fbpx
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
    • Get Home Delivery
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
    • Advertise
    • Customer Support
    • Submit A News Tip
    • Where’s My Paper?
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription
Hudson Valley One
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Log In
No Result
View All Result
Hudson Valley One
No Result
View All Result

Phoenicia Diner owner buys Gypsy Wolf property

by Paul Smart
April 18, 2016
in Business, Community
9
Michael Cioffi at the Phoenicia Dinner. (photo by Dion Ogust)
Michael Cioffi at the Phoenicia Dinner. (photo by Dion Ogust)

Michael Cioffi, who speaks on this week’s Woodstock Chamber of Commerce & Art panel discussion on “The Changing Face of Woodstock,” has been best known up to now for his turnaround of the Phoenicia Diner, which has been pegged as the best of its kind by a growing number of websites and hipster publications. But for Thursday’s intent and purposes, he’ll be more aptly presented as the new owner of the site of the late Gypsy Wolf Restaurant out Tinker Street towards Bearsville.

“I purchased the building and half the property it was on, about one acre, about a month ago,” said the former New York-based television and movie set builder who still bases himself and his family in Brooklyn. “Miller Howard kept the back property for their own building purposes. As for what my plans are…I’m just getting everybody I work with starting to figure out what would make sense, what would fit the town right now.”

Cioffi says he hadn’t even worked in a restaurant before buying the old 1962 diner on Route 28, which had been in Phoenicia since the early 1980s, a few years back. But he knew enough to recognize that who you hired was important. So he brought in Mel Rosas, of Sweet Sue’s and Bread Alone, as chef. Then some veteran wait staff.

Now he’s realizing, as a start for his new Gypsy Wolf concept, that doing a diner wouldn’t make sense because it would eat into his current success. Similarly, he’s not so sure Mexican food would work any more, given the success of the Tinker Street Taco Lab, and imminent arrival of Santa Fe, of Tivoli and Kingston fame, to the old Maverick/Black Bear restaurant site next to the new Hotel Dylan on Route 28 in the coming months.

“We also have to figure out what to do at the site,” he added, noticing how the Gypsy Wolf building, stripped of its popular decorations and paintings, “looks like a shack” and is on “something of a threshold.”

Cioffi said his penchant, as at the Phoenicia Diner, is to “enhance and embrace what’s there” and treat his investment as “an opportunity to update things a bit.”

He added that he’s been roundly welcomed by everyone he’s been meeting and speaking with in Woodstock, both in terms of its government and business community. And he fully realizes the strength of the Gypsy Wolf’s location, what with parking and The Bear Cafe down the road, as well as his own new role as a “restaurant concept kind of guy” — something he still finds somewhat astounding, given his newness to the field.

“I like that the building has history, and Woodstock seems to be an interesting time right now,” Cioffi added. “We’ll take our time getting this right…I certainly don’t want to lose any focus on the diner.”

He paused and noted how he’s also been getting requests to do something out in Margaretville, where he’s kept a second home for decades. Then continued.

“Staffing will, of course, be a big part of what we do,” he added. “We’ll take a couple of months to see what the town wants, and needs, just as we did out in Phoenicia.”

He asked that we check back with him in the new year.

“In the meantime, I’ll have to figure out something to include into this discussion,” he concluded.

That panel discussion, “The Changing Face of Woodstock,” will also include James Conrad, new co-owner of The Golden Notebook and the panel’s moderator, Annemarie Gilly, COO of Miller Howard Investments; Lisa Halter of Halter Associates Realty, Neil Howard, new owner of The Colony, Jess Walker of Walker Architecture and Michael Lang. It starts at 6:15 p.m. Thursday, October 22 at the Woodstock Golf Club’s Creekside Grill. See ulsterpub.staging.wpenginechamber.com for more info…and needed reservations.

Tags: Gypsy Wolf Cantina
Join the family! Grab a free month of HV1 from the folks who have brought you substantive local news since 1972. We made it 50 years thanks to support from readers like you. Help us keep real journalism alive.
- Geddy Sveikauskas, Publisher
Previous Post

SUNY New Paltz Police trained and geared for quick response to armed intruders

Next Post

Hugh Reynolds: Mayoral moves

Paul Smart

Related Posts

Inaugural Snow Moon Festival brightens February darkness in Saugerties
Community

Inaugural Snow Moon Festival brightens February darkness in Saugerties

February 6, 2023
iPark 87 thinks big, developer makes 600 housing units a higher priority
Business

Just how many jobs will Zinc8 deliver when it moves its research/development and manufacturing headquarters to iPark 87?

February 6, 2023
YMCA bike repair training class returns to Kingston
Community

YMCA bike repair training class returns to Kingston

February 6, 2023
The equinox and the Harvest Moon
Community

Saugerties Snow Moon parade postponed until Sunday due to weather

February 4, 2023
Visit Kingston’s 12,240-square-foot squat, centrally located with wood-burning fireplace
Community

Visit Kingston’s 12,240-square-foot squat, centrally located with wood-burning fireplace

February 3, 2023
Saugerties to host inaugural Snow Moon Festival February 3 to 5
Community

Saugerties to host inaugural Snow Moon Festival February 3 to 5

February 2, 2023
Next Post

Hugh Reynolds: Mayoral moves

Please login to join discussion

Trending News

  • Saugerties to host inaugural Snow Moon Festival February 3 to 5 2k views
  • Visit Kingston’s 12,240-square-foot squat, centrally located with wood-burning fireplace 1.8k views
  • Neighbors protest Ulster County Veterans’ Cemetery flagpole spotlights 765 views
  • Enormous collection of historic Woodstock art opens this Saturday in New Paltz 713 views
  • Dog rescued from Wallkill River’s icy grip 657 views
  • Controversy ensues as KCSD walks back Black History Month opt out language 581 views

Weather

Kingston
◉
21°
Sunny
7:01 am5:18 pm EST
Feels like: 21°F
Wind: 0mph SW
Humidity: 72%
Pressure: 30.39"Hg
UV index: 0
WedThuFri
48/27°F
39/37°F
55/30°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Holiday Gift Subscription

© 2022 Ulster Publishing

No Result
View All Result
  • News
    • Schools
    • Business
    • Sports
    • Crime
    • Politics & Government
  • What’s Happening
    • Calendar Of Events
    • Featured Events
      • Art
      • Books
      • Kids
      • Lifestyle & Wellness
      • Food & Drink
      • Music
      • Nature
      • Stage & Screen
  • Opinions
    • Letters
    • Columns
    • Editorials
  • Local
    • Special Sections
    • Local History
  • Marketplace
    • All Classified Ads
    • Help Wanted
    • Post a Classified Ad
  • Obituaries
  • Podcast
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Contact Us
    • Customer Support
    • Advertise
    • Submit A News Tip
  • Print Edition
    • Read ePaper Online
    • Newsstand Locations
    • Where’s My Paper
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Log In
  • Free HV1 Trial

© 2022 Ulster Publishing