Dandies<\/a>, a modern BBQ joint in the mountaintop ski town of Windham.<\/p>\nThe town of Catskill on the Hudson River in upstate NY. Christopher Boswell \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
The marine-turned-chef \u2014\u00a0no relation to those other, famous culinary Ciprianis \u2014\u00a0made his name at the popular Brooklyn restaurant Sea Wolf, which Vogue once called the \u201cepicenter of the hipster universe.\u201d<\/p>\n
Now, he\u2019s gone from the city to the sticks.<\/p>\n
\u201cPost-COVID, it just made sense to go \u2018all in\u2019 on Upstate,\u201d said Cipriani.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere are so many more people coming up here, from visitors to full-time and weekend residents, who all appreciate good food,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Dandies, a backyard BBQ restaurant led by chef Daniel Cipriani at the Eastwind Hotel. Dante DiGiovanni<\/p>\n
Open for business on the property of Windham\u2019s rustic Eastwind Hotel since last winter (Cipriani also co-founded the mini-hotel chain and serves as its F&B director), Dandies doles out platters piled high with pulled pork, smoked brisket, and succulent chicken.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019re smoking it all in a 333-gallon smoker we drove here from Texas,\u201d said Cipriani, noting that he\u2019s recently been firing it up, using dried cherrywood from trees downed during a storm.<\/p>\n
Along with sides like apple cabbage slaw and creamy mac n\u2019 cheese, the elevated \u2018cue is served al fresco on picnic tables with mountain views, or inside a Scandi-inspired glasshouse built from scratch for the operation.<\/p>\n
Some of the decadent food served at Dandies. Dante DiGiovanni<\/p>\n
Dandies is a part of a growing number of Windham businesses with links to NYC and elsewhere gaining a national profile \u2014\u00a0among them the nearby Wylder resort (which a Travel + Leisure reader survey previously named one of the best in the US) and its on-location restaurant and bakery Babbler\u2019s.<\/p>\n
The demand for new venues has been keeping real estate brokers hopping.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s just been snowballing, Nicole Vidor, owner of Nicole Vidor Real Estate in the fashionable town of Hudson, across the river, told The Post.<\/p>\n
She\u2019s been in the business and in the region for nearly 20 years \u2014\u00a0and even after the boom years that began in 2020, she\u2019s been impressed by the recent uptick in interest.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is amazing demand from all over \u2014\u00a0people are even coming here from California,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
A view of the town of Catskill on the Hudson River. Christopher Boswell \u2013 stock.adobe.com<\/p>\n
In office after office across the valley and throughout the mountains, the story seems to be the same.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cThe past couple of weeks are the busiest we\u2019ve been in four years,\u201d one industry vet in the region told The Post \u2014 asking not to be named.\u00a0<\/p>\n
And while the pace of life may indeed be slower up here, don\u2019t be fooled, Cipriani said. Operating a business outside of the city is \u201cequally difficult \u2014\u00a0but for all different reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the city, you have regularity issues, the volume, and all of the other craziness you have to deal with,\u201d he explained.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn the Catskills, all of those things are easier, even something as simple as construction. But up here, the hard stuff can be staffing and getting all the stuff you need shipped in,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s the hardest business in the world,\u201d he said of running a restaurant, even in an idyllic spot like Windham. \u201cBut it\u2019s also the most rewarding if you love it, and I love it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Shelter from the storm<\/p>\n
Down the mountain in the nearby town of Woodstock, locals are flocking to another Brooklyn restaurant transplant.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Shelter, a sprawling ski-lodge-inspired restaurant which boasted roaring fireplaces that doled out pizza and empanadas, closed up shop in Williamsburg in 2023 after a ten-year run \u2014\u00a0following a rent increase to a whopping $90,000 per month.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe numbers they were asking for were crazy,\u201d Diego Galarza, who co-founded Shelter with Martin Mazzoni, told The Post, recalling their former perch on N. 7th St.<\/p>\n
Shelter, a sprawling ski-lodge-inspired restaurant, in Woodstock, NY. Shelter Woodstock<\/p>\n
\u201cWe knew we had to move and wanted to bring the same style and concept somewhere else,\u201d said Galarza, a native of Argentina who originally concocted Shelter with Mazzoni in honor of the country\u2019s Andean ski culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe\u2019ve been coming upstate for years and noticed there was a vacancy in a restaurant building,\u201d says Mazzoni of how they settled on the town of Woodstock.<\/p>\n
A year-and-a-half after saying bye-bye to the Borough of Churches, they opened Shelter Woodstock \u2014\u00a0and haven\u2019t looked back since. \u201cOur landlords checked us out and said, \u2018This is what the town needs.’\u201d<\/p>\n
Shelter\u2019s interior. Shelter Woodstock<\/p>\n
According to the duo, business is booming \u2014 with hungry revelers feasting on menu hallmarks like onion and cheese empanadas, wood-fired pizza topped with arugula, prosciutto and burrata, and red wine-braised pork ribs.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople always used to come upstate on the weekends, but it\u2019s nothing like now,\u201d Mazzoni said.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s such a mix of people, and when customers we had from the city see we\u2019re here now they\u2019re very, very happy. We really work for the locals and community first, and the tourists come next.\u201d<\/p>\n
While the duo echoes Cipriani\u2019s woes about staffing (\u201cIn NYC you put up an ad and ten people show up right away, which is not the case here,\u201d says Galarza), they note everything else is easy breezy in the country.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d say it\u2019s super positive and chill,\u201d said Galarza. \u201cIt\u2019s relaxing!\u201d added Mazzoni.<\/p>\n
Some of the grub served up at Shelter. Shelter Woodstock<\/p>\n
\u201cEverybody is nicer here than in the city; it really feels like they want your business to do well,\u201d Mazzoni noted.<\/p>\n
\u201cBack in Brooklyn, we can remember one night when the Building, Fire, Health, and Police Departments visited at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night like we were hiding Pablo Escobar,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n
\u201cHere, even the building department is a joy. It\u2019s the same nice lady and she actually remembers your name,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
Upstate in smoke<\/p>\n
No town upstate quite feels like a missing NYC neighborhood as much as Hudson \u2014\u00a0which began gentrifying decades ago and shows no signs of slowing.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Up and down Warren Street and in the nearby side streets, former Big Apple businesses \u2014\u00a0or branches thereof \u2014 are increasingly thick on the ground.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Catering to them in recent years include the likes of Nora Allen \u2014 a James Beard semi-finalist whose acclaimed Mel the Bakery, on Manhattan\u2019s Lower East Side, has been drawing fans to its new home, hours away from the now-shuttered original.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Warren Street in Hudson, NY. Universal Images Group via Getty Images<\/p>\n
Crusty loaves of sourdough practically fly off the shelves, while smartly dressed Europeans sit at picnic tables in the front yard, nibbling on high-end breakfast sandwiches, blueberry yuzu shortcake and shishito sweet corn danishes.\u00a0 \u00a0<\/p>\n
Up the street, Williamsburg\u2019s luxe butcher shop Meat Hook opened up a second location on the same street in 2024.<\/p>\n
Yet another neighbor is the fourth location of Gotham, the refined weed dispensary and lifestyle store that originated in NYC \u2014\u00a0and has splashy locations in hot neighborhoods like Chelsea and Brooklyn\u2019s Domino Sugar Refinery.<\/p>\n
The Gotham dispensary in Hudson, New York.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s so much calmer up here, compared to the city which is of course more frenetic,\u201d Gotham founder Joanne Wilson told The Post.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s been a really nice balance to have something in a different part of New York.\u201d<\/p>\n
Along with a curated selection of joints and vapes, Gotham also specializes in artisan home goods like $68 reed diffusers, as well as $60 candles and hand and body wash.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought Hudson would be a great location considering it\u2019s a real growing area and we have a lot of employees and customers up here anyway.\u201d<\/p>\n
She, too, says she was embraced with open arms by the community.<\/p>\n
\u201cPeople really want to see these stores and businesses succeed,\u201d Wilson said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat\u2019s really lovely is that even when we opened, the Mayor and town came out for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. I wish there were more communities who would open their arms like Hudson has. It\u2019s all been so enjoyable.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"They\u2019re heading for the hills.\u00a0 Big Apple business owners are fleeing for the bridges and tunnels in search…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":314455,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[3684,68,199,232,9,24,55,54,56,50675],"class_list":["post-314454","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-new-york-city","tag-catskills","tag-exclusive","tag-hudson-valley","tag-lifestyle","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-new-york-city-headlines","tag-new-york-city-news","tag-ny","tag-woodstock"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314454","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=314454"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/314454\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/314455"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=314454"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=314454"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=314454"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}