Teased for months through a series of pop-ups at nearby bars and breweries, Phos: My Greek-American Kitchen opened on Catskill’s Main Street in early June, under the direction of chef-owner Stephanie Skiadas and business partner chef Jamie Parry.
For six-and-a-half years, Skiadas was the chef at Gaskins in Germantown. No stranger to Hudson Valley kitchens, Skiadas worked at places like Wm. Farmer & Sons and Swoon in Hudson before moving down to the Germantown spot. But opening a restaurant of her own was always part of the 35-year-old’s plan. When the time came to develop the new restaurant’s concept, she was determined to bring something different to the community. “I don’t see that many Greek places doing fine dining,” she says. “There’s so much that the cuisine lends to with the ingredients and the culture, all of it. We can do more than just a taverna or a diner.”
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At Phos (pronounced “foes,” it’s the Greek word for light or illumination), Skiadas serves what appears, on the surface, to be simple Greek staples. However, she elevates flavor expectations using local and seasonal ingredients with techniques grounded in years of experience.
Across the board, dishes are presented in an almost decorative manner. The five mezzes (available one for $6 or all five for $23) are served together in a large bowl, resembling a color wheel. The fava-bean green, red-pepper orange, and tzatziki-white arrive side by side, inviting you to test the flavors individually or blend them using the soft tip of a pita. The flatbread is homemade and served warm from the oven. It has a floury, salty texture almost akin to pizza dough.
Phos is at home in the in-between. “I call it my Greek-American Kitchen so that we have some room to work with the ingredients,” Skiadas says. This is precisely what our waiter was touching on when he warned us that it was not a traditional Greek salad ($16) we were ordering. Instead of the better-known version loaded with tomatoes, this one features a seasonal base of leafy lettuce and radishes, too, since tomatoes aren’t in season. “Oh, and are you ok with anchovy?” he asked, to which we excitedly assured him we were.
Dishes range from $6 to $34, with an emphasis on shared starters and mains that can be easily split by two (or more), especially when accompanied by a side of fries (the same ones beloved by patrons of Gaskins, available for $8). There’s also a broad offering of dairy-free and gluten-free dishes, such as a tempeh souvlaki served with vegan coconut tzatziki ($18) and a braised pomegranate chicken with lemon potatoes ($30).
Given its Mediterranean inspiration, Phos would be remiss not to offer some turf menu options. Like any great Greek restaurant, there’s an appetizer of grilled octopus ($27). Skiadas’s is served on a sweeping spoonful of smoked pepper vinaigrette with potatoes and olives—the best-executed version of such a dish I’d had in recent memory. Other starters include calamari with a lentil crust and black olive aioli ($19), one of a few varied uses of olives on the menu.
The entrees lean toward traditional Greek cuisine—think gyro ($18) and moussaka ($28). Spanakopita is served as a precisely cut circular phyllo, like a souffle of flaky dough filled with spinach and bechamel ($18). Still, the less traditionally Greek dishes have become standouts according to Skiadas. The bluefish is seared and served with Castelvetrano olives (grown in Greece, but not what you usually think of when you imagine “Greek olives”) that are caramelized in a honey-caraway gastrique ($34). It’s not a typical preparation, but Skiadas is happy to bend the rules, especially if it means incorporating local ingredients.
Creating the menu has been this delicate balancing act of tradition and exploration. “It’s a tightrope I’m walking,” says Skiadas. She’ll have plenty of opportunities to practice, with plans to change the menu every two months or so, as seasonal offerings evolve.
Although Phos’s liquor license is still pending, its drink list is as long as a traditional cocktail menu. Skiadas’s twin sister, Melissa Bauer, is their beverage director, leading a bar program that draws heavily from the fresh flavors of the food menu. “She’ll talk to me about the drinks, and I’ll throw out a food ingredient, and she’ll turn it into a simple syrup,” Skiadas says. This collaboration yields complex (for now) mocktails with some savory, unfamiliar flavors, such as walnut fig bitters or Scotch bonnet shrub. There’s a Naked Mastika spritz ($12), which uses mastic gum, an ingredient sourced from trees grown exclusively on the Greek island of Chios, also known as the island of Mastic, with a sweet, herbal flavor.
The limited dessert menu sticks to the classics, featuring baklava ($14), as well as hot-weather treats like Greek coffee granita ($7) and Greek mountain tea sorbet ($4 for one scoop, $7 for two). We were not led astray by a neighborhood bartender who’d suggested the Greek donuts ($15). The four bite-sized donuts were fried, yet not greasy, with a chewy center and paired with a scoop of house-made linden flower ice cream and honey. Greek coffee is also available for those seeking a true Mediterranean end to their night.
Despite the fine-dining approach in the kitchen, Phos feels more like a bistro than high-end restaurant. The space remains largely unchanged from its previous incarnation as New York Restaurant, featuring a large dining room that seats 50, as well as a private dining room in the back accommodating up to 14 guests. The oversized chalkboard, still situated above the bar, now features an ethereal Greek goddess presenting the names of local farms and partners.
The rest of the building wears its age proudly, including the tiled floor, left over from the building’s original 1905(ish) restaurant, which just so happened to be Greek, “so we didn’t want to touch that,” Skiadas notes of the happy, full-circle moment for a 100-plus-year-old spot on Main Street.
During the opening week, Phos already buzzed like a neighborhood joint, with patrons stopping on their way to be seated to greet friends. The family at a table next to us remarked on their excitement to be reunited with their favorite chef, having dined at Gaskins for years. Even so, coming across the Hudson means a new adventure for Skiadas. “I’m just excited to be in Catskill,” she says, “I’ve loved working with the community so far, and I’m excited to keep doing that.”
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