Food for Thought

Here’s some food for thought: What goes together better than good food and a good book to peruse while you munch? The point was made recently on visits to two area eateries, both of which offer a selection of reading experiences for patrons.

A young couple recently sat together at the communal bar in the airy dining room of McMuckle’s Market, a new eatery in Canaan CT. Heads bowed, they were engrossed in a cookbook as they waited for their meals to emerge. Flipping through the pages, they laughed and chatted about the recipes they discovered.

McMuckle’s owner Matthew Sadowski, who specializes in preparing fresh foods with an extra little twist, keeps a stack of cookbooks on a shelf in the dining area and encourages his customers to enjoy them. He even allows them to take them home to read and perhaps sample intriguing dishes.

“I like to read cookbooks and find inspiration in them for things I can try here,” said Sadowski. “I’m happy to share them. If they bring them back, that’s good—if not, maybe they will bring me another one.”

Meanwhile, at 2987 Church Street in Pine Plains NY, Storybook Café, a new breakfast spot, opened its doors January 6th, providing breakfast, lunch and books! Children who come in with their parents are allowed to select a free book to keep, while parents can scan shelves filled with gently used recent releases that they might like to buy. Twenty-five percent of their purchase price is donated to local charities.

“I wanted people to be able to sit and read while they enjoy their meal,” said owner McKenzie Killmer. “There’s something about a book and a cuppa … I had a nice gentleman come in with his little daughter and she picked out a book and he read it to her while they waited for their breakfast. It brings me joy to see that.”

Both restauranteurs have long experience in the food business. Killmer formerly worked for at Lia’s Mountain View Restaurant, a Pine Plains favorite for more than 40 years, which her family owned. Killmer worked there for 20 years, all the time dreaming of owning a bookstore and coffee shop.

Serendipitously, a place became available in the center of town when Jamie Gerber, owner of Rosey’s, approached her in May last year with the news that she would close her breakfast and lunch restaurant. Killmer and her wife, Jessica, decided to make her dream happen.

They got the keys to the new location in September and began a general overhaul of the kitchen and dining area, all while McKenzie continued to work at Lia’s. She worked her final shift at Lia’s on December 30th and just seven days later opened the doors of Storybook Cafe. Jessica works full-time in the kitchen at Noble Horizons in Salisbury.

“I wanted books, coffee and pastries but my wife pointed out that Pine Plains really needed a breakfast place and we recognized that the community wanted that too,” she said.

“We planned to do breakfast all day long—and we still do that—but it soon became obvious that customers wanted a lunch menu too, Killmer said. “We’re working on the lunch menu but right now we have cold sandwiches, BLT’s and grilled cheese.”

“The big thing is, this is just the beginning,” she continued. “We have plans for pop-up dinners, book clubs and Trivia nights to foster a sense of community.”

Even though Pine Plains has a population of only 2,200 and one streetlight, she nevertheless sees a “new vibrance” to the community with a younger generation taking over the business district. “There’s a little bit of everything here and there is definitely more foot traffic,” she reported.

In Connecticut, Canaan is another town emerging from an economic decline and McMuckle’s Market at 85 Main Street is a welcome addition to the changing business community.

At McMuckle’s the window says it all, proclaiming that the restaurant is a purveyor of “yumminess.” Sadowski works hard to deliver on that promise and word is spreading about the quality of the food at the little eatery.

Sadowski quietly opened his doors December 2nd and had his clientele grow via word of mouth. In an online review, Andrew Anderson, enthused, “Came in on a whim though I had been hearing about this place for a little while. I tried the kimchi & kielbasa fried rice and WOW. Super unique and flavorful. … The service was good, and the ambience was lovely … .”

“It’s amazing what you can do with fresh food,” Sadowski said recently as be bustled past with dishes for a neighboring table. “It’s not the fastest thing but I make as much as I can from scratch.” He even creates his own mayonnaise, mustard and hot sauces.

Sadowski took a year to prepare the location for his new restaurant. Finally, with the interior freshly redecorated in a lemony yellow contrasted by a dusky blue, a smattering of tables and a long communal bar down one side, he was ready.

He enjoys it when new patrons enjoy the experience he offers and return. But he does not obsess if people want something else.

“When I started, people wanted Pop’s Diner (the next-to-last restaurant in the space). But that is not coming back. I like it when people get on board with what I am doing. When they come back, that’s a huge compliment but I don’t want to do what others are doing—let them have that lane.”

What he does is simple food, cooked simply and with great skill—with an occasional surprising twist. The product of a Polish home where pickled foods were frequently served and a long-term relationship with a Korean woman, he likes to season his foods with pickled vegetables that offer a piquant — but not overpowering — flavor.

“I was turned on to that funkiness as a kid,” he recalled. “It’s natural flavoring without using flavorings that are bad for you. It’s better food and I want to put out a quality product all the time.”

He does so for a remarkably modest price. His “starters,” which include pickled vegetables he terms “yummy probiotic-filled treats to cure a craving and indecisiveness”; a choice of cast iron skillet veggies seasoned with salt, pepper, lemon and fresh herbs, and kielbasa, sliced and pan-seared with tangy mustard for dipping, cost between $2 and $6. Hot sandwiches range from $6 to $10 and his most expensive entrée, a spicy chili garlic shrimp, is $19.

Sadowski is happy to have people suggest meals. “If you don’t know what you want, I will cook for you and surprise you,” he said. Because all his food is made to order, his biggest fear is becoming too busy and making people wait too long for their food.

Sadowski is used to a much faster pace and happy to have turned his back on it. A cook since he was 12, working at his parent’s mom-and-pop shop with its soda fountain counter service, he drifted into working at casinos in Connecticut and Florida where he was executive chef at the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

McMuckle’s (named for his dog) is open from “about 11”(AM) through 8PM, Wednesday-Sunday. Storybook Café is open from 6:30 AM to 3PM on weekdays and from 8AM to 3PM weekends.