From specialty coffee and Mexican street food to a cozy bar on the Woodstock Village Green and a cozy pub in Mt. Tremper, here are the new Hudson Valley bars and restaurants to try in January.
Downstate Kitchen & Coffee
47 Lander Street, Newburgh
Craft coffee and Mexican street food are the order of the day at the newly opened Newburgh cafe Downstate. Located on Lander Street, the project is a collab between chefs Brandon Grimila and Fernando Cordova. The project bridges the gap between coffee enthusiasts and Mexican food lovers with a full espresso bar offering everything from cortados and cappuccinos to matcha, chai, and cold brew combined with CDMX-inspired food offerings like tamales and chilaquiles, tortas, gorditas, and burritos.
Willa
52 Main Street, Millerton
With a combined 18 years’ experience working at 52 Main in Millerton, coworkers and couple Alanna Broesler and Jim Buhs took over the restaurant in September. After a five-week renovation they reopened in October as the farm-to-table New American spot Willa. Under the direction of chef Daniel Meissner, Willa offers a small menu that refuses to sacrifice range for size, from winter squash croquettes ($8) and black emmer pappardelle ($30) to a smash burger and fries ($22), all the while adhering to micro-seasonal cycles.
Harana Market
5125 Route 209, Accord
After three wildly successful years in a shoebox space on Wittenberg Road in Woodstock, Filipino deli and Asian grocer Harana Market moved to a much larger barn space on the side of Route 209 in Accord in December. In the new location, co-owners Chris Mauricio and Eva Tringali and their team continue to offer all of Harana’s classic, seasonally rotating dishes as well as a few new menu items including a $7 silog rice bowl and the option to make rice plate entrees family style and receive a larger portion with no rice. The expanded grocery section offers a selection of Asian pantry items such as gochujang, fish sauce, dried and frozen noodles, and sweet treats, as well as Indigenous housewares and imported foods from independent makers and vendors.
Oliver’s Tavern at the Howland House
1564 Wittenberg Road, Mount Tremper
Steps away from the Esopus Creek and world-class fishing in the Beaverkill and five minutes to Phoenicia, the Howland House in Mount Tremper has been a Catskills destination in various incarnations since it was built in the 1860s. (Some may remember it as the location of the auberge and restaurant La Duchesse Anne.) Following a painstaking three-year renovation under new owners William and Eva Brooks, the historic inn reopened in October 2022. A year later, the onsite restaurant, British-style gastropub Oliver’s Tavern, came online in mid-December. Think cozy dishes like savory pies and pressed paninis along with craft draft beer.
Howlandhouseny.com/olivers
Small Talk Woodstock
1 Tinker Street, Woodstock
Former co-owner of Station Bar in Woodstock Mark Landsman has worked everywhere from the Waverly Inn to seasonal restaurants out on Montauk and as the cocktail manager at Silvia. Taking what he had learned over years in the service industry, in 2021 he transformed Hunter Village Wine & Liquors into Elevated Wine & Spirits. Now he returns to the hospitality scene as the owner of the bar Small Talk. The shoebox location (formerly Que Lo Que) overlooks the village green in the heart of Woodstock and serves classic cocktails; a mix of low-intervention, classic, and uncommon wines; cheese boards; mezze platters; and chicken pot pies. The vibe is cozy and evocative of the natural surroundings with rustic wood grain and dark tones.
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This article appears in January 2024.
