Upscale-casual might sound like a contradiction, but it’s a vibe that an increasing number of restaurateurs are aiming to achieve—elevated meals served in an atmosphere where you can wear jeans and a tee or bring the whole family. Beacon Quality Eats (BQE for short) is a sandwich joint open since April on Beacon’s main drag that takes the concept a step further by recreating a New York City-style bodega atmosphere with a menu of sandwiches made from painstakingly curated ingredients: house-smoked turkey, house-cured pastrami, pitas sourced from a third-generation pita bakery, farm-raised chicken and duck, semolina bread from a small baker in North Jersey, and more.
“I refer to us as a bodega-style sandwich shop featuring locally sourced or house-made ingredients,” says Jeff Silverstein, who co-owns BQE with chef Brian Arnoff. Arnoff is also the owner of Kitchen Sink Food and Drink, which formerly offered fine dining but now operates as a catering service and supper club, with an outpost at Storm King Art Center. Kitchen Sink occupied the BQE space from 2015 until October 2024, and Arnoff also runs Meyers Olde Dutch, also known as Mod, in Beacon and Poughkeepsie. He and Silverstein connected in 2020 when Silverstein, who ran an ad agency in the city, was looking for a change of pace.
“I was born and raised in Brooklyn,” Silverstein says, “and bodegas were always a big part of my life—it was where we got our groceries and sandwiches. Before BQE, I was a big fan of Brian’s because at Kitchen Sink he would take these dishes you thought you knew and turn them into something entirely new. We connected and talked about working together on a sandwich concept.”
“Jeff and I both love sandwiches, and love quality food, so we wanted to do our own take on the classics,” Arnoff explains “We spent a lot of time thinking about a concept and idea of the bodega came up, so we went down the rabbit hole: bodegas were started by Cubans, taken on by Puerto Rican culture in New York City, then picked up by Dominican and Afghani culture, and now Asian groups, and that melting pot of flavors was exactly what we wanted to showcase.”
The pair bodega-hopped around New York for the sake of sandwich research. “We both had a list of the sandwiches we loved, ingredients we wanted to work with, and atmosphere we wanted to create, then we compared our notes and got to work,” Silverstein says.
Since opening, their top sellers so far have included the chicken shawarma with grilled chicken thighs, house za’atar spice, shawarma-spiced onions, pickles, hummus, and pickled cabbage on a pita ($14); followed by The Wifey—a seeded semolina hoagie with chopped prosciutto, spicy salami, capicola, red onion, oil-cured tomatoes, provolone, mozzarella, and house Italian dressing ($17). The Baller is another favorite, with house-made beef-and-pork meatballs, tomato sauce, basil whipped ricotta, and sharp provolone on a seeded semolina hoagie ($16).
“We’ve had some unexpected success with our take on standards, too,” Arnoff says, “Like, the tuna salad sandwich is consistently among the top five sales. It’s a tuna salad sandwich, but it’s made with Spanish tuna, three or four farm-fresh vegetables, we ferment our own pickles, make our own mayo from scratch, cure our own tomatoes—we think a lot about every small thing to make it greater than expected.”
A selection of salads includes flavorful options like crispy fried goat cheese on arugula with beets ($13), a pesto pasta salad ($8), and a falafel salad with hummus, tahini, Israeli salad, and more ($15). Take-home dinners are offered Thursday through Sunday with options like pernil or fried chicken, both with sides, at a range of $15 to $21 (view their schedule online).
Beyond quality eats, when it comes to design, they nailed the theme. The intimate space features hanging fluorescent bar lights and panels of spray-painted street art mounted above no-fuss wooden bistro tables; the walls are half finished with glossy white tiles and feature poster-sized prints of market scenes. The custom-built service counter has your typical grab-and-go packs of gum, bags of chips, sunflower seeds, and more, as well as a few pantry staples for sale. On the wall above, rows of more than 20 individual sheets of neon printer paper describe each sandwich option and price. Beyond the counter you can see the kitchen in action; past that is an outdoor courtyard with seating.
“The design of BQE is extremely different from the former supper club, which had low lighting for an intimate, elegant fine dining experience; we wanted to make this feel brighter and more fun,” Silverstein says, noting that the team got help from his wife, Ana Silverlinck, for design assistance.
“One thing we strongly believe in is offering a great overall customer experience,” he says. “We know we can do food really well, but we want you to feel happy here.” Arnoff adds: “It feels good to bring together a community through a sense of place that people really connect with.”
Beacon Quality Eats is located at 157 Main Street, Beacon, and is open daily from 11am until 8pm.
