Mint – Tapas and Wine Bar

April 5th, 2010

Mint, a stylish, low-key tapas and wine bar just opened at One West Strand, the site of the former Downtown Café. “We wanted to open up something with a nice atmosphere, a place to come for cocktails and tapas-style food,” said Alessandra Tecchio, who operates Mint with her sister, Ileana. Alessandra is also proprietress of Dolce café, around the corner, and she is now extending her culinary talents to the night crowd.

The food has a distinctly Mediterranean accent, not surprising considering the sisters’ native city is Venice, Italy. There are 10 tapas and 5 desserts on the menu, ranging from $3 to $12. Sample dishes include prosciutto on homemade focaccia with fig conserve (figs carmelized with onions in balsamic vinegar), a kale or white bean bruschetta, and a cheese fondue, with ham, bread, and fruit. There’s also a chocolate fondue, with berries, pound cake, pretzels, and macaroons. Other desserts are tiramisu and strawberries with mascarpone and limoncello.

The wines are French and Italian, along with an Argentine vintage, and include Cabernet Sauvignon, Cote du Rhone, and Fume Blanc. Mint opened with a performance by internationally known jazz singer Rebecca Martin, who also happens to be a Kingston resident. “Right now we’re doing music once a month,” with plans to expand the live performances to twice a month.  Mint is open Wednesday, Thursday and Sunday from 5 to 11 p.m. and Friday and Saturday from 5 to midnight.

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Top Nosh for Breakfast and Lunch

April 5th, 2010

You might have noticed the sign of the new breakfast and lunch place while tooling down Broadway: Top Nosh, at number 375, which opened a month ago. Owned by Kelly and Scott Nadler, the restaurant and caterer serves breakfast and lunch and is already doing a brisk business with the two hospitals (now merged as Health Alliance), catering meetings, presentations, and doctors’ meetings with drug reps, among other things.

 “Everything is made from scratch,” said Kelly. “The only thing we buy is French bread from Deising’s. We offer a full breakfast, as well as bagels and egg sandwiches and pancakes. Our regular lunch menu includes big salads, wraps and burgers. We have a food case that my husband fills up every day with things like eggplant rollatino, macaroni and cheese, and chicken cutlets.” Sample specials are roasted game hen with homemade macaroni and cheese and golden battered shrimp with a garlic lemon dipping sauce served over veggie fried rice. There’s chicken matzo ball soup and vegetarian chili, pesto Greek pasta, potato salad, pineapple jalapeno chutney over chicken fingers…getting hungry?

The lunch special ranges from $4.95 to $8.95. The average breakfast is $4 or $5, with the large combo including bacon and sausages and eggs and coffee priced at $9.95.  Breakfast is served all day. Top Nosh is open from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday, with plans to open weekends in the summer.

The Nadlers, who have seven employees, know their stuff, having operated the Black Bear Deli, across from the Hurley Ridge Market on Rt. 375, for many years. Kelly said after losing their lease—their success brought in so many cars the landlord didn’t want them to stay—they were scouting out new digs in Woodstock but were turned off by the “Manhattan rents.” Her father-in-law showed them a flyer about a building on Broadway for sale and told them to check it out, noting the proximity of the hospitals.

 “We bought the building and renovated all the way back to the walls,” said Kelly. “My experience so far has been wonderful. We’ve gotten a great reception.” Between the deliveries to City Hall, the two hospitals, the medical building next door, and the auto repair places, they’ve gotten plenty of business. “There’s lots of fast food” on the Broadway corridor, but at Top Nosh “it’s homemade fast food.”

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Elephant – Wine and Tapas Bar

April 5th, 2010

Elephant, located at 310 Wall Street, was named “best wine and tapas bar” by Hudson Valley Magazine two years in a row. It specializes in “nose to tails cuisine,” according to Rich Reeve, who opened the tapas bar three years ago with his wife, Maya Karrol. Lately he’s been cooking up Basque-style barbecue pigtails, flavored with smoked Spanish paprika. “I’ve cornered the market on tails,” Reeve said. “I get them from Fleisher’s, Adams and a third company, Northeast Family Farms.”  As for the nose, Reeve said head cheese was on the menu not too long ago.

The bar and dining area are located in a storefront transformed into a chic, minimal space with European panache. Elephant has no formal kitchen; Reeve whips up his small-plate concoctions using two toaster ovens, a hot plate, sandwich grill, freezer and couple of refrigerators. He serves 20 plates a night, including a few regulars (“I can’t take them off the menu or they’d kill me”): oyster sliders, lamburguesa, crispy pork belly tacos, roast parsnip and arugula salad, pickled beets and blue cheese salad. Other sample dishes are crab gratin and shaved Brussels sprouts.  The price range is from $3 to $15 (sometimes a little higher), and all wines are sold by the glass, from $6 to $10.

Reeves said that Elephant had “a remarkably good year. We’re looking forward to the new businesses opening in Uptown.” Open from 4 to 10 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, the place starts getting busy around 7 or 8 p.m. “We have a cool diverse crows that hangs out here,” Reeve said. “We’re not your typical restaurant. We get a lot of restaurant people from all over the area, younger artists and transplanted locals.

“It’s been fun, and we watch our pennies,” he added. “We still spin records. And I got a new tattoo”—bringing his total to six. Of course, “I get them locally too.”

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