If you find yourself spending a Saturday checking out the Dia:Beacon and wondering what your life would be like if you became an ex-urbanite, you must head over to Homespun Foods on Beacon's brief Main Street.
Homespun's menu reminds me of Berkeley cafés, where butter, whole grains, vegans and charcuterie lovers can coexist harmoniously. The pastry case alone warrants a visit. City ex-pat Jessica Reisman and her crew craft the breads and delicate pastries for sale behind the counter, and everything I've had is amazing. The daily assortment is staggering, and can include mini apricot frangipane tarts, perfect blond chocolate chip cookies, spicy dark chocolate cookies sprinkled with crunchy sugar crystals, and a divine coffee cake that changes seasonally (the current incarnation is a cardamom pecan crumb-topped coffee cake that I will be dreaming of).
Don't miss the daily specials -- the ingenious vegetarian moussaka I tried yesterday is made of saucy, cinnamon-spiced wheatberries, layered with silky, thin slices of Asian eggplant, topped with a light layer of bechamel and served with an olive-topped Greek salad, all for $9.95. Protein-packed vegetarian meatloaf is made with nuts and cheeses and served with a creamy mushroom gravy -- my friend Julie's toddler loves it. The soups, salads and sandwiches on the regular menu, which leans heavily Mediterranean, are all whole and healthy with plenty of richness and flavor to keep the food from being boring. Colorful quiches and soups (I think there were four soups on the menu yesterday) rotate daily on the chalkboard menu. They cater to carnivores, too -- while we were there, we watched (and smelled) dinner's beef brisket being browned in its own fat behind the kitchen's open proscenium window.
Mismatched tables and chairs give the place a cheery nonchalance. Young local couples and their children (whom Jessica seems to know by name) wheel in and out of the place all day long, while arty types in stripes and Converse grab golden baguettes, olives and Coach Farm goat cheese logs from the small refrigerated case. In the summer, diners can even make an evening of dinner and a movie shown in Homespun's pretty garden patio. It's the kind of place I wish we had in Brooklyn. I'd happily eat there every day if I worked at the Dia.
Homespun Foods
232 Main St.
Beacon, NY 12508
Oh, so glad you discovered Homespun! Isn't it the best? The next time you go to Beacon, you have to try Jessica's bread pudding. We order it every single time we're up in Beacon for the weekend and it never disappoints (plus, sometimes she serves it with a hard sauce that should just be poured into a glass and drunk, it's so good).
Yes, it's fab! Are you a Beacon regular?
Ben's mother lives up there, so we visit from time to time.
Thanks for the visit. Elijah says, "Ganda come Elijah's house soon." So do we but I'll send the salt cellar. xoxo
is there anything like homespun in new paltz? just across the river?
So Kperl, Ginger and I went, and it was just as you describe: delicious, friendly, fresh. Great coffee cake. The only thing we didn't love was the chocolate croissant which seemed like a half-hearted effort and a waste of a good croissant.