Eating Off-Off-Warren Street

Here’s a list of places that may not make it on the Vogue or Conde Nast Traveler’s list of “Places to Eat in Hudson.”

For more information, there’s a link in each name for their website or facebook page.

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Bob’s Restaurant

This is at the top of my list – it’s my Sunday morning go-to. It is every all-night diner in New York City you visited at 2 or 4am, after the party is over (unfortunately, Bob’s is not open 24/7). Your coffee cup is never empty, the staff is super friendly, and you can customize your omelette the way you want it and not worry that you’re insulting the chef. I went with friends who have a toddler, and the server asked if they wanted the apple juice cut with water, in a sippy cup. That’s customer service!

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Mi Rancho Alegre

(by Staples)

On Monday evenings, the margaritas are $5 – house margaritas (only) – I’ve asked. If you want a mango margarita, you’re paying full price. Maybe, maybe you can get a frozen house margarita for $5, no guarantee – ask nicely and don’t mention me.

The staff is always friendly. They drop off chips, salsa and bean dip as soon as you get to the table. Most dishes are under $20, and it’s copious amounts of food. You will probably bring it home for lunch.

The booth seats are high and private, and you can really discuss Hudson politics because you’re in the depths of Greenport and no one around you cares about your ward.

The piña coladas are served in a cored, whole pineapple with a small bottle of rum turned upside-down. Topped with whipped cream and coconut, it’s a delicious mess.

I doubt a true heterosexual man would ever order the piña colada from Mi Rancho Alegre on his own volition – maybe he would do it on a dare. Even in a place like Hudson, with its relaxed social norms, there are still some boundaries.

TIP: This is the place for a birthday! Let the staff know and there’s a large Mexican hat, a song, and an ice cream special for birthday guests!

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Plaza Diner

You are a true upstater when a productive afternoon is a workstation cubicle at Mavis Tires while they switch out your snow tires (or replace your brakes). While you wait, grab lunch at the Plaza Diner. For less than $10, you can get a half sandwich with fries or potato salad and a cup of soup, maybe dessert. Eat a grilled cheese and tomato soup at the counter and pretend it’s 1967 and you’re Eve Arden at Woolworths wearing a pencil skirt with a pillbox hat with a small veil, taking a break while shopping.

If they like you, and if the cook is in a good mood that day, then yes, maybe, you can have a slice of tomato on your tuna sandwich, otherwise, it’s a dollar extra. They’ll see what they can do.

With the lunch special, you get dessert. If you’re in luck, it’s a cannoli, or a slice of carrot cake or rice pudding. You have to eat it there and cannot take it home, but why would you?

At the Plaza Diner, you may get an Eastern European waitress, who will tell you, softly, that there are no substitutions with the lunch special. In her Soviet-block country, no one would ever ask for substitutions. They were grateful for the food on their plate. Nor would they ask if the potato salad was mayonnaise-based.

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Hudson Bagels

I’ve lost friends over their opinions on bagels; it’s my social barometer. A real bagel is boiled first, then baked – end of story. Don’t even talk to me or try to convince me otherwise. Life is too short for toxic bad bagel energy when good bagels are plentiful at Hudson Bagels.

Hudson Bagels are boiled, then baked, like they should be. They have the doughiness and mouthfeel of the Lower East Side. Limited access to real New York bagels is a perfectly valid reason to not move to Florida. (How many plastic bags of bagels have I stuffed into my luggage to bring to friends who left New York? This is not a joke.)

Hudson Bagels will scramble your eggs on the grill with cheese or bacon and will toast your bagel it as you like it. In the mornings, there’s a line of police officers, construction and DPW workers waiting outside – and you know they’re not wrong.

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Scali’s Pizza

This is a controversial opinion, I know. Yes, the broccoli rabe pizza at Half Moon is amazing, and Babba Louie’s wood-fired pizzas are great (Babba Louie’s salads are the only thing all of Hudson will agree upon). Stella’s $5.49 two pizza slices and a large fountain drink is the best lunch deal within the City of Hudson proper.

If you’re a former downstater, and you want a good slice of square Sicilian or pepperoni, Scali’s is the place. Friday afternoons, the pizza possibilities are endless, and sometimes over-the-top. There’s penne alla vodka pizza (carb overload!) or BBQ chicken pizza, or even cheeseburger pizza with onion rings. They have a line out the door. They know their market. They know what they’re doing.

The eggplant parm pizza is dinner. Anyone who will slice, bread, and fry eggplant on a hot summer day should be canonized and enter sainthood.

Scali’s reminds me of the pizza places you find on busy 14th or 34th streets in Manhattan – the same pizzerias with huge windows and twenty different varieties on display. You cannot walk by without stopping.

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Hudson Curry House

Yes, it’s a former Wendy’s. Get over it. You’re not going for the ambiance – unless you include the Bollywood movies on the flat screen TV – which are fun.

If you’re new to Indian food, I recommend the buffet on Friday nights from 5pm to 7pm. It’s $20 and you get to sample different dishes. The place gets packed on Fridays – go no later than 5:30pm. They may run out of nan; they can barely keep up. By 6:15, the place is saturated with too many Hudson locals who will discuss Hudson politics with you, if you want to hear it or not.

This is a great place for vegetarians, with many veg options. Don’t forget the warm chai tea, it’s like dessert, as if you’re drinking warm ice cream – delicious!