http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/14/nyregion/a-review-of-towne-crier-cafe-in-beacon.html?_r=0
Soul, Plus Kitchen
A Review of Towne Crier Cafe in Beacon
EMILY DeNITTO
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Towne Crier Cafe now has a dedicated 100-seat space just for diners, with tall ceilings and plenty of windows. Credit Gregg Vigliotti for The New York Times
Music venues can be trying places for those who love good food. If they offer anything beyond overpriced drinks, it is often not more than stale nuts and pretzels, or from a full menu, tired salads and anonymous brown meats.
Towne Crier Cafe is a different breed. A gem of a performance space — acts ahead will include Judy Collins, Leo Kottke and Suzanne Vega — Towne Crier takes its food seriously. A renowned venue opened in 1972 by Phil Ciganer, it was located in Pawling for 25 years and closed in June 2013. Its reopening in an intimate and completely renovated Beacon space last October is reason for celebration for music and food lovers alike.
Towne Crier now has a dedicated 100-seat space just for diners, with its own entrance on the street side of the building. Tall ceilings and plenty of windows combine with cushy banquettes to create a comfortable bistro feel. A separate bar to the right of the entrance provides a cozy, softly lighted place to enjoy the intelligently chosen wine list or try one of the local brews on tap (the restaurant is working to get a full liquor license). Food can also be ordered at the bar as well as at sidewalk tables when the weather is nice.
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Herb-crusted tuna steak with Thai chili dipping sauce. Credit Gregg Vigliotti for The New York Times The concert area provides 170 or so seats; a retractable wall between the music and the dining areas can be moved depending on the
size of the crowds expected in each. Wherever you land, the same tempting menu from James Kane, the executive chef, awaits. Mr. Kane previously worked at Le Chambord in Hopewell Junction and Zuppa in Yonkers.
There is an earthy, down-home feel to the best of the kitchen’s eclectic offerings. House-made baba ghanouj had a smoky, garlicky taste with plenty of excellent olive oil and lemon juice in the mix. An entree of al dente rigatoni with broccoli rabe and crumbled sausage tasted like a talented grandmother had made it, again, with exceptional olive oil and a great Parmigiano-Reggiano on top. The house-smoked barbecue pulled pork topped with a sharp, fresh red cabbage slaw on a toasted ciabatta roll was another winner.
Mr. Kane tries to use local ingredients, and you can taste the farm-to-table freshness in the butternut squash and apple arancini. The little risotto balls were lightly breaded, creamy on the inside and served with a cayenne-cream dipping sauce that gave them just the right hint of heat.
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Dining in the performance space. Credit Gregg Vigliotti for The New York Times
Other offerings provide a nice kick: It is in the Thai chili dipping sauce served with the herb-crusted tuna and in the chilled sesame noodles where the ginger-peanut sauce is cut with a spicy pepper. Sautéed Prince Edward Island mussels have just enough chorizo in the garlic, butter and white wine sauce to balance out their sweetness.
There is an occasional tendency to overcook. My New York strip was brown throughout even though I asked for medium, and a roasted pork special another night was also overdone. Each was saved by terrific mashed potatoes; with the steak, they were made with buttery Yukon golds; with the pork, they were truffled and accompanied by a chunky applesauce with a hint of horseradish.
And though the staff members are friendly and try hard, on two visits they failed to wipe off the dirty tabletop between courses, even when repeatedly asked to do so, and brought the entrees out before the appetizers were done.
But there was not a single dessert that disappointed. The nightly offerings from Mary Ciganer — Phil Ciganer’s wife and the pastry chef, formerly at Le Cirque — are on display when you walk in the door, and it is hard to put them out of your mind until the end of the meal. They include a carrot cake filled with plump raisins and nuts, a sour-cream-and-plum coffee cake, an apple-walnut Danish with chocolate chips and an elegant raspberry framboise chocolate layer cake towering with fresh whipped cream.
I recently saw the astonishing bluesman Luther “Guitar Junior” Johnson at the Towne Crier, and I barely took my eyes off him for the entire performance. Except, that is, after I took a bite of the chocolate cake. For a few moments, even Mr. Johnson’s soulful finger work could not shift my focus from that rich, complex, absolutely delicious taste.
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Towne Crier Cafe
379 Main Street
Beacon
845-855-1300
townecrier.com
Good
THE SPACE Meals are served in the performance space, in a separate dining-only room or at the bar, which is also a separate room. In nice weather, there is dining on the sidewalk in front. Wheelchair accessible.
THE CROWD Towne Crier draws from a wide swath — from as far away as California for a popular-enough artist. Typically some of the audience will be from New York City, and there will be diners from the area and the Tristate region.
THE BAR Right now it serves only wine ($7 to $9 a glass; $28 to $85 a bottle) and beer (including six draft lines, $6 to $8 a glass). Management is working on getting a full liquor license.
THE BILL Small plates from $7 to $11.50, entrees $14.50 to $24. Major credit cards accepted.
WHAT WE LIKED Squash and apple arancini, mussels and chorizo, sesame noodles, baba ghanouj, meat-and-cheese board, coconut shrimp, rigatoni with broccoli rabe and sausage, pan-seared salmon, pan-roasted tuna steak, barbecue pulled pork on ciabatta roll, sour-cream-and-plum coffee cake, apple-walnut Danish, carrot cake, raspberry framboise chocolate layer cake (special), peach pie (special) and chocolate truffle torte.
IF YOU GO Restaurant open Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, 11 a.m. to 9:30 p.m.; Friday, 11 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m. to 10:30 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. Bar stays open later. Closed Tuesday. Reservations recommended. Free parking behind the restaurant.
RATINGS Excellent, Very Good, Good, Fair, Poor.