Author: jean komatsu
Last saved by: ENU

Hudson House of Nyack NY
134 Main St., Nyack, NY
http://www.hudsonhousenyack.com/brunch.php 
Review date: May 2012

After the West Point graduation was over, we checked out of our hotel and headed out to find a good breakfast on the way to Old Lyme, CT. The Web told us there weren't a lot of choices, so we narrowed it down to an IHOP (never exciting but usually reliable) and Hudson House (good reviews, but unknown except for generalities). 

We chose the latter, located in a small historic building squeezed onto Nyack's Main Street. Nyack is a Victorian village with an air of faintly rundown edges, working at gentrification and almost succeeding. Hudson's building used to be the city hall and jailhouse (the website has a short history of the building itself: http://www.hudsonhousenyack.com/index.php).

Inside Hudson House is a bar area, separated by a wide doorway into a small but beautiful dining room. Leatherette banquettes line the walls, with a few too many dark-wooded tables crammed in. I thought the walls were covered in painted lincrusta (embossed) wallpaper, but they are actually pressed tin, the same as the ceiling. It dates from the 1800's, and might have been their version of fireproofing.

Hudson gets criticized for being expensive. Being from California, their prices seemed fair to us, but for the area they probably are on the high side. The menu is limited, which we count as more a virtue than a vice. 

The breadbasket held some slices of French baguette, and three small housemade banana-walnut muffins that were delicious. Carlos ordered the classic Benedict, which was very good even if there's never enough Hollandaise for him. It was a superior Hollandaise, better than most restaurants offer.

I chose the Toad in a Hole, a variant of the traditional English dish. It had flecks of duck confit,   and I asked for two eggs instead of one. A thick slice of brioche toast contained the eggs in a circle, the cut-out of which was toasted. A heap of mildly dressed frisee lettuce topped the "toad", and the toasted cut-out circle was placed like a cap on top. This is a mild dish that's not gourmet but sentimental. I grew up with this dish as a "special occasion" breakfast, albeit in a more pedestrian form. Hudson's version was light and nicely executed.

Because the dishes weren't overly filling, we thought it would be fun to finish with a cheese course, as they had a couple of New England cheeses. I chose a Vermont "Moses Sleeper", a triple crème cow's milk that imitated brie pretty well (a blogger's review is at http://cheeseandchampagne.com/2010/03/02/moses-sleeper-jasper-hill-farm-vermont/). The blue they offered was a style we don't see often in CA. Also from Jasper Hill, the Bayley Hazen Blue is a cow's milk cheese that was firm and crumbly, much milder and less creamy/salty than the CA blues we usually encounter (http://www.jasperhillfarm.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=78&Itemid=150).

The cheese platter came with a cluster of sweet red seedless grapes, slices of green apple which were excellent with the Blue, a port wine fig compote that I mostly left (too sweet for my taste), and thin slices of a raisin-apricot-walnut bread, slightly overtoasted.

The coffee was good quality but for some reason, the cups kept cooling it off halfway through. They're plain restaurant china with straight sides instead of curved, and I'm not sure why the coffee went lukewarm so quickly and consistently (I had three cups and Carlos had four).

Although this wasn't the best breakfast we've ever had, we enjoyed it. It was worth going in to eat a meal in Hudson House's stunning dining room. Also, on the way to the bathrooms, the walls are lined with black-and-white 8x10s, in simple frames, of owner Matt Hudson's stunning portraiture of local kids. Hudson has genuine talent and excellent technique. The photos are a charming touch.

We could have done a lot worse than eating here. If we're ever in the area again, we would like to try a dinner meal. The sandwiches, BTW, which most people were ordering, looked impressive and substantial. If you're hungry, they're probably a better bet than the breakfast items, which are on the light side.

Two people, breakfast: Two entrees, one cheese course, two beverages, with tip was $66.