Birdsall House continues a tradition of food and drink service on its Peekskill city block that dates back to Revolutionary times.
“Daniel Birdsall was one of the founders of Peekskill, and his house was a tavern on Albany Post Road, across from where the Birdsall House stands today,” says John Sharp, who owns Birdsall House with partner Tim Reinke. “And George Washington stayed in Birdsall’s tavern. Birdsall was a patriot, a rebel, whatever you want to call it. We named the restaurant in his honor.”
This wasn’t Sharp’s first foray into food. “I’ve been in the restaurant industry since I was 14,” Sharp says. “I tried to open restaurants in the city, but the time was never right.”
He moved to Peekskill in the early 2000s, and quickly started to see the potential in the Hudson Valley city. The Birdsall House’s former incarnation was John Connelly’s shot-and-a-beer watering hole, a city staple since the 1940s. After some negotiations, Sharp and Reinke were able to buy the building from Connelly’s family, and opened the Birdsall House the weekend of St. Patrick’s Day in March 2010. The interior still has retro touches: Sturdy wooden high-backed stools line a horseshoe-shaped bar; framed black-and-white photos on the wall hark back to when Connelly himself was behind the bar. Across a sculpted-steel divider, a row of tables and another of booths accommodate diners.
Sharp has since partnered in several other Peekskill ventures, among them the Factoria dining/entertainment venue at the Charles Point marina, and Fin & Brew inside Factoria. Two years after Birdsall opened, Sharp opened Gleason’s two blocks away. The pizza-and-Italian joint is named for the legendary entertainer and former Peekskill resident Jackie Gleason. The Central, a new coffeeshop/cafe in the Peekskill train station, is also a Sharp-founded venue.
But Birdsall House is Sharp’s flagship eatery in the city, and patrons keep returning for its solid menu and 20-tap line of strictly craft brews from independent brewers. “I call it ‘elevated pub fare,” Sharp says. “We utilize local farms where we can.”
Led by Chef Sturgess Spanos, Birdsall House offers up the half-pound Birdsall Burger ($15.50), served on a brioche bun with hand-cut fries. “The burger is our biggest seller,” Sharp says. “It’s a proprietary blend of seasoned brisket and ground beef.” The restaurant did a steady business selling takeout make-your-own burger kits while indoor dining was banned during COVID.
The Birdsall’s Signature Burger choices (each $17.50) include the New Yorker, with porter-glazed onions, cheddar, and pickled jalapenos; the Carolina, with housemade BBQ sauce, fried onions, and a pickle; and the California, with avocado, white cheddar, and bacon.
That menu is spiced up with a rotation of seasonal items, like Shrimp Quesadillas ($18) and Grilled Lamb Sliders with tomato jam ($19). “We like the art of food,” Sharp says. “We get bored easily, so we like to mix it up a lot. We’ll offer soft-shell crabs when they’re in season, and lobster rolls in the summertime. Our customers get used to being surprised.”
If you want to dodge beef, the Signature Burger list includes a Beet and Quinoa burger and the plant-based Beyond Burger (each also $17.50). The menu has other tasty vegetarian and gluten-free options, including its Seitan Gyro ($16), a customer favorite. “Tim Reinke is a vegan, and he wanted to bring some of his lifestyle to the restaurant,” Sharp says. “We make our own seitan for the gyro—it’s served with the traditional onion, tomato, and lettuce. If you’re vegetarian, not vegan, you can add our housemade tzatziki sauce.”
Sharp, however, is not a vegan. “My roots are in the South,” he says, “and we like to fire up the smoker and smoke some brisket or pork butts on wood.” That’s reflected on the menu with the Smoked Pork Rice Bowl ($18), a dinner option that’s served with brown rice, black beans, roasted butternut squash, cilantro, and a chipotle drizzle.
Draught beer is available for takeout in 32-ounce ($10-$19) or 64-ounce ($18-34) sizes. Refillable growlers are available for $5 (filling is extra, of course.) Current draught choices on the 20-tap list include Two Roads’ Road to Ruin (an IPA from CT, 8 percent ABV), Alewife Chaos (a New York Gose, with an ABV of 4.4 percent), and Alphabet City Black Tart (a New York barrel-aged sour, weighing in at 5.5 percent ABV). “There are no domestics on our tap line,” Sharp says. “Of course, if you want a Bud, we’ll give you a Bud, but we try to stick to craft brews for draughts.”
Once spring arrives, Sharp’s looking forward to opening the outdoor backyard patio and beer garden, a concrete-and-greenery oasis with a wrought-iron gate to the street. The beer garden was a haven even before the pandemic, and its picnic tables and movie nights were a welcome escape when patrons once again ventured out. “We recently got permission to put a food trailer outside so we can serve our outside guests from there,” Sharp explains. “We’re going outside the capabilities of our one kitchen, which is a good thing. The food trailer will be an extension of our kitchen.”
Whether you’re an indoor diner, or one who likes the fast-casual, al fresco fare, Birdsall House has the food and drink ready to satisfy your taste. We’re sure George Washington (and John Connolly) would be proud.
Birdsall House
970 Main St, Peekskill
(914) 930-1880
Open noon-10pm, every day; Sunday brunch, noon-3pm
“Daniel Birdsall was one of the founders of Peekskill, and his house was a tavern on Albany Post Road, across from where the Birdsall House stands today,” says John Sharp, who owns Birdsall House with partner Tim Reinke. “And George Washington stayed in Birdsall’s tavern. Birdsall was a patriot, a rebel, whatever you want to call it. We named the restaurant in his honor.”
This wasn’t Sharp’s first foray into food. “I’ve been in the restaurant industry since I was 14,” Sharp says. “I tried to open restaurants in the city, but the time was never right.”
He moved to Peekskill in the early 2000s, and quickly started to see the potential in the Hudson Valley city. The Birdsall House’s former incarnation was John Connelly’s shot-and-a-beer watering hole, a city staple since the 1940s. After some negotiations, Sharp and Reinke were able to buy the building from Connelly’s family, and opened the Birdsall House the weekend of St. Patrick’s Day in March 2010. The interior still has retro touches: Sturdy wooden high-backed stools line a horseshoe-shaped bar; framed black-and-white photos on the wall hark back to when Connelly himself was behind the bar. Across a sculpted-steel divider, a row of tables and another of booths accommodate diners.
Sharp has since partnered in several other Peekskill ventures, among them the Factoria dining/entertainment venue at the Charles Point marina, and Fin & Brew inside Factoria. Two years after Birdsall opened, Sharp opened Gleason’s two blocks away. The pizza-and-Italian joint is named for the legendary entertainer and former Peekskill resident Jackie Gleason. The Central, a new coffeeshop/cafe in the Peekskill train station, is also a Sharp-founded venue.
But Birdsall House is Sharp’s flagship eatery in the city, and patrons keep returning for its solid menu and 20-tap line of strictly craft brews from independent brewers. “I call it ‘elevated pub fare,” Sharp says. “We utilize local farms where we can.”
Led by Chef Sturgess Spanos, Birdsall House offers up the half-pound Birdsall Burger ($15.50), served on a brioche bun with hand-cut fries. “The burger is our biggest seller,” Sharp says. “It’s a proprietary blend of seasoned brisket and ground beef.” The restaurant did a steady business selling takeout make-your-own burger kits while indoor dining was banned during COVID.
The Birdsall’s Signature Burger choices (each $17.50) include the New Yorker, with porter-glazed onions, cheddar, and pickled jalapenos; the Carolina, with housemade BBQ sauce, fried onions, and a pickle; and the California, with avocado, white cheddar, and bacon.
That menu is spiced up with a rotation of seasonal items, like Shrimp Quesadillas ($18) and Grilled Lamb Sliders with tomato jam ($19). “We like the art of food,” Sharp says. “We get bored easily, so we like to mix it up a lot. We’ll offer soft-shell crabs when they’re in season, and lobster rolls in the summertime. Our customers get used to being surprised.”
If you want to dodge beef, the Signature Burger list includes a Beet and Quinoa burger and the plant-based Beyond Burger (each also $17.50). The menu has other tasty vegetarian and gluten-free options, including its Seitan Gyro ($16), a customer favorite. “Tim Reinke is a vegan, and he wanted to bring some of his lifestyle to the restaurant,” Sharp says. “We make our own seitan for the gyro—it’s served with the traditional onion, tomato, and lettuce. If you’re vegetarian, not vegan, you can add our housemade tzatziki sauce.”
Sharp, however, is not a vegan. “My roots are in the South,” he says, “and we like to fire up the smoker and smoke some brisket or pork butts on wood.” That’s reflected on the menu with the Smoked Pork Rice Bowl ($18), a dinner option that’s served with brown rice, black beans, roasted butternut squash, cilantro, and a chipotle drizzle.
Craft brews are what drew people to Birdsall House when it first opened, and that lure continues today. “We’ve cultivated relationships with breweries over the last 10 to 15 years, and oftentimes we’ll serve a craft brew that you can’t get anywhere else, like Heady Topper [from the Alchemist brewery in Stowe, Vermont]. Those beers, we only serve for about a week until we’ve simply run out,” Sharp says.
Draught beer is available for takeout in 32-ounce ($10-$19) or 64-ounce ($18-34) sizes. Refillable growlers are available for $5 (filling is extra, of course.) Current draught choices on the 20-tap list include Two Roads’ Road to Ruin (an IPA from CT, 8 percent ABV), Alewife Chaos (a New York Gose, with an ABV of 4.4 percent), and Alphabet City Black Tart (a New York barrel-aged sour, weighing in at 5.5 percent ABV). “There are no domestics on our tap line,” Sharp says. “Of course, if you want a Bud, we’ll give you a Bud, but we try to stick to craft brews for draughts.”
Once spring arrives, Sharp’s looking forward to opening the outdoor backyard patio and beer garden, a concrete-and-greenery oasis with a wrought-iron gate to the street. The beer garden was a haven even before the pandemic, and its picnic tables and movie nights were a welcome escape when patrons once again ventured out. “We recently got permission to put a food trailer outside so we can serve our outside guests from there,” Sharp explains. “We’re going outside the capabilities of our one kitchen, which is a good thing. The food trailer will be an extension of our kitchen.”
Whether you’re an indoor diner, or one who likes the fast-casual, al fresco fare, Birdsall House has the food and drink ready to satisfy your taste. We’re sure George Washington (and John Connolly) would be proud.
Birdsall House
970 Main St, Peekskill
(914) 930-1880
Open noon-10pm, every day; Sunday brunch, noon-3pm
