817: TASTE Travels: Kingston, NY

29:25There's like, you are not hiding from your time in the city. And I feel like the point of view is so you and solid that it makes it very unique because a lot of restaurants are trying to find trends and trying to find what's popular, but you're kind of uncompromising. Before here, it was kind of the opposite. I was focused on one thing, Spanish cuisine. So when you're doing that and you're building all these flavors that people aren't so familiar with, everything you put on the menu is kind of new, whether it's from Mesco or Pil Pil or all these things that you can maybe claim to, even though someone else did before you.

30:02But what that also opens up the door to is when you're on the line in the kitchen, you're kind of constantly staring at condiments. So you're always looking at things that like might work out on a sandwich. So what we did was connected those dots and kind of said, well, you know, let's start with the great bread. And that kind of came as a result of something from the restaurant experience and the restaurant scene that I was a part of. But once I personally like knew how to do bread, I caught up with my sister who knows how to bake so great. So we figured out a concept that kind of like met right in the middle of it.

30:33So you're baking bread. You texted me last night at 2 30 AM, maybe it was this morning. So you were up making bread probably. Finishing bread. That's when the ovens go on for the morning break, the beginning of the morning bake. So you're baking bread for Rosie's for the service, and we just had some incredible, we had your grilled cheese I've always had. It's kind of a classic, but then we had this open-faced toast with a ricotta and apricots. And the bread is really the root of the restaurant, but it's not the only thing you're having here because you have this mercantile, which is filled with your own products that you're making, painstakingly making.

31:08That's the hard part. Yeah, it's hard, because you see it's not just like a three product shelf. It's like literally like 25 products happening there. Well, that's also a result of delicatessen. So when you have something like a deli that we offer so many sandwiches and items, we're making them for the walk-in, which is limited in space, or for our dry storage or an area that we can put prepped goods. Why not put them on a shelf or in refrigeration next to a shelf? So we're not only making them for the line to serve the menu, We also put them on the store and on shelves to kind of like sell the to-go experience, the takeout experience, because we know our kitchen's limited in size.

31:43We know that in our model, the majority of the food that leaves the kitchen, you know, is going to be made right when you order and given to you within an hour. So nothing can sit that long or transport that long. So we give you the option to go make yourself. There's the mayonnaise. There's the deli vinaigrette. There's like the pesto, whatever you see on the menu. There's the muffalada, like tamponade. Layer it yourself. Take our bread. So you and I, Anthony, we met in New York before the pandemic. And I think, you know, we both moved back around that time. And I don't think we realized we had our families were so close here.

32:16And I want to ask you, because a lot of people ask me this too. Do you ever think you were going to move back here and have a business here and also work so closely with your family? Like, obviously, you work with Nicole and your sisters. Yeah. And your nephews are around. They need a lot of spots. Well, if I was looking back. The name is inspired by, yeah. So how does that all come together for you? Well, definitely. Thank God. That's, you know, part of our employees and our staff is family. So, you know, that's a huge reason for that. But I think the way that I always looked at it was, you know, in your, you treat New York, maybe whether you start in the culinary scene in your late teens or early twenties or whatever got you here, like your twenties and thirties are kind of not to like age it out, but that's what New York City is for.

33:01And I kind of knew, like, did I want to sign a lease where every year I had to make$50 ,000? So a month just to pay the lease, not the staffing or all that. So I kind of knew that I can afford upstate better. I'll eventually get here and I'll be able to kind of like build it, like help build it. I don't even know the zoning and all that in New York. So I kind of like always knew if I ended somewhere near here, our family's all construction. Like we would just build things. So like we can like tell our like relatives, my dad, his, his siblings to like, and cousins to take part in like building these things that Kingston kind of already has a good beginnings to, which is the buildings and the structures and like the bones.

33:38So yeah, that did happen. I remember like you coming in maybe like the first or second week. And I just kind of like thought of this thing. Like, yeah, we built this kind of like, I don't want to ever say mecca of like good food and good like ingredients and condiments. That's the thing. Like people walk in here with boxes of the things they make. And like, we almost never say no. Cause it's like, if you're putting that much into it, that you're putting it in a trunk and driving it around and having people try it and you care about it. It's like, you're almost going to always get a yes from us.

34:02Like almost always, we don't say, say no. So when you, I saw you, it was like, oh, Jen's here to kind of like maybe see what we have, like try the menu. But we never made that connection where we go back further than that because we, I've been eating your family's food for over 20 years, you know, since high school and before that. So for sure. And my mom grew up on Down Street, so not that far from Broadway where the restaurant's located. Obviously, this older building, you guys did all this build out in it. It's a new restaurant. But going into it and eating there, it just felt so lived in and personal and intimate and just so uniquely you and the Sasso family.

34:43Yeah. I think that's really because of, you know, the passion that you and Nicole and your family poured into it. And it just felt so like it'd been there forever. The history of this neighborhood all knows that that whole side of our neighborhood, Broadway, didn't exist 40, 50 years ago. It's a result of the city making it go away or making it tumble or crumble. So this side lived. So whoever gets their hands on a lease or a property here knows that they have like a responsibility to like an old town, an old city, and like a kind of historical team of preservationists that make sure that we're doing the right thing as well.

35:18So at the ice cream shop, we couldn't touch the floor. We couldn't touch the tiles. There were parts of the windows we couldn't do anything with. We can't put neon like some places can to draw attention. We can't really put a sign for our shop on Broadway because we have to live with those window panes that are on there. And it's kind of like a grid system that our name wouldn't live on. So you work around all that. And like you said, it just looks like when you come in here that you've been trying to fix these problems for years. But, you know, it's restaurant life is the same as dog lives. one is the same as 15.

35:49So. Well, I wouldn't say it was, it's not the problems that stand out. I think it's sort of these like love the loving sort of like richness, this like heritage feel to it. And even the way you've curated the, the larger part, the mercantile part of the, of the business feels so personal. I know up until very recently, you know, you, it was your handwriting on everything hand labeled and now you know you worked with a really amazing local designer um crayonet to turn your handwriting into a font for all your labels but um all of that is clearly born from a really personal place and that quirkiness that like sort of texture to rosies i think is what makes is part of what makes it so special yeah um the way you've curated the front Like, you know, the old Savoir magazines, the bread book that you love.

36:44The Tartine book has blue chef's tape on the spine, the painter's tape on the spine. I mean, clearly you've like broken that book and you still have it. But when you walk in, you see you're clearly a cookbook nerd in the best way. We love you, obviously, here at Taste. We work at Penguin Random House. And I feel like you are trying to bring bread culture from the West Coast to Kingston. You're trying to bring the fermentation that you see in so many of the books on your shelves from like, you know, Sean Brock back in the day and like many South Asian and East Asian chefs that fermentation. And we see this shelf of books.

37:23And to me, working with I work with chefs and we collaborate our own books. The best chefs are the ones who really study the game. How do books really make these restaurants the way they are today? Well, I've always been a big thing or a big fan of, especially like in a leadership role, like you, you got to write everything down, everything. So the best way to have like a best restaurant is write it down. Let all your cooks have the same opportunity that you have to like do that recipe. So I think like my love for cookbooks is my love for recipes, like kind of like I use recipes. I love them as starting points.

37:57It's the day old thing. Like, do you use a recipe and a cookbook is something to look at and refer to or maybe see like this is something that's, oh, this is the ingredients in chili crisp. How do I make it mine? So it's one of those things where I've just always been a fan from that point of view. And you got to realize like that's before everything, you know, before a lot of like social media and Instagram and all this way to document your work, your work would only be seen in very limited TV shows and cookbooks and magazines. Jen and I have been to so many great stops and we have more on this episode.

38:29We can't wait. And I wanted to ask you just about Kingston's future as a food scene. And like Kingston is where it's at. I've said it many times, it's the best food city in New York state per capita. So much great stuff happening here. So how do you look at the holistic growth of Kingston? We kind of like landed in this great spot where you have to go through Kingston and get to Hudson. You kind of have to go through Kingston in some ways to get to Kerhonkson or Rhinebeck or all these other places across the river. So we've always been this place that things branch from us. So we've been lucky in that part for sure.

39:05but we've also been the place where people can try concepts that you might not want to try somewhere else because there's definitely an audience for it for sure and like there's a creative as hell landscape out here for people that do anything they do you mentioned crayonet i met them because they were dining and having turkey sandwiches in the restaurant and came up and just saw me handwriting um you know apricot jam on a glass jar because that's all i knew but it's like, hey, we're creatives, we're here, we can create a whole identity for you. And it starts with that right there. And then that led to like changing our menu and all that.

39:40So there's all I mean, we have art festivals here all the time. And this neighborhood, this every other neighborhood in Kingston, like, really benefits from that. Yeah, I think that the point you're making about the creativity here in Kingston, that we're able to have such an amazing community, not just in food, but in music and art. And that covers food too. And like lucky for us, like we just get a lot of maybe the people, the pastor buyers going through Woodstock and that scene. And, you know, thank God for our venues here that have the bands leaving there or leaving Albany or leaving Schenectady.

40:15They have to stop here. So they do a show here, whether it's at Tubbies or at the Beverly or wherever, like you're going to perform live. Like there's scenes for that here in music in a lot of things. We have a honky-tonk in the summertime, which is pretty great. But it's a city that really doesn't say no in a lot of things, which is huge for people that want to get into whatever their thing is, their calling, their passion, whatever. Again, Rosie's is the spot. And thanks, buddy. Thank you so much. This episode is brought to you by Quince. After a summer on the road, including trips to Spain, Colorado, and Chicago, coming home and cooking in my own kitchen just hits different.

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42:56Tomorrow morning is knocking. Stock your fridge now. How about a creamy mocha frappuccino drink? Or a sweet vanilla? Smooth caramel, maybe. Or a white chocolate mocha. Whichever you choose, delicious coffee awaits. Find Starbucks frappuccino drinks wherever you buy your groceries. We drive over to Mirador. which has become my personal favorite restaurant in Kingston. Operated by musician and sherry legend Nick Africano, Mirador cooks some of the most consistent and delicious Spanish cuisine in all of New York. And if you're into Spanish wines in all forms, this is the place to visit for a flight, often with Nick personally selecting the lineup.

43:35We speak with Nick about building something really special in Kingston. Nick Africano, welcome to This is Taste. How are you? I'm doing well. Nice to see you. Thank you. Nice to see you. I feel like I'm always in here around this time, which is like 4.30, 5 o 'clock. So we're in a restaurant that's literally open. A rarity for us to chat with chefs and operators in their dining room. But luckily, it's the beginning of service. I'm here with Jen. And really, I wanted to have this conversation because Mirador has been, to me, such an inspiration from the outside. that like where Kingston can go and what, what, what Kingston is, is all about, which is just really creative, hyper-focused restaurants and Mirador really your, your history with Spanish cuisine and wine and, and Sherry really has led to the opening of this.

44:23So tell me a little bit before we start, like explain Mirador, uh, and you can hear in the back, there's some cooking happening too. So we'll talk about the food too. Yeah. Um, yeah. Mirador is born from, uh, a love of Sherry wines and wanting to, you know, open a small Sherry bar or Tabanco. as they call it in Jerez and a love of Spain in general love of Spanish food and culture that started with studying Spanish literature in college and then working in Spanish restaurants and then for Spanish wine importer but along that along the way I fell in love with Sherry and decided I wanted to kind of try and bring that to more people but Mirador the word means a lookout point or a viewpoint and I thought that that was appropriate for a small city and you know offering a lens into something unique, like not only Spanish, but regionally Andalus, Andalusian.

45:15So yeah, it's kind of born for the love of Spain, love of Andalusia particularly, and now a real love for Sherry. It's so cool that you can come here and dine at the bar or have just drinks. You've got your dining room and then you've got your backyard, which is so many cool spaces to have a meal. And just describe the cuisine and some of the dishes that you're serving here, because I think it rotates a little bit with the seasons, but it's pretty fixed. And it's really special. I mean, it feels, Clayton and I were just in like San Sebastian, Iglesia, and like we definitely have, the Spanish cuisine is very focused in style of service and in many of the ingredients used.

45:57Yeah. So some things that are important to us are, you know, trying to pay homage to Andalusia by doing dishes you might find in a small bar or restaurant there. And, you know, we do branch out into the canon of wider Spain. But I think Spain for a long time was kind of hidden from the rest of the world due to dictatorship. And we didn't have access at the same time we had access to French and Italian cuisine in the United States. So Spain is really having a moment in the last 20, 30 years. And I think now is getting even to the point which we've seen with Italian food, French food, Indian food, is that it can become regional.

46:41and my effort is to kind of bring what we have here around us in the Hudson Valley, use those products, but make things that are traditionally Andalusia and you might find in a small tabanco. And like you said, you can sit at the bar and have Enceladilla Russa, which is a very common Spanish potato salad. We do our own version, super Andalus and wider Spain. we have marinated carrots that are marinated in sherry vinegar so everything's very intentional everything is you know we have a short tight menu but everything is very intentional and we want it to touch on that part of Spain when we can and I also want people to have that experience of being at a less serious restaurant so you can sit at the bar and have more of a casual experience I think we are in a smaller city and people have from the beginning used us as a restaurant and we've leaned into that.

47:40But I still would love to keep the vibe of having the bar experience. And then the patio is the seasonal part where we can do events and fun parties and things like that. Let me ask you about specifically you have a tiny kitchen. How does that benefit the actual restaurant? having this tiny space? It's a great question. And I think that there is a real liberty in limitation. I think it forces you to be creative and very intentional. And also you have to make choices. It's like recording to tape. You have to say, no, it's not that take. Not going to keep that. So we have to be very intentional.

48:25We have to be very focused. The prep is the most important part of our day because we do have a 36-inch plancha, a fryer, and then a tiny tabletop convection oven, and that's it. And we have prep, but the hot space, like, that's it. It's essentially 36 inches. But it's cool. It feels very Spanish. It's like we're in it. It's lively. It's a little loud. It's a little chaotic. But, you know, they have a system down now, and everything is super fast. Very proud of the crew. One thing I wanted to ask you about, Nick, you guys kind of have a slogan or a mantra. Sherry is wine. Yes. Can you talk a little bit more about that?

49:09And, you know, is there a perception around Sherry that you want to adjust for people and what that what that phrase means for folks? Sure. Yeah. Yeah, I think after the last 10 years of working with Sherry in many contexts, what I've landed on right now is language and how language can have a massive impact. You know, subtle changes can have a really big shift or impact. And so Sherry is wine to me is getting down to the primary language of what are we what are we experiencing here? And we're drinking wine. And I think that that immediately kind of disarms a guest or someone who doesn't know, you know, what is sherry?

49:53If you say it's this weird wine aged in a Solera system under a vela de flora, like what the hell did I just say? You know, but if I say, oh, it's a really unique Spanish wine, like try this wine. Immediately people are like, oh, I know what a wine is. Or, you know, more people know what wine is than saying the word sherry. And do you hope that people will enjoy sherry in the way they enjoy wine, like with their food or with their like it? Absolutely. And not just as, you know, this a special occasion, but seeing sort of the the broad ways that you can you can drink sherry. Absolutely. I love seeing guests drinking sherry throughout the dinner.

50:35I think that there is a sherry for every occasion and sherry is one of the best wines to pair food with. So it can, you know, it can go all throughout the experience, all throughout dinner. And, you know, our first slogan, our first T-shirt said, Sherry para todos, Sherry for everyone. And the ethos there was sort of like, it doesn't need to be a Michelin pairing wine or like a fancy experience or this age statement that is really so unique, but it can be a very everyday common experience, which you have in Spain all the time. So I have to ask you, Nick, you know, you're working a lot here, obviously, but Kingston's a small community and you can get around pretty quickly.

51:15So you can definitely find time to go to other restaurants. So I have to ask you, I've talked to you a lot at the bar over the years, and I'm always asking you, like, hey, Nick, what's good right now in Kingston? You're always kind of plugged in. So right now, are there restaurants that you're friends with or just ones that you want to shout out that we maybe are missing on this tour that you feel really represents Kingston? Yeah. Not sure where you've been today, but I've become really good friends with Hope and Charles from Cleo. I was selling them wine back when I was working for an importer.

51:51And we've kind of become part of the same community. and with the other restaurants on Broadway, they're in Uptown, but with the other restaurants on Broadway, we've all become kind of close and really supportive. You know, I walk down to Eliza on my day off and hang out when I can. And yeah, I try and hit all the spots, you know, not just my neighbors, but go to other places also. And what's it like here in Kingston, like operating in the summertime versus the off season? Because, you know, this episode, we're going to be dropping in the summer. And the hope is folks trying to go upstate in the fall, which is a beautiful time, to visit upstate New York.

52:33But also, like, honestly, January, February, March in the spring. I love it. Reservations are easy to find. But what's it like, like, working year-round in Kingston? It's interesting. It's a shift for me in terms of the seasonality. But it's been awesome. I mean, even winter can get really busy. you know, this winter was different, I think with all of the snow emergencies and the, like the seriousness of the winter, which I love. I'm from the Midwest. So like a hardcore winter, I'm like in my element. Um, but I didn't own a restaurant when I was 15. Um, but you know, the summer, you know, this is our busy season.

53:16We can expand to have the patio, uh, which, you know, we can try and do more covers. We can try and, um, just do a little bit more. And this year is the second year we've had the patio as it is now. And so we're just experimenting and experimenting. Like, what can we do? So, Nick, let me ask you, why should people visit Kingston? You know, we have many listeners in New York. It's not a far drive, but we have listeners on the West Coast who maybe are looking to go upstate. Upstate is like a broad term. And I think it has a lot of fascination in our listenership. And, you know, there's like luxury hotels and like cool things happening out in the country.

53:53but Kingston's a city. I want to hear from you, like to our listeners, like why should you be like rolling into Kingston? I think you should roll into Kingston because you can enjoy the city. You can go outside the city, like you said, but also the people here are amazing. And, you know, it's a real sense of community. The businesses, we all talk to each other. The community members are super supportive. And I think when you're here, you just feel that vibe and you feel that people are very engaged with their surrounding and their community. And, you know, you have an opportunity, I think, to experience a very high level of food and wine, a really great arts and culture scene, and kind of experience it in a way, in a place where people are like super nice to you.

54:40So you can book on Resi or you can just like roll up on the bar, right? Yeah, you can book on Resi and we keep the bar seats for walk-ins only every night. Awesome, man. Well, I really love this restaurant. I'm going to keep coming back. And thanks for joining us on this. Well, grateful for your support. Thank you. Jen, Mirador, we just had a really great meal. I love Nick. I love what he just said. And his razor-sharp focus on both hospitality and just bringing Spanish culture to the restaurant is obvious. And, you know, we had a good talk, but food's not great. We probably would be like, OK, sure.

55:21But like that was a great like we we sat at the bar, Clayton, you and I, and we had a really good meal. It was amazing. And I love just feeling Nick's passion for Spanish food come through. And there's always a light bit of education that I really enjoy. We had an amazing flight of sherry, including the third glass was from this bottle that he was telling us there was only 700 bottles made from this single barrel. and he was giving us a little bit of the very last bit of one of his bottles and it had been aged uh in the various batches for around 80 years years it was really special um and the food was so good yeah and i visited mirador many a couple times three times without even him knowing who i read about food whatever we were he's and he's poured my group just glasses like that like this This is him always doing that great hospitality.

56:23So there was this abiraco dish that I absolutely loved. It was a loin that was sliced thin and it had been grilled. And it had some goals that was really expressing Hudson Valley summer. And this sherry sauce was... It was a homone stock. Exactly. Homone stock. It was so complex. It was delicious. If you can walk to this restaurant, it makes me extremely jealous. Very cool. We head to Brunette. a wine bar owned by Jesse Harris and Max Botwick, two Philadelphia transplants who moved to Kingston to open their dream restaurant. So Jen, we're walking down by the Strand, and this is where Rosie's is as well.

57:02And we're heading to a place that I've never been to. Heard so many great things. A big part of, I would say, the Kingston food and wine scene is it's Brunette. Tell me about it. Yeah, I'm so excited to take you to Brunette. it's an amazing wine bar and restaurant run by a husband and wife duo Max and Jesse it's like it's as mom and pop as it gets if they it's a Jesse behind the bar Max in a tiny kitchen making incredible food and I am excited to bring you here because people know it for its wine but Max is making some of the best food in Kingston. They've been running Brunette since 2020, but Brunette's been around as a real Kingston staple and favorite for 11 years now.

57:59And Jesse and Max have really made it their own and put their mark on it in a really wonderful way. And it's a great community space too and so excited to take you there after the meal at brunette we hop into the car and talk about the highlights jen let's talk about brunette i i really thought this place was terrific i you know walk in there's a winemaker there from long island pouring wines that's cool really like the the couple we met uh who who run it and we had we had some great food what did you think yeah max makes some magic back there in the in that kitchen um we had uh the kale caesar which is my favorite it is such a great rendition of it he tops it with this savory granola that like someone needs to write down the recipe he has probably written the recipe for it but like this is it's just a killer topping for that kale caesar and the dressing is so punchy and great i love a savory granola idea with kale.

59:02And yeah, he's doing, making, I mean, it's your favorite kale salad. You edit cookbooks. You've edited many kale salad recipes. I've eaten a lot of kale salad recipes. A lot of kale salad recipes. This is your favorite kale salad. This is my favorite kale salad. And we had a beautiful squash dish too, Rochelle. Yeah, that was great. It had like thin raw summer squash and some roasted cooked squash too and do your croutons and a tahini ranch. really excellent. Finally, our last stop, Ang's, Jen's family restaurant that has been operating in Kingston for nearly a century. So the Ang family started this restaurant in 1927, so we are on year 99.

59:47This location here on Broadway began in the 70s, and this amazing Chapsui sign that we're standing under is a real essential element of it all. Yeah, so the sign is really a part of Kingston lore and how long has that sign been in that style here, you know? 1967. 1967, wow. Yeah, so yeah, this neon sign went up first in 1967. That's incredible. And really the restaurant is dine-in, takeout, and also on Wednesdays, Fridays and Sundays, it's a smorgasbord. It's a buffet. There's a buffet. Yeah, all-you-can-eat buffet. That's awesome. And I feel like you don't see that a lot. I think it's cool. I really enjoy that.

1:00:45Alright, I see my dad in there. Oh yeah, there he is. Hello. Hello. Hi. We walk in and you can immediately sense the history of this place. A community fixture serving delicious Chinese American cuisine. This year, Ang's was awarded the prestigious James Beard American Classics Award. It's nearly 9 p.m. and Tom Sitt, Jen's 82-year-old father, and her mother, Faye, are there like always. Here's the trophy case. Oh wow, look at that. So we've got the James Beard medal propped up on this pigeon trophy. My dad races pigeons, if you want to talk about that. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, these are all trophies.

1:01:31Some in China, some in South Africa. When I was a kid, because basically the pigeons would come home from wherever they're set out, and they'd have to go into the coop and get clocked and to make sure that would clock them as part of the race. And so a lot of times those races were happening in the evenings. On the weekends, my dad was working here at the restaurant, so then he would give me like$5 or whatever to sit in a lawn chair in our backyard and just watch the sky for the birds to come home because sometimes they would come home and like hang out on the roof of the house or in a tree and not actually like come into the coop.

1:02:18So if I saw them, I'd have to call my dad and he would come home and then he has his own way of bringing them down. Like he puts like feed in, like he puts feed in like a quart container and he's like, and you say like, get down, get down. You make a sound? Yeah, I call them. Come on, get out, get out. Yeah, because they know him. The pigeons like know him. so then he calls them down so I would I would like just sit in the lawn chair watching the sky. Jen what's it like working with your dad? You know I'm so happy that I get to be back here in Kingston and help support them as they need it especially in this sort of exciting time as they're getting this different and new attention because of the beard award and reopening the dining room and I love that I'm able to do what I can and that I can be close enough to do that.

1:03:11As Tom goes off to cook one last meal of the night for us, we settle into a booth. Jen Clayton and I look more exhausted from our crawl than Tom does from his full day in the kitchen. So tell me about all the jobs you've held here over the years. Because your dad was just telling us that you are a part of this restaurant and you've always been here to support from a young age. It was complimentary. But I want to hear from you. Yeah, so my sisters and I helped at this restaurant since we were really little. And that began as helping stuff and fold wontons, helping divvy up all the dry noodles into individual bags for takeout.

1:03:56Now all the fortune cookies are individually wrapped, but they used to come in a big box and we'd put a dozen fortune cookies in bags and those bags would go into takeout orders. So we would sit and portion out all of those fortune cookies. We would help stuff crab runguns. We would help trim grain beans, like side work like that. And then as we got older, the first thing that we helped with was doing takeout. So that meant answering the phones, packing the orders, and serving all the takeout customers that would come in. and that is still a really big job here. Takeout is very busy here, very popular.

1:04:39So we did that. We waited tables. We bussed tables. We did some hostessing. And, yeah. Incredible, all those roles and just meeting people along the way. Your neighbors, your friends, seeing them come to the restaurant. Yeah, I think everyone should work in hospitality or in service, in some sort of customer service or customer-facing position at some point in their lives. Whether that's in a restaurant or at a store, you really learn a lot. And it's a good thing. Jen leaves for the kitchen and returns with a silver cloche. She lifts it to reveal one of her favorite dishes. Tell us about what is in front of us.

1:05:28So I chose the dish beef with noodle. it's literally called beef with noodle on the menu and it's basically ground beef in a gravy that's served over dried crunchy noodles when you get it here when you dine in it's served like it's served on the bed of the dried crunchy noodles a lot of times when you get a takeout separate I like adding mushrooms to it so that's what I asked to do and I love this dish because it's really simple but so comforting what do you think of our tour i loved it we hit so many spots yeah i'm so proud of us that we're able to eat everything and i just love um sort of the different types of places that we got to go to um and i love that we got to chat with anthony along the way and Nick and your dad and my dad too and I mean you saw how many people we knew that we ran into at every spot and I think that and just like in town and um I think that's just a wonderful thing about Kingston like so it's seeing sort of familiar friendly faces yeah where you go you really get a sense of community here when you're walking around especially with Jen the mayor of Kingston clearly.

1:06:48No, not at all. One of the deputies mayors at least, but I think just a cheerleader in general, when you have a lot of community, not just at the farmer's market, but in the restaurants and seeing friends, I think it really helps the restaurants succeed. It really, that sense that there's diners are going to keep coming back and become friends gives everyone that sense of pride when there's just this support in the community for, for these restaurants and yeah you don't see it in a lot I can't say the same for my community which is just an hour down down down the road I mean there's elements of it but truly this is really unique and I've always been impressed by that when going to any functions in Kingston that everyone really has it's just great great energy with with the people who live here yeah we are neighbors and friends and we live in community with each other and as you're saying like I think there's a really strong sense of we you know we show up for each other we support each other and um we're our you know we're each other's best cheerleaders and we um it really means a lot to everyone and i think that's true of you know legacy old school places like ang's and then also new places that are newer to the scene who like um like mirador like eliza like cleo and um we want those places to succeed and have their own legacy too and I think I want to see a Kingston in which all of these places across this the spectrum can have a place and it doesn't have to be sort of one against the other I think you need all kinds of places you need the more casual everyday places you know the the Tuesday lunch spot, and then you also need your date night places.

1:08:44And I think Kingston has such a great mix of all of that. And that's really exciting. I think visitors will really appreciate that when they come here and stumble upon one of these scenes where, you know, you may not live here, but you notice that table over. The next seating area is like a bunch of friends getting together. And I always like traveling and seeing that when there's, you can tell when there's community. and like there's so many places we didn't actually go to like like fancy bagels and eliza you mentioned and cleo and i like the pizza at lola a lot i mean there's i can name more yeah i just i feel like we couldn't go to all the places that i love in kingston uh on this one trip but we'll definitely eliza and i will always be talking about three things about our discoveries and i know i'll be talking about kingston for a long time yeah you'll have to come back there's a There's a lot more places to go to.

1:09:38Yeah, particularly Ang's. I feel we had to only order one dish because we're at the end of the road, but I just want to order the pooper platter here. It's legendary and so delicious. Well, thank you, Jen, for the tour. Thank you. It's been a real pleasure, and I think our listeners really appreciate your insight into your beautiful city. Thank you. Tomorrow morning is knocking. Stock your fridge now. How about a creamy mocha frappuccino drink or a sweet vanilla, smooth caramel maybe, or a white chocolate mocha. Whichever you choose, delicious coffee awaits. Find Starbucks Frappuccino drinks wherever you buy your groceries.

1:10:16Hear that? That's now Crispy and McCrispy Strips meeting creamy Caesar sauce. Sounds extra crispy. Caesar sauce at McDonald's for a limited time. Ba-da-ba-ba-ba. Clayton, that was quite the trip. Yes, you know, first time for me in Kingston. I think we had some food. We did. We had a lot of food. It was great. It was a lot of hours. I mean, Jen was amazing. Jen is the best. I mean, she's a coworker and we hang. Yes. And she's like so cool and nice. But then when you start going on a crawl in Kingston, it's like, man, Jen speaks about food so well. Yes. She knows her stuff for sure. She knows her stuff.

1:10:58But I wanted to do this postscript after the episode to call it some other Kingston restaurants that we didn't stop by, but places that I really like and I want to recommend. Great. Yeah. I mean, we barely scratched the surface. So I'd like to hear some of the places that you enjoy that we didn't get a chance to see. Absolutely. So the first one is definitely Pinkerton's Bakery. It's a place that I've talked to, talked about many times on the show. I feel like whenever I go to Kingston, I'm stopping by there first to grab a pastry, a cookie or a slice of pie. Or on the way out of town, I'm taking it home.

1:11:33So it's from Angela Pinkerton. You know, Angela is really decorated in fine dining. She won a James Beard Award for pastry at 11 Madison Park and also worked a lot in San Francisco. Really well-regarded, well-respected pastry chef. And she opened, I think two years ago, this bakery in a former 1920s service station. And it's a really cool place. I really like the menu the best. Like to me, this bakery is doing savory and sweet in such cool ways. So some things I like to order. I like to order the Quiche Lorraine-ish, which is their take on Quiche Lorraine, which is like a buttery pie crust and a custard with bacon, smoked gouda, roasted onions.

1:12:17But they put potatoes in it, which is their ish ingredient. And then on the dessert side, passion fruit meringue. Wow. Passion fruit meringue is one of her classics. I feel like I always order it. It's a passion fruit curd and a bay leaf sweet cream in a graham cracker crust topped with a Swiss meringue. Gorgeous pies. Tastes even better. Passion fruit is such a killer for me. I love it. And then they do a key lime. And the key lime is really a standard lime custard with a graham shell. But they have a topping of whipped yogurt and a citrus zest. So it's kind of, it's not cream, it's yogurt. And it's really delightful.

1:12:58I've had their cookies. I've had many things there. And I always recommend Pinkerton's Bakery stopping by. My next rec is Sorry Charlie. It's appeared on Three Things before. I went and sat at the bar and had some pies, some pizzas, and thought their bar menu was really cool. I talked about that last time. But really, this is a place that does Detroit-style pizza. And for me, it's some of the best in Kingston. And it's such a great vibe in there. And some of their standout pies are the Hot Debbie, which is like pepperoni and hot honey. And the Drunken Nona, which you can imagine is a vodka sauce in the grandma style.

1:13:37And I love sitting in the bar, as mentioned. And it's really like, to me, Detroit-style, you see a lot of it in the city. And it usually doesn't quite hit. But this one, I feel, has the frico on the corners, and it's a really nice pie. That's your hometown style, right? It's my style. Yeah. Michigan boy. Sorry Charlie is really good. My next stop is Eliza. It's from Innis Lawrence, who we met up with on the tour. It was cool to see him at the farmer's market, and he's behind Ollie's Pizza and Kingston Wine. And I've been going back to Eliza, I think, since they opened. And I really like it. The menu has kind of been in transition.

1:14:15And recent, I peeked at the menu. It's been about a year or so since I've been there. But I peeked at the menu and they had a pan-fried duckboki with pumpkin seed chili crisp. And they had a short rib, massaman paparadelle. So the cooking here is definitely in global flavors. And their chef, Pruitt, is really terrific. And I think this is a restaurant that has been a big part of Kingston's modern restaurant scene as in newer restaurants. that's Eliza. My next Kingston restaurant to mention is Cleo. I've admittedly only been there once. They don't take reservations, which is hard for me, to be honest.

1:14:53So if you're listening to this Cleo, I would love for you to take reservations. It is a restaurant from chef owner Charles Matthews and his wife Hope, and it's in Uptown, and really, it's such a warm, inviting restaurant. And to me, it's got what you can sit at the bar and have wine and small snacks. But really, the meal I had, I remember there being a great roasted chicken. I know right now they're doing like a grilled pork collar and swordfish au poivre and grilled spinach with miso bain blanc. And the cooking is exceptional. They're sourcing from throughout the Hudson Valley and locally. So, you know, Kingston Bread and Bar bread and charcuterie from La Saloon Marina and cheese from Chesolm Farm.

1:15:35So they're very local oriented and with their sourcing. And also the pastas have been really stellar there. And I've heard great things about those. Yeah, that was supposed to be our nightcap, but we ran out. You know what it was? It was the weather too. Yeah. Is that we wanted to get on the road before it was torrential. It was like storming. And like we really did want to go to Cleo and have a drink at the bar and like pop in, but we couldn't make it. That would have been like our ninth or 10th stop. Yeah, next time for sure. I feel Clio is definitely a place I always recommend. And the last one is Fancy, which is a bagel shop.

1:16:08And it's from Alana Carlson. And I've been many times. And they're doing really nice bagels. Like I love the naturally leavened sourdough bagels they're doing. And they're doing, of course, as all bagel shops are doing, are doing sandwiches. And a couple highlights. They do a Jake's Gouda bagel sandwich, which is a Hudson Valley, like the best cheese in Hudson Valley. They do a hot pastrami and they do one with a folded egg and green socks called the remix. I like the products they sell, like the drinks and the smaller dishes. They can order the counter. They've done pop ups in the past where they've done dinner service with collaborations with local chefs.

1:16:47The energy there is great. I love like a new new blood in Kingston. And Elena is really cool. So that's that's fancy. We didn't stop by there. Clayton, I'm sorry. We didn't get to have a bagel. But you know what? But all these places that you mentioned, it just makes me want to go back. Oh, yeah, absolutely. This is just definitely the start of it. I'm including a map in the show notes that has all these locations. You can save it. But once again, if you're planning your summer or fall trip, definitely make a stop in Kingston. For sure. Hey, man, you're a great partner. Thanks for coming to Kingston.

1:17:20Oh, thanks for taking me.

1:17:26This is Taste is hosted and produced by Eliza Abarbanal and me, Matt Rodbar. The show is edited by lead producer Clayton Gumbert and supervised by Pat Stango, director of media production and development at Penguin Random House. Thanks to Shalia Harris and the production team at Penguin Random House. Theme music by Steve Rydell. Episode portraits by Louise Zergon Pomeroy. Local design by Ellie Skrzat and Ian Dingham. Visit Taste Online at tastecooking.com and make sure to subscribe to our newsletter to keep updated on all cool things in the world of taste.

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