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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 “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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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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 Monkey Joe Roasting Company Inc., located in a charming, largely intact 1906 former oyster bar with tiled floor, tin ceiling and original wainscoting at 468 Broadway, is a European-style coffee bar that roasts its own beans, imbuing the air of Midtown with a distinctive fragrance. “We’re a single-origin roaster,” said co-owner Gabe Cicale, explaining that each coffee is from a particular region or farm. Monkey Joe sells coffee by the pound and also wholesales to restaurants, cafes and shops.

Gabe and Kathy from Monkey Joe's

In mid January, Monkey Joe was featured in the newsletter published by Terra Coffee, an internationally recognized sustainable coffee farm in Brazil. And this spring, its coffee will hit the big screen, with a product placement and credit in a new romantic comedy entitled Almost Perfect. Cicale said last October he met the producers of a film being shot in midtown Kingston, and he asked them if they ever catered coffee for the staff. By a strange coincidence, the next day he got a call from another producer based in New York asking whether Monkey Joe would supply the coffee for a film being shot in the Big Apple. “They liked the name, and they wanted to use a local company,” he said. Open Mon. through Fri., 6:30-6, and Sat. 7:30-4.

 Dolce, located at 27 Broadway in the Rondout, serves authentic Italian espresso—proprietor Alessandra Tecchio was born and raised in Italy—and coffee from local roaster Catskill Mountain Organic. Besides café au lait, latte, and other coffee drinks, she offers hot chocolate from her own mix, with homemade marshmallows. Tecchio bakes all her own tea breads, muffins, scones and cookies, and the lunch fare consists of crepes, sandwiches, soups and paninis. The brick walls are hung with the fauve paintings of Kingston scenes by local artist Todd Samara. Dolce is open Wed-Sun from 8am to 4pm.

Hudson Coffee Traders, at 288 Wall St., also features paintings by Samara, as well as a rotunda room (the space was a former bank) featuring revolving art shows. There’s free WIFI and the space is frequently used for meetings by local businesses. Co-owner Donna Brooks said she pays a premium for the single-origin coffees she gets from a micro roaster, which obtains the beans directly from the farm. There’s always a dark roast, and the selection reflects the different coffee growing seasons around the world. The baristas have to undergo several months of training to become masters of serving up the lattes, whose foam of steamed milk is embellished with a flower or fern-like design.

Gabriel’s Café & Bakery, which occupies an old-fashioned store front and elegant, high ceilinged side room at 50 John St., is as popular for its food as for its coffee. Owner Gabe Vasquez, a native of Columbia, bakes all the bread and pastries, which includes croissants on Saturday, using organic flour and grains and free-range eggs. The huevas rancheros is served all day and is a favorite among regulars. The substantial lunch menu includes  specials, and Gabe said his is planning to offer more eclectic, Ltin American entries in the near future. Currently the photo montages of Maggie Sherwood, the late founder of the Floating Foundation of Photography, the iconic purple houseboat docked in Manhattan, are on display.  Open Mon.-Friday from 8:30-4:30 and Sat. from 9:30-3:30.

Dominick’s Café at Dream Weavers (the hair salon next door) occupies the corner of Wall and North Front Sts., its mirrored bar and spacious dining area a favorite place for locals and the occasional tourist to settle down over coffee or lunch with a newspaper. The desserts, biscotti and pastries are all made on the premises. Owner Dominick Vanacore said the coffee beans are obtained from Chris’s Coffee, a micro roaster based in Albany, and the daily selection always includes a dark roast.  The café also serves soups, paninis, and substantial lunch specials, such as turkey meatloaf with spinach and grilled chicken. Dominick’s also does catering, putting together lunches for visiting pharmaceutical reps at doctor’s offices and serving private parties up to 40 people.      Open Mon.-Sat., from 7:30 – 7 and Sun. from 9-4.

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