saturday with a solo show by Stephen Johnson entitled Moonman. HUMP is located at 552 Warren Street.


• After a hiatus following the death of Don Blasko, his wife Mady has reopened the Turnpike Inn.


• In other Town of Ghent drinking news, longtime Kozel’s bartender Ned has stepped down to enjoy some well-deserved leisuretime after many years of solid service. It’s rare to find a real oldschool barkeep of Ned’s caliber around here.


• Laetitia Hussain’s recent three-story installation at John Davis Gallery, Sycamorphology has sold and is said to be headed to a publicly-accessible space in New York City.


• According to several sources the Laskin family is no longer involved with the operation of TCI of NY, the PCB waste company David Laskin moved to Ghent from Newburgh after a fire there in the 1980s. It thus presumably was just a coincidence that (as several other sources have pointed out) the 165-acre Laskin family compound in Old Chatham went on the market for $3,200,000 on August 3rd—just two days after the most recent and most catastrophic TCI fire.


• Also regarding TCI, Albany TV stations and other print outlets are reporting that the August 1st fire has been cleared of any suspicion of arson by the New York State Police, though their official report on the cause of the fire is not complete. The August conflagration was TCI’s second fire of 2012, and occurred in the context of a series of other fires in the Route 9H corridor—one of which was affirmatively deemed an arson. (Since the time of this site’s post on that topic, residents have noted several additional fires on roads just slightly off 9H.)


• It’s come to this site’s attention that several Hudson elected officials are unaware that the City has an adopted Comprehensive Plan, which can be downloaded in two parts via this link. The plan straddled the Cranna and Scalera administrations, being developed in 2000-2001 and passed in 2002. Due to the then-raging St. Lawrence Cement controversy, and the City’s decision to hire SLC’s own planning firm as its consultant, the final plan was greatly watered down, but it does include a few useful nuggets; more on that next week, probably.


• This Sunday will feature the last farmer’s market of the season in Philmont, according to Sally Baker of PB, Inc. The market’s hours are 10 am to 1 pm.

The Churchtown Dairy

Churchtown aerial image via Bing.com

One of Columbia County’s most serene stretches of unspoiled open land can be found at the border of Claverack and Churchtown. County Route 12 bisects two vast, undeveloped fields—uncluttered by anything but one small barn, a handful of cows, a couple of Percheron horses, and clusters of grazing deer.

So when residents suddenly saw earthworks underway on the north side of CR12, there was naturally some alarm and upset.

However, it now appears that the plans for this valued landscape is not cause for alarm, and maybe something quite welcome. Minutes of the County Planning Board from last February reveal that the Rockefeller-backed Foundation for Agricultural Integrity is establishing a dairy farm there, to be limited to a hoop barn, greenhouse, and farm store/farmstand. “We’ll be able to walk in and get fresh milk and cheese,” said one enthusiastic neighbor on Taghkanic-Churchtown Road, who tipped me to the plan.

With Churchtown having lost its general store some years ago, it also may be nice for this sleepy corner of the County to have something of a gathering spot. It’s sort of a shame to see anything built on this greenspace, but at least this will maintain its pastoral character—rather than being littered with spec homes; and if they’ll serve their cream with a side of coffee, they’ll get my business...

Bacon Fest: sucks if you felt burned

The promoters of Bacon Fest are offering an apology following widespread complaints about last weekend’s first-time event in Hudson. “We apologize if we inadvertently left people feeling disappointed. That sucks and we are sorry,” says the unattributed statement on the event’s website. 

Many attendees who did not arrive at the event’s 9 am opening bell did not get much if any charred pig fat, apparently due to organizers and exhibitors underestimating popular demand.

“Lots of people came to Bacon Fest and didn’t get any bacon,” confessed one of the judges on his blog.

After boasting that 3,000 people attended—1,000 for free after the bacon ran out within a matter of hours—and that $3,000 was raised for charity, and that “the streets of Hudson were overflowing with people, most of them wearing bacon t-shirts,” Bacon Fest gets around to expressing its regrets:

“It was never our intention to shortchange anyone on food or fun. Where we exceeded in motivation, enthusiasm and dedication, we fell short on experience. We know better now, and from these mistakes we will build a better executed festival for next year.”

(Note: Hudson-Catskill Newspapers reported attendance in the “hundreds.”)

Looking on the bright side, event organizers further posit that “it was an unintended compliment to the day that festival goers, unhappy with the state of the event, took to the streets to search out other food options and poured into the businesses of Hudson, many for the first time ever.”

But “all that being said,” the statement continues, “the day was not a total success.” Indeed, the one-day festival has been getting raked over the coals on its Facebook page...

• “What a disappointment... no bacon smell and some of the vendors didn't even have bacon.”


• “I was very disappointed in this festival. I will not attend again. Troy’s Pig Out is much more worth the trip than Hudson. There is NO cover charge and goes for two days without running out of food or Bacon.”


• “Very disappointed that when I was in line at 1:00 with advanced tickets , was only offered a 50% refund if we entered.”


• We showed up at 10am and were disapointed by the size of the event for the $10 entrance fee. We left and went to the Chatham Fair which was HUGE and fun. I run an event for 1,000 people and use the same tent company and your tent was a 1/4 of the size of our tent. It's such a beautiful location and I expected so much more.”
  


• “Still so angry over this.”

... and in the comments on the Albany Times-Union’s various food blog posts:

• Personally, I think that would be a great release for a public relations professor to take and give to a class to rip apart.


• This was a complete waste of time; not enough vendors, not enough samples, not enough to make me go back again.
  


• We went to the garlic fest on Saturday, in Bennington. That was AWESOME! Note to baconfest organizers: just copy them.  

Vowing to return, Bacon Fest says that “we know better now, and from these mistakes we will build a better executed festival for next year” to continue their stated goal of “work[ing] together to build a better world, especially one fueled by the power of bacon... never underestimate the power of bacon.” *Grunt.*

Beer invoice, 1913

C.H. Evans invoice, from a private collection in Hudson (NY).

Dan-ish MODern

Dana Wegener, whose previous Hudson restaurant MOD was abruptly closed when the landlord padlocked it earlier this year, has happily landed down the street. Her new breakfast-and-lunch place Relish will be open today until 3 pm at the former Strongtree location across from the Amtrak station, according to Rebeccah Johnson, who forwarded the above photo.

Misc. notes (mostly nutritious)

Miscellaneous notes from around Hudson and its environs:

• Café on the Hudson, which briefly graced Riverview Street in Stuyvesant with organic, locally-sourced meals (the buckwheat pancakes were a real treat) appears not to be reopening after what was expected to be a Winter hiatus; for rent signs are in the windows.


• Dana Wegener, the proprietor of MOD Restaurant who was unceremoniously locked out of her own Front Street establishment earlier this summer, is said to be reopening as a breakfast/lunch spot in the former Strongtree location, across from the Amtrak station in Hudson.


• The Chai Shop in the 400 block (across from Swallow and upstreet from Spotty Dog) is going to start serving Indian dinners starting July 21st, though on Friday and Saturday nights only for starters.


• Crimson Sparrow’s Sunday brunch is a great way for those wanting to try out the chefs’ ambitious cooking (and equally novel interior renovations in Hudson’s 700 block to do so without making a major investment. Their flat $16 brunch menu allows you to choose four items from a list of a dozenoptions, from waffles to fried green tomatoes.


• The former Richter’s building in the 500 block (for decades a local source of tube socks and jumpsuits) has reportedly sold to Kinderhook’s John Knott, who is said to be planning a different sort of men’s shop there—likely to carry more Brooks Brothers-y haberdashery than FUBU sweatshirts.


• Dan Gibson, proprietor of Grazin’ Angus Acres in Ghent and the Grazin’ diner in Hudson, has taken over Milk Thistle Farm’s former dairy operations whichsadly closed last winter.


• Renovations at the former Fabrications and Mix locations (in Hudson’s 400 and 500 block, respectively) seem to be going slowly, with paper still up in the windows of each. Work on the former Verdigris location on 3rd Street, where NYC restaurateur Zak Peliccio is aiming to extend his Fatty Crab/Fatty ’Cue empire, looks to be actively progressing. Also in the renovations department, work is likewise moving along on former Etsy honcho Rob Kalin’s North Front Street warehouse, the future home of his new Parachutes venture, though it’s likely to take a while given the size and condition of the building.


• TOAD, which has moved its mountain of tie-dyed tees and headshop paraphernalia around Warren Street probably a half-dozen times in the past 15 years, has lost its most recent location in the 700 block due to the sale of the building... No doubt it will reëmerge from under some other lilypad in town.

Hudson in Food & Wine

A Taghkanic neighbor, John Schoebel, passed along this photo of a page from the current issue of Food & Wine, which evidently includes a feature on Hudson dining—including among others Café Le Perche, Da|Ba and Crimson Sparrow. (Haven’t seen the full issue yet, and the piece doesn’t show up on the magazine’s website.)

UPDATE: Another reader reports that the feature is a general travel piece on the Hudson Valley and the Berkshires, though with Hudson restaurants well-represented per above.

Aches and (growing) pains for Acres

The board of Acres Co-op has announced to supporters that organizer Peter Pehrson has “resigned from the board and the co-op” after he and a “majority of the board disagreed on how to proceed” in creating a cooperative food market in Hudson.

Some signs of friction between the Board and its director are evident in the message, which otherwise praises Pehrson’s vision as an “inspiring” attempt to address “real needs.”

But the Board suggests that it was mistaken when it “assumed that [Pehrson] understood all that this project would require – the nuts-and-bolts as well as the good ideas. We followed his lead, more or less uncritically. When it came time to commit to the lease, however, we had only a fraction of the money required for inventory, equipment, and other expenses needed to establish a store.”

This comes on the heels of two false starts on market locations—one uptown, near the 7th Street park, and downtown, at the former Hudson Electric. Finding itself at a late stage in this year’s growing season, the Acres Board concludes that “it would be self-defeating to open without adequate funds to operate for at least a year.”

Acres has thus suspended activity to devote itself to formulating a more “realistic plan” while promising to “refund what remains of membership fees received.” (It isn’t indicated how large or small those remains might be.)

Meanwhile, a non-coop market along the lines of Guido’s in Great Barrington is said by some to be the goal of the new owners of the former Ackerman’s location in the uppermost block of Warren Street. Also, the Filli family from Claverack is reportedly exploring the idea of occupying a building currently owned by Eric Galloway in the 400 block, though questions about the buildout of the proposed location remain. (Experience advises against any breath being held over market and hotel rumors in Hudson, though one can always hope.)

And of course, the Hudson Farmer’s Market is open and seemingly thriving on Saturday’s. It remains, however, that Hudson still has not had a steady food market in town since the early 1990s.