ABBE ARONSON | DECEMBER 11, 2014
Greetings Upstater Friends and Fans! Another wonderful pre-holiday weekend in the Hudson Valley planned. Here’s what’s on my agenda — with all this rushing around, I’m staying put in Woodstock this weekend. Good thing there is so much to do!
You know that scene in Goodfellas where one mobster says about another, regarding how much time the guy spends in a certain restaurant, “Are you kidding? If he was in there any longer, he’d be a stool.” Well, I’m a stool. I am positively and deliciously stuck at Shindig, the new fabulous comfort-food-with-a-twist café that opened here in early December. Shindig is located at 1 Tinker Street right on The Village Green and comes our way via Woodstockers Lari Lang and Ryan Giuliani and NYC restaurateur extraordinaire Jenny Potenza, she of Penelope Café fame. Here’s the story: Lari has deep deep roots in Woodstock (the daughter of Woodstock 69 Festival organizer Michael Lang) and Ryan co-founded the wildly successful celeb catering company Mary Giuliani Catering & Events before turning his sights on the Hudson Valley (he’s also one of the owners behind the adorable and chic Woodstock Way cabins that caught the attention of Vogue last month!).
With a series of successful establishments under her belt via The Penelope Group, Jenny was thrilled at the opportunity to put down stakes in Woodstock, bringing in Lukus Hasenstab and Allison Garskof, both of whom have serious NYC restaurant chops, and as a result, Shindig is a mouthwatering Mecca for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It’s so great to have a new place in town — and I should tell you that the grilled cheese with sautéed arugula and fig preserves, served a “side sip” of homemade, earthy tomato soup, is a showstopper! And yes, they serve beer, wine and specialty cocktails. This is really Shindig’s first week in full service so stop by and say helloooooooo!
