Town & country
Town & country
Memorial Day special, best natural wine bars, Matilda at The Hensen, The Ranch, Stissing House, floor-thru antlers, C. Cassis, Kingston, Menorca, Rangers tix, MORE
GETAWAYS • Hudson Valley
Waltzing Matilda
The Skinny: Much-anticipated new restaurant Matilda debuts this weekend (at much-anticipated new Catskills boutique hotel The Henson) in Hensonville, NY. Both hotel and restaurant are the work of Wildair and Contra chefs Jeremiah Stone and Fabián van Hauske Valtierra, who have been putting their stamp on this corner of the Hudson Valley the past few years.
The Vibe: Rustic wood flooring under furniture and fixtures that wouldn’t look out of place at a new restaurant in Fort Greene — this is the Catskills, after all.
The Food & Drink: Chef Jonas Kai (recently of the group’s Day June Lunchonette, just down the street) is working the kitchen day-to-day. The team promises “globally inspired, contemporary New York cuisine” with ample sourcing from local farms. Offerings on the opening menu include roasted oysters with bone marrow, fresh cannelloni with morels, and potato mousse with strawberry granita. As befits a Wildair offspring, Matilda offers a sizable natural wine program, too.
The Verdict: The openings round out the group’s ambitious Hensonville four-pack (along with Day June and provisioning shop Paracasa). The Catskills will never be the same.
→ Matilda (Hensonville, NY) • 30 Goshen Rd • Reserve.
BONUS UPSTATE INTEL:
→ LEEDS: At Camptown, the 50-room log cabin retreat in the Catskills, Bar Piscina (above) opens for the season on May 31, serving ceviches, aguachiles, specialty cocktails, and more. It’s open to the public alongside the hotel’s excellent restaurant Casa Susanna, though the adjacent pool is reserved for hotel guests and swim club members only.
→ SLOATSBURG: ICYMI, Malibu’s The Ranch opened in the Hudson Valley last month and is currently booking stays in blocks of three nights (Monday - Thursday) and four nights (Thursday - Monday).
→ PINE PLAINS: FOUND subscriber favorite Stissing House (run by chef Clare de Boer of NYC’s King and Jupiter) is expanding its seating, refurbishing a longtime storage room into a new dining room and returning the tavern to its original footprint. The revamped space debuts this weekend. There’s also a new spring menu, including a fish pie filled with halibut and hearth-smoked wild salmon. To take measures fully over the top, the restaurant tonight kicks off a series of special summer folk feasts.
→ WASSAIC: Another subscriber favorite, the Westerly Canteen, is now accepting dinner reservations (weekend lunch remains walk-in only). Reserve.
GETAWAYS LINKS: Waldorf Astoria stays mum on reopening date • Beach in Ocean Grove, NJ, will open Sunday for first time in 155 years • In Wainscott, SoFo Sandwich Co. opens in old Breadzilla space • Nantucket’s Brant Point Inn reinvented as boutique hotel • Last day for Epic Pass best price for next winter: May 27 • Is the Ritz Carlton really a luxury brand?
REAL ESTATE • Town & Country
Upstate antlers, downstate antlers
Introducing Town & Country, a new FOUND feature where we pair NYC listings with listings in nearby second-home markets. Today, inspired by our lead item, here’s one within shouting distance of The Henson in the Catskills and one down the street from Wildair on the Lower East Side. A classic bang bang.
→ 118 Forsyth St #4 (Lower East Side, above) • 1BR/1BA, 2300 SF coop • Ask: $3.375M • floor-thru open-plan loft • Days on market: 22 • Monthly maintenance : $2400 • Agent: Glenn Schiller & Tifany Gangaram, Corcoran.
→ 150 Trailside Rd (Windham, NY) • 79BR/7BA, 6859 SF house • Ask: $2.775M • rustic-modern (see also, antlers), slopeside at The Windham Mountain Club • Days on market: 20 • Agents: Regina Tortorella & Aaron Joseph Perer, Coldwell Banker Village Green.
NYC REAL ESTATE LINKS: Developer hopes to convert building above Saks Fifth Ave. to residential • Howard Hughes’ Seaport tower will proceed after court ruling • New development 50 West 66th St is officially Upper West Side’s tallest.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Friday Routine
Keeping blackcurrant
RACHEL PETACH • founder • C. Cassis
Neighborhoods where you live: Germantown, NY / Greenpoint, Brooklyn
It’s Friday afternoon, how are you rolling into the weekend?
I run the botanical blackcurrant aperitif brand and distillery/winery, C. Cassis in Rhinebeck, — where we opened a weekend tasting room (CCTR) last fall — so Fridays are typically about finalizing the weekend menu with our chef, making sure any programming or pop-ups have what they need, and wrapping up any production from the week. Also, I love to check in on what my friends are up to at their places nearby: Rose Hill, Left Bank, Suarez, Big Towel, Quinnie's, Slow Fox, Tivoli General, Shaina Mote, and Mary MacGill.
Where are you drinking or dining this weekend?
The tricky part about having a young hospitality business and a young kid is that I'm often drinking and eating at CCTR or at home. But when I get to venture out, there are lots of places I'm always happy to find myself at. Mirador in Kingston is a newer Spanish bar with an epic sherry list and snacks, Eliza right down the road is the beautiful bistro from the Ollie's team, Gaskins is walking distance from our house (so it gets a lot of love), Calcutta Kitchens for chai and samosas, Lil Deb's is always a true pleasure, and Cafe Mutton in Hudson forever.
How about a little leisure or culture?
There is an absolute embarrassment of natural beauty in the Hudson Valley, so taking a walk in one of the preserves, hikes, or the estates (Clermont, Montgomery) along the river is actually one of my favorite ways to spend free time. Kaatsbaan in Tivoli has exceptional performance and dance programming, Chaseholm Dairy for the best cheese and also epic shows, Dutchess Botanical Gardens for plant inspiration, Arrowood Farms for great beer/spirits and concerts, the county fairs for local ag and entertainment, and (this one's super niche, I know, but) I'm a longtime horse girl, so HITS in Saugerties is amazing to go see really talented riders do their thing.
What’s a recent big-ticket purchase you love?
Oh my god, this is going to be so telling, but the last two big-ticket purchases that I'm obsessed with are lumber for a new fence and a walkie stacker (like the cross between a forklift and a pallet jack). Utilitarian lifestyle. Ask me about my power tools!
What store or service do you always recommend?
Hearty Roots Community Farm for its excellent CSA, produce/provisions market, sheep wool, and local ceramics! Also The O Zone sustainability center with composting, bulk, refill, and waste reduction options, plus a little hidden book space, Loam Library, which focuses on environmental justice and community publishing.
Any weekend getaways?
Finally went out to Western Mass for the first time earlier this year and really loved visiting Mass MOCA, The Country Store at Jiminy Peak, Cricket Creek, Furnace, and staying at Tourists.
What was your last great vacation?
I've been traveling a lot for C. Cassis which can be fun, but not exactly a vacation. So I’m excited to head back to Menorca later this summer. I lived in Spain for a few years but haven't been back in almost five, and really can't wait. That island is such a sublime blend of beach and farmland, with very dialed-in art, literature, and design out of Mahon. I'd live there in a second.
CULTURE & LEISURE • Section 107
Panthers vs Rangers • Madison Square Garden (Midtown South) • Fri @ 8p • section 107, $855 per
Fatboy Slim • Knockdown Center (Maspeth) • Sat @ 10p • GA, $123 per
The Rolling Stones • MetLife Stadium (East Rutherford, NJ) • Sun @ 8p, section 114, $312 per
CULTURE & LEISURE LINKS: Inside the Palace Theater’s $80 million refresh (re-opening May 28 with Ben Platt residency) • A cold, hard tour of brutalist NYC • Gallery BQE: ‘highbrow on the downlow’ • Unpredictable millennial and gen X buyers shaking up art market • See also: ‘a more cerebral collectors’ market shorn of the finance and tech bros who treat artworks more as commodities.’
THE NINES • Restaurants
Natural wine bars, Manhattan
Moonflower (West Village), diminutive and funky, the Prince of natural wine bars