6 Hot Foodie Spots to Check out in Rosendale

In less than a year’s time, this sleepy Ulster County town has undergone a food and drink renaissance, featuring everything from a community-oriented coffee shop to a Southern-style moonshine distillery—and there’s more on the horizon.

Well Nice Wine Bar

407 Main St

What had been “a raucous bar called The Well” many years ago, according to Zoë Wilkins, has been completely rebranded and rebuilt.

Wilkins and husband Joe Barron, both sommeliers, call it fate that they found this “beautiful little spot on Main Street.” They had been looking in Kingston but found kindred spirits in the other small business owners that recently discovered Rosendale.

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“Rosendale ended up being perfect for us because it combined that fresh energy with a community really dedicated to a vibrant Main Street social scene.”

Open since mid-December, their 20-seat spot, with lots of cushions, candles, books, and vintage dishware (modeled after their grandmother’s homes where they both learned to cook), features dishes that reflect their backgrounds: British and Polish for Wilkins and the Midwest with Hungarian roots for Barron.

“We wanted to take all of these really similar flavors and combine them in kitschy and unique ways,” says Wilkins. The result is a menu that features paprikash pot pie and spinach artichoke dip pierogies, plus a variety of dishes with potatoes.

As for the wine, diners can expect something in every category and price point including a dynamic selection of glass specials. Wilkins is most excited about showcasing Eastern European and New York state selections, as well as their “lightbulb wines” which highlight bottles that influenced their wine careers.

As for the name, well nice, according to London-born Wilkins, is a “super common, cross-generational British term which means wicked/awesome/delightful.”

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Lift Café

424 Main St

Every Main Street needs a coffee shop and Lift Café, which opened in November, has become that community center for caffeine, conversation, and light bites such as pastries, paninis, egg sandwiches, and healthy snacks. Owners Peter Oellers and Daniel Malpica, who have long lived in the area and watched the ebb and flow of businesses over the years, saw the need for such a spot and decided to fill it.

Lift Cafe
Courtesy of Lift Cafe

Their son, Myles O’Meara, manages the day-to-day with wife Marisa (she makes most of the baked goods), and says the goal is, as the name implies, to lift people up. “We want to lift their mood, their spirits, their energy levels.”

Locals know the spot as the old Perry’s Pickles storefront, which the family renovated before taking over; prior to that, it was the town hall and police station. They say that history, coupled with the stories they hear from customers, has been most welcoming.

Joppenbergh Gap Distilling

713 Route 32; Tillson

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For the first time since Prohibition, Rosendale has a distillery devoted to moonshine. Open since mid-November in the hamlet of Tillson, Joppenbergh Gap Distilling, named for the mountain that rises over the area, is all about 100proof clear corn whiskey meticulously crafted exactly as it’s done in the backwoods of the South.

Rosendale resident Jason Gaidies, who’s been moonshining for 13 years (he was on the Discovery series Moonshiners: Master Distiller) is the maker behind the hooch, which he believes brings something new and different to the area.

At the moment, there are two varieties: a clear corn un-aged whiskey and an apple pie, both of which are best served in moonshine-based martinis, or “moontinis.” The bar also offers local cider and beer.

The loungey space is decorated with books about the history of Rosendale, in particular Rosendale cement, which helped build the Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty. You’ll also find local maple syrup, baked goods, antiques, and a vibe that offers a hat tip to the moonshining era, complete with wingback chairs, couches, and Southern music.

Bistrot Le Chat Barbu

434 Main St

Devin Delgādo knows nearby Kingston and Hudson well, but it wasn’t until his father took him to Rosendale last year that the chef, who’s been in the restaurant business for over two decades, fell under its spell.

“All of the alchemy of imagination swirling in my thoughts about my future business crystallized when I found the Rosendale Café [which closed in 2022]. I knew that I had found the best opportunity to build the thing I wanted,” he explains.

Bistrot le Chat Barbu (debuting mid-January, at press time), which means bearded cat, is a playful interpretation of a classic French Bistrot, according to Delgādo, with “a higher quality dining experience with zero pretense.”

So while you’ll find steak frites, coq au vin, and cassoulet, the menu also draws upon influences from former French colonies, like Senegal, Vietnam, and Martinique, in addition to New Orleans, Delgādo’s second favorite place outside of the Hudson Valley.

Parrillada Family Meals

378 Main St

Grilled goodness is the name of the game at this family-run spot, open since April, where you’ll discover a medley of cultures mixed into one big, varied menu. Diners can expect to feast on everything from Turkish specialties to Italian, Spanish, and American dishes, including kebabs, steak and potatoes, shrimp scampi, paninis, and pasta.

Husband and wife Nubis Ciardiello and Ramon Chub, who also own Tikal Maya in Fishkill, wanted to offer something different that also matched the vibrancy of the community. And for the record, Parrillada means grilled in Spanish.

Coming soon…

The Catch Club

2608 Route 32

Rosendale’s about to get a new seafood shop—with clam shack vibes—sometime in mid-February (at press time) when Savannah Jordan and Parker Hollinger open a brick-and-mortar answer to their Montauk Catch Club, an always popular draw at area farmers’ markets.

Jordan, a CIA grad who’s worked at kitchens in Manhattan and the Hamptons, and Hollinger, a longtime fisherman, specialize in bringing the highest quality fish to the Hudson Valley, with 85 percent of their offerings sourced from Montauk.

When complete, the space will be a combo seafood market and casual spot for a lobster roll and a glass of wine. Along with a display of more than a dozen varieties of fish, expect curated pantry items, house-made sauces, and prepared foods like lobster salad and shrimp dumplings. There will also be a wet room where customers can watch fish being cut.

Towards the back will be the seafood shack part where, through a sliding kitchen window, customers can order (almost) every fish in the sea, from a dozen oysters to fried clams.

Related: 7 Spots to Grab a Winter Mocktail in the Hudson Valley

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