Simple, I enjoy good food, and I like to make people happy with it.
Salah Alygad, Friends & Family II Hillside
I’m inspired by the flavors of the Mediterranean. The sun washed shores, the olive groves, the abundance of fresh herbs and spices, garlic, and lots of love infuse everything we make here at Blue Mountain Bistro-to-Go. We are also inspired by the products of our local farmers and create dishes that reflect whatever is picked fresh daily so we can serve food that is still close to the earth. Our customers also inspire us! We are often asked to make a dish that is someone’s favorite—and then voila, it becomes a favorite of ours as well. Being a part of our wonderful Hudson Valley community continues to inspire us to greatness—and our goal is to keep our “feel good food” inspiring others on a daily basis!
Richard Erickson, Blue Mountain Bistro-to-Go
People have a lot of choices when they decide to indulge. The thing that inspires me most when creating new cupcake flavors is the desire to make a sweet treat that is interesting and clean. This desire definitely stems from a time when baking for me was only a hobby, which I took up while creating treats for my own children using real, all natural ingredients that tasted absolutely decadent and delicious but weren’t created in a lab somewhere or laden with preservatives, stabilizers and fillers. The same is true when I create for Moxie. If a customer is going to make Moxie their “indulgence”, I’m inspired by the challenge of having them walk away saying, “That was worth it.”
Josie Eriole, Moxie Cupcake
When people ask me what is my biggest inspiration to cook, I always want to tell them the classic cliché answer, my Italian grandmother. The truth is, while I spent many hours studying the way she minced garlic into meaty concoctions which would get rolled into balls and browned to be added to simmering pots of pasta sauce (hers will always be the best in my eyes), her food and her recipes isn’t what has inspired me to become a chef. Perhaps though, her reasoning for cooking is what has inspired me. She cooks with love, for her family, which is something that I grew up with. The compassion of caring about who you are cooking for tied in with my roots as a farmer’s daughter really bring my career choice full circle. Their excitement gets me inspired to do my job, and I want to do the best I can for them to keep things fresh and interesting and most importantly, delicious.
Chef Michelle Stone, Henrys at the Farm, Buttermilk Falls Inn & Spa
We love to support what’s going on here locally. We're inspired to provide the best that this community can support.
Daniel Gendron, Gendron Catering
Devin Mills was raised by a single mother in a household with FIVE sisters. With six kids, she didn’t have much money, but she loved to try out recipes in the back issues of old cooking magazines. Growing up in a rural town in the Catskills, Devin’s mom made meals out of the least expensive ingredients that she could find: tripe, oxtail, and more. His passion for cooking grew from being exposed to foods that managed to taste good and not cost too much to produce. That’s the beauty of real cooking—as a chef you should have the same reverence for a perfectly cooked carrot as you would for the most expensive caviar. In the end, integrity and passion are what you taste—not the price tag.
Marybeth Mills, Peekamoose Restaurant
The Hudson Valley has the greatest people and the greatest food! I’m inspired by taking the fresh, wholesome ingredients found in the Hudson Valley and transforming them into a meal and dining experience that is comfortable and makes guests feel at home.
Mike Fichtel, Catamount Restaurant at the Emerson
I’m always inspired by the bounty that is available each season throughout the Hudson Valley. Our local organic farmers, cheese makers, providers of free-range meats, and specialty purveyors offer the freshest ingredients to create great meals with a modern American twist.
Bruce Kazan, Main Course Restaurant & Catering
In addition to being the executive chef of Asia Restaurant in Stone Ridge, I’m also a member of New York Culinary Association and won the highest honor of gold medal awards in two culinary competitions in 2012—the culinary Olympics in Germany and the Salon of Culinary Art in New York. I started to learn cooking when I was 16 years old, and have worked as a chef for more than 40 years. I also traveled to a few Asian countries, like Thailand, Japan, Malaysia, and Singapore, to learn different Asian cooking skills. Now that I’ve fallen in love with Marbletown, I look forward to serving you.
Jan Hwang June, Asia Restaurant
I love to prepare delicious healthy food with the flavorful spices from my home country of Pakistan. It makes me very happy to have as many people as possible eat my food, so I make vegan, vegetarian, meat and gluten-free items every day.
Shahbaz Ahmed, Mother Earth's Storehouse
Chef Marco Ochoa says, "My inspiration started with my grandparents. My grandmother always had a pot of sauce on the stove, which filled the house with love. My grandfather was a butcher and always had tomatoes, basil and figs from his own tree in the summer. These were my earliest memories of food, which inspired me to get into the food business. From there I look at everything in this great valley with inspiration."
George Nagle, Northern Spy Cafe
Around Terrapin, you’ll often hear us saying “Local. Organic. Authentic.” That basically sums up my inspiration in three words. When I opened Terrapin in 1998 my guiding philosophy was that I wanted a menu filled with the food that I wanted to eat. While that underlying concept hasn’t changed, what I want to eat has. By moving out of an urban environment (NYC) into the Hudson Valley, I have been able to be in much closer contact with the sources of my ingredients. Over time, a new concept of “good food” arose. The idea that good food is food that tastes good is still extremely important. But what the ingredients are, and where they came from, are now of equally important consideration to me.
Josh Kroner, Terrapin Restaurant
What inspires us at Mezzaluna is the culinary infusion of many cultural favorites, while adding our own creative Latin twist.
Mery Rosado, Cafe Mezzaluna
Asia Restaurant
Stone Ridge. 845-687-9800;
asiastoneridge.com
Blue Mountain Bistro-to-Go
Kingston. 845-340-9800;
bluemountainbistro.com
Cafe Mezzaluna
Saugerties. 845-246-5306;
cafemezzaluna.com
Catamount Restaurant at the Emerson
Mt. Tremper. 877-688-2828;
emersonresort.com
Friends & Family II Hillside
Accord. 845-626-7777;
friendsandfamily2.com
Gendron Catering
Rhinebeck. 845-876-4480;
gendroncatering.com
Henrys at the Farm Buttermilk Falls Inn & Spa
Milton. 845-795-1500;
henrysatbuttermilk.com
Main Course Restaurant & Catering
New Paltz. 845-255-2650;
maincoursecatering.com
Mother Earth’s Storehouse
Kingston, Saugerties & Poughkeepsie.
845-336-5541, 845-246-9614 & 845-296-1069;
motherearthstorehouse.com
Moxie Cupcake
New Paltz. 845-255-2253;
moxiecupcake.com
Northern Spy Cafe
High Falls. 845-687-7298;
northernspycafe.com
Peekamoose Restaurant
Big Indian. 845-254-6500;
peekamooserestaurant.com
Terrapin Restaurant & Catering
Rhinebeck. 845-876-3330;
terrapinrestaurant.com
