Started in 1984 by Suzanne “Sue” Taylor, Sweet Sue’s on Key Avenue in Phoenicia was a beloved breakfast and brunch location that, like so numerous other places to eat at the peak of the early pandemic, regrettably closed up store in the summer time of 2020.
A main element of the attractiveness of Sweet Sue’s was that it was homey still capacious, with a lengthy stainless metal-topped counter and two enough rooms of tables in which locals and visitors could post up on weekends for elevated, diner-adjacent fare like huevos rancheros, stuffed western omelets, and pancakes. Oh, the pancakes! The kitchen area was known for expeditiously pumping out impossibly tall stacks of Sue’s top secret-recipe, substantially-clamored-for flapjacks. They have been crispy on the exterior, fluffy on the within, and there were being virtually a dozen iterations, from basic buttermilk and blueberry to buckwheat, pumpkin, cornmeal, and additional.
On Memorial Working day weekend, soon after just about a 12 months of murmurs all around city that an individual had bought the restaurant’s making and the recipes for Sue’s pancakes, Sweet Sue’s quietly reopened beneath new possession. In its new iteration as an all-working day cafe, the spot features a curated breakfast and lunch menu of pastries, sandwiches, and salads, and a espresso and espresso application made by Jeff Bailey of Heavyfeather Roasting Co. The kitchen area crew is led by Tenzo Mountaine, a chef who’s labored in local kitchens at Menla, Blue Mountain Bistro to Go, and Whole Moon Resort.
The pancakes, which until now haven’t but graced the menu, are slated to make their considerably-anticipated return (along with indoor table service in 1 of the former eating rooms) in the traditional buttermilk variation today, Friday, July 1. “We preferred to open up demonstrating that we’re far more than just pancakes,” states Ben Crespi, manager of Sweet Sues Functions, LLC, which bought the cafe from Taylor in 2021.
And much more than just pancakes there are. Crespi, who has a background in hospitality, formulated a great deal of the menu dependent on the convenience meals dishes he’s lengthy been earning for his very own young children. There’s also an emphasis on dwelling-smoked meats, which are the stars of the menu’s savory dishes. “There’s definitely an aspect of a breakfast smokehouse that we wished to pull in,” Crespi suggests.
There is the smoked salmon sandwich ($13), with pickled onions, capers, horseradish crema, and Nova-type Faroe Island salmon, which the kitchen area cures for a few days, air-dries for a day, then cold-smokes for 10 to 12 hrs. A specially unctuous variation on a reuben, listed here referred to as the Marilyn ($13), attributes a combo of thick-sliced, dwelling-smoked brisket, swiss, remoulade, and a shower of delicately fried crispy onions piled on a delicate potato roll. On the vintage BLT ($14), you are going to find “special bacon,” which—you guessed it—is also fixed in-household, then cooked sous vide, and concluded with a fast sear. For people with bold appetites, there are also the beer-braised ribs ($18) with ginger-scallion chili glaze and Hawaiian macaroni salad.
Lighter (and much more vegetable-centric) solutions contain the Inexperienced goddess salad ($14), with coconut herb dressing, cashew cheese, and rosemary lavash as properly as the grilled peach summer months cobb ($14), which capabilities two grilled peaches, bacon, corn relish, asparagus, queso fresco, and radish.
For those with a sweet tooth to fulfill, there is the Mexican very hot chocolate ($5)—with a shot of espresso it gets to be the Mexican shot chocolate ($6.50)—as properly as the “best waffle ever” ($12), Crespi’s own cross involving the thinner, crispier Brussels and thicker Leiges models.
With the making sporting a clean coat of charcoal paint, sunny yellow patio umbrellas perched out front, and shoppers streaming in and out of the double monitor doors, there’s a palpable air of celebration about the restaurant’s triumphant return.
“There are so quite a few dining places opening in the Catskills ideal now that just truly feel the similar,” says Crespi. “Reopening Sweet Sues was an opportunity to keep a area tradition alive that men and women have experienced a relationship to for more than 30 years.”
Sweet Sue’s Phoenicia
49 Most important Avenue
Phoenicia, NY 12464
Thursday-Monday 7:30am-3pm
(845) 688-3133
