FRESH ‘N’ EASY–The Name Says It All!

September 26th, 2011

The Fresh’n'Easy Bakery at 331 Hasbrouck Avenue in midtown Kingston has only been open since June, but it has already attracted scores of regulars from the nearby Kingston High School and Kingston and Benedictine Hospitals.

Fresh ‘n’ Easy is a lot more than a bakery–it is a family run bistro offering breakfast and lunch specials for less than the area fast-food restaurants–while using the freshest in local and natural products in the preparation!  It redefines “family run”–while daughters Heather and Crissy offer cheerful customer service back of the counter, owner Linda Bang and her mom, Virginia John, whisk together delectable fresh baked goods in the on-site kitchen.  Other family members pitch in as needed.

The ambiance is that of  beautifully preserved country store dining–with a modern flair!   The display cases are well-maintained retro, but there is wifi available so customers can catch up with their email while relishing big hot cups of Mountain Grown coffee in a selection of flavors, including decaf.    The $3 breakfast specials can include everything from cinnamon buns still warm from the oven to eggs and cheese.

The $5 lunch menu of soup and sandwiches attracts customers that want a lunch that is affordable and portable and has the best in locally grown and natural ingredients.  There are hot and cold sandwiches on the menu, and if you want to add a slice of tomato to that pulled pork sandwich on your choice of breads, it is available–with a smile and at no extra cost!  For one-stop shopping convenience, diners can also pick up a copy of the newspaper or a bag of snacks for later enjoyment.  Of course, we can also get a bag of still-warm baked goods ranging from sinfully delicious looking cookies though muffins, crumb cake, flakey little pastries and indulgent sweet rolls. The menu is always changing as the oven wafts forth  tempting scents into the cozy, immaculately clean little bistro with its 1950′s sundae shop decor and luxurious geraniums and petunias waving to outside traffic from the windows.

Customers can also order gluten-free and sugar-free baked goods, carefully prepared from scratch. One recent morning found Linda posting the special of the day–a roasted pork loin sandwich and a sausage and kale soup featuring kale that had been in a vegetable garden that morning!

Virginia, Linda and Heather

The real “special” at Fresh’n'Easy is the genuine “friendly family service”.   Special orders are taken with a genuine smile, the food arrives fresh, hot, and temptingly plated, and the relaxed atmosphere invites lingering luxuriously over a second big cup of Mountain Grown coffee while checking what is going on in the outside world on the laptop!

Fresh ‘n’ Easy Bakery & Cafe
331 Hasbrouck Ave.
Kingston, NY 12401
ph. 845-331-2579
fax 845-331-2578
Hours: M-F 6:00 A.M.-4 P.M.
Sat.   8:00 A.M.-2 P.M.
closed Sundays

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A SHINING EXAMPLE

September 12th, 2011

695 Broadway, 1954 and Now

Drivers traveling through midtown Kingston have been noticing a pleasant change to the building at 695 Broadway, at the corner of Broadway and Liberty Street.   Not since the 1950′s when it was an Atlantic gas station has the little cement block building looked so spiffy.  On August 6, with crisp new signage announcing its services, J’s Detailing and Car Wash, Inc. opened its two bays for business.

Jamar Ashe, the owner/operator has been in the detailing business in the Kingston area since 1990.  He  had been scouting for an ideal location, when he noticed that the former car repair shop on the corner had closed.  He bought the building from Honda of Kingston in June and spent two months retrofitting it for the requirements of a high-efficiency detailing business.

As his sign proclaims, J’s Detailing will give the showroom shine to “anything with a motor,” including boats, RV’s, busses, motorcycles, and jet skis.  The varied services offered range from $14.99 to  $159.99.   Express service is a specialty.   Perfectionists in a hurry can relax in the  tidy waiting room while their vehicle is returned to showroom condition.  Vehicle drop-off service is available 24/7.  In another option, Mr. Ashe can pick up the vehicle locally, detail it, and return it.

 This is far more than a “sweep and a shine” operation.  Got a vintage  vehicle that was stored for years in a leaky barn?   Mr. Ashe’s services include mold and mildew abatement, convertible window restoration, and leather and cloth seat restoration. 

Jamar Ashe

For vehicles with a few dings and dinks, Mr. Ashe can touch up damaged paint, restore tail lights and headlights, and restore chrome and alloy wheels.  He is quick to point out that these services are as important for the family SUV as they are for a performance car on its way to the car show.  Damage to the exterior of a car, even when minor, will get worse with time, and will negatively impact the value at trade-in time.

In addition to quick cleaning, Mr. Ashe has specialized for years in fleet cleaning, with special discounts for government and law enforcement vehicles.  He also offers discounts for car dealerships, senior citizens, and emergency vehicles.   He’s detailed everything from tour busses for rock groups through 3-wheel off-the-road vehicles.  When he says “No job too large or too small” he means it quite literally.

While Mr. Ashe is slowly building his clientele he is also looking to the future. He has applied for a used car dealer’s license, and he hopes to be able to offer a few select (and very clean!) used cars by next year.  Right now, the lot surrounding the store is cleaner and tidier than it has been in many decades.

Mr. Ashe feels that having one’s vehicle detailed is not a luxury, it is an investment in preserving one’s equipment.   His undercar cleaning removes the mud, road salt, and other substances that are responsible for irreparable rust damage of cars in the northern climes.  A clean car reflects pride in ownership and  self respect.   A car or RV that is spotless inside and out reflects (so as to speak) well on the owner and the neighborhood.

J’s Detailing and Car Wash Inc. is already a great reflection on the neighborhood–and a shining example of what a great neighborhood business can do for the neighborhood!

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Community Builders

August 30th, 2010

Midtown Kingston is home to three non-profit organizations that help make it a vibrant community: the Kingston Library, the Center for Creative Education, and the Everett Hodge Center. Each offers activities and services to residents of Kingston that greatly enrich the quality of life in the city.

The Kingston Library, located on Franklin Street in a former public school, is not just a place to check out books—though that continues to be an important part of its mission, of course. Library trustee Ed Pell also organizes art exhibitions, featuring a different artists each month. The garden has also become a center of creative activity, with three resident artists occupying the Habitat for Artists shed, part of a program that provides intimate studio space designed to interact with the community.

The library hosts two story hours during the week—one for toddlers, the other for preschoolers—an origami-folding class twice a month, a weekly Wednesday evening bridge club, and two monthly book groups, one of which is led by a former college professor (the book for September is Dostoyevsky’s Crime and Punishment) and the other focused on classics and religion. Other groups that meet at the library are geared to knitting and stress reduction through meditation. On September 11, a math circle for middle and high school students will be starting up, meeting the second Saturday through December, led by Japheth Wood, an instructor at Bard. And on September 18 at 10:30 in the morning the Robert Rivest Mime theater will perform a mime entitled “Go Green and Make a Scene,” for ages preschool and up.

New books, including those on the New York Times best seller use, are displayed on a shelf near the entrance, and one can check out books on cassette, music CDs, and even movies on DVD and in video. The library’s 19 computers, all connected to the Internet, and free Wifi keep the neighborhood connected.

Creative Center for Education, located at 20 Thomas St., is greatly expanding is after-school art and technology courses, according to executive director Ev Mann. A new “Whisper” booth in the computer music lab will enable kids to make their own recordings, and from 3-6 every Monday through Thursday kids can do their homework, get tutored, and follow up with a calls in visual arts, dance or drumming. Honor Society students at the high school and Vassar collect students serve as volunteer tutors.

On the second floor is the dance studio, where four different groups learn and perform hip hop, as par tof the energy Dance Company, and the POOK drum studio. POOK’s 15 members, ranging in age from eight to adult, will perform as the benefit for the Kingston Land Trust on September 22. Adult classes in salsa and hip hop are offered Monday night. On the third floor is the visual arts studio, where classes are offered by Bonnie O’Hara and others. A class in fashion design might be offered in the near future.

The Center will be having its big fall recital on November 13 at the high school auditorium. Next door, ground has been broken on the historic Carnegie library, which approximately in a year will open as the Center’s facilities for high school students.

The Everette Hodge Community Center, on Franklin St., continues its Friday evening Rewards for Excellence program, which teaches kids how to use the computer and encourages them to use their talents. It’s overseen by community services director Sandra Thompson-Hopgood and volunteer Donald Waters. The center has 40 computers, all with Internet access.

Also on Friday, starting at 6 pm, is Food for Thought, free healthy meals—such as vegetable lasagna and turkey loaf–for kids of all ages; from 40 to 50 children show up every Friday, and some wouldn’t be having dinner that night if it weren’t the program. Pizza pies have been donated by Mario’s Pizza and Di Bella’s Pizza Shop, and various volunteers have also donated food, including Rebecca Martin, Noelle Sheber, Ulster County clerk Nina Postupack, and Jeanne Edwards (who also volunteers as a server and helps coordinate the meals). Kingston Natural Foods, in the Rondout, has contributed nutritious eats, Rainbow, in Port Ewen, has brought in ice cream, and Broadway Lites Diner has also been supportive. Dedicated volunteers oversee the delivery, serving, and clean up. The center is in desperate need of a freezer and refrigerator, so take note if you’ve got an extra one lying around.

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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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La Mexicana on Broadway Kingston

March 29th, 2010

La Mexicana, at 638 Broadway, is one of at least two Mexican-American grocers in the city. As such, it’s not really a one-of-a-kind retailer, but, as a representative of Midtown, it does sell numerous one-of-a-kind items. If you haven’t been to Oaxaca, no need to board a jet: just check out La Mexicana’s shelves, which include beautifully crafted straw bags, tortilla baskets, blankets, shawls and clay pots and a wide range of CDs playing salsa, banda and other south of the border musical styles.

The family business, which is owned by Aldegundo and Laura Juarez, sells queso Oaxaca, a large ball of white cheese similar to mozzarella. For a change of taste, check out the fruit sodas, aloe verde drinks, and coconut waters, some of which are relatively low calorie, when the weather gets warm. Raw cane sugar is sold in packets, large cans of hominy are excellent for soup, and Abuelita is chocolate in a can, that’s dissolved in milk in Mexico for the traditional breakfast drink. Small plastic bags of spices include flax seeds, $1.99 each, which are a healthy addition to fruit and yogurt, and cacao beans. On occasion, homemade goodies, such as coconut sweets and rice putting, are for sale.

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Express Latinos Debuts on Broadway

December 22nd, 2009

Located at 670 Broadway, in Midtown, Express Latinos opened in mid December in a beautifully traditional storefront, with newly painted moldings on the exterior and a high tin ceiling inside. Owner Guido Coraizaca, a native of Ecuador, is only 25 years old, and this is his first business. He said his motivation for opening the store was to provide “a friendly business” to the many Spanish people in the area. The coffee is free, and customers are also welcome to shoot pool at the spacious table in the back without charge. An attention-getter is the automated life-size Santa jiggling in the storefront window.

Express Latinos-1

Express Latinos offers a little of everything—Coraizaca said he wants to serve the many residents in the neighborhood who don’t have cars—including boxes of toy cars, dinosaurs, action figures, and dolls; dried beans, corn flour, mayonnaise, chips, cans of coconut juice, tortillas, bags of thyme and other spices; jeans, sweat shirts, and women’s tops; and Mary Kay cosmetics and watches. Nextel phone cards, belts and backpacks are displayed on the wall behind the counter. The prices are extremely reasonable with a soda costing 75 cents, men’s work jeans selling for $15, and a bag of dried chili peppers selling for $1.75. On the table next to the coffee urn is a pan of homemade tamales—there is a choice of spicy or sweet—for $1.50 each.

The store is open seven days a week, from 5 am to 10 pm. “My father says if you don’t work seven days a week when you’re young, in the future you’ll have to keep working, when you’re old,” he said.

Currently residing on Smith Street, Coraizaca, who is originally from Quito, lived six years in Corona, Queens. Compared to Queens, Kingston “is nice,” he said. “You’ve got space and can park a car here.” Plus, there’s plenty of opportunity. “If you use your brain, you can make money here. But you have to work hard,” he said.

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