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
  • Movie Night 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

Egg’s Nest in High Falls reopens under new management, charm intact

by Frances Marion Platt
March 3, 2020
in Food & Drink
2
Egg’s Nest in High Falls reopens under new management, charm intact

Eric and Cristina Silver have reopened The Egg’s Nest in High Falls. (photo by Lauren Thomas)

Eric and Cristina Silver have reopened The Egg’s Nest in High Falls. (photo by Lauren Thomas)

It’s midafternoon, you’ve just had a nice hike in the Gunks or completed an apple-picking expedition at some orchard in the Wallkill or Rondout Valley, and you’re feeling in need of some refreshment and a comfy place to sit and chat. So where do you go for a light meal and a cold brew?

There are lots of good choices in the neighborhood of the Ridge, but one area favorite has been offline for more than a year now: the Egg’s Nest, that quirkily decorated, cozily charming little bistro on the corner of Mohonk Road and Route 213 in the heart of the High Falls hamlet. After 43 years of operating the restaurant/tavern by day and decorating its interior and exterior with vividly painted murals by night, Richard Murphy and his wife Gillian decided that it was time to retire. So the Egg’s Nest officially closed its doors on July 30, 2016, Richard’s 72nd birthday.

It was a standing joke between Richard Murphy and fellow restaurateur John Novi, who opened the more upscale Depuy Canal House diagonally across the street at around the same time, that together they had made “downtown” High Falls the Center of the Universe. With both restaurants out of business as of late last year, many local residents found themselves mourning the loss of that center of culinary gravity and social levity. Where does one go for a late lunch or an early dinner, with the obvious choice of the Egg’s Nest gone? And what would become of the beloved watering hole and its uniquely cluttered, colorful aesthetic?

Word on the street was that Murphy would only sell the place to someone committed to preserving its iconic cultural heritage. There was no question that four decades’ worth of accumulating layers of bric-à-brac could use a thorough dusting; but there was also no question that the Egg’s Nest’s eye-popping visual busyness constituted a large part of its appeal, its sense of friendliness and community. Folks just liked to gather there, even when they weren’t particularly hungry. On top of that, the food was good, multicultural and affordable. None of the regulars wanted to see it gutted, sanitized, turned into something slick and trendy.

But it wasn’t long before word got out that the Murphys had found their ideal buyers: a young couple with creative backgrounds who wanted to spruce the place up without compromising its signature look and homey feel. Eric Silver, an actor who grew up in Woodstock, and his wife Cristina, a visual artist born in New Jersey to a South American family, were working in the restaurant world in New York City after nearly a decade on the West Coast and looking for a place to make their own in a smalltown setting. Then one day, Cristina spotted a real estate ad for the Egg’s Nest and showed it to her husband.

“In California, we missed having a sense of community,” Cristina recalls. “Something was always calling us back here [to the East Coast]. When I saw so much community love for this place, I said, ‘That’s what we want.’” “It was karmically and energetically right,” agrees Eric, who remembered his mother having talked about lunching there with her hiking group when he was still a child. His vision for the restaurant is as what he terms the “third place,” with the first being home, the second one’s workplace and the third “a place to gather, to escape from the outside world.”

Fast-forward to last weekend, when the new Egg’s Nest had its soft opening. The interior is now spic-and-span, with several layers of hanging tsatskes peeled down to reveal more of Murphy’s intricately painted murals. Worn carpeting has been replaced with softly shining hardwood flooring, and around the bar, the intricate paintings have given way to a collage of vintage Saturday Evening Post covers meant to evoke the building’s pre-Murphy history as Ed & Fran’s Tavern. They set the bar area apart visually from the dining rooms and porch, which largely retain their Murphy-era décor.

Longtime aficionados of the Egg’s Nest can breathe a sigh of relief: The place, though less cobwebby, is still very much recognizable. Eric speaks of exercising a “process of curation and art direction” in the Silvers’ approach to renovating the building: “We want people to feel that we treated it as a living, breathing museum, a canvas…. Our goal throughout the process was to retain a lot of the character and magic that Richard created. But we wanted to add a bit of our own personalities as well, with both the food and the décor.”

The partial menu developed for the soft opening weekend reflects that wish to meld continuity with innovation. A section is devoted to “Egg’s Nest Favorites” like the classic burger, the Thanksgiving sandwich, the Frida Kählo Bowl, chipotle chicken wings and the steak quesadilla. But Richard’s strong emphasis on Southwestern flavor combos will now give way somewhat to Cristina’s childhood love of empanadas and Eric’s upbringing on New York deli staples: “food that resonates with us.” Sandwiches and salads still form the heart of the menu, and for the first time, says Eric, “We will now be having eggs at the Egg’s Nest” on a consistent basis, with breakfast dishes always available at lunchtime. Sleepers-in, rejoice!

The Silvers promise that vegans and vegetarians will always find something appealing on the new menu, and use of locally sourced, sustainably grown ingredients will be emphasized. Already they are obtaining their pork from Kinderhook Farms and chicken from Campanelli’s, and the rich, rejuvenated agricultural legacy of the Rondout Valley means that abundant fresh local produce will be available for much of the year.

For those who come in for drinks, local microbrews and ciders will also be available on tap and in bottles. And the Silvers have retained some talented mixology consultants to help develop a line of appropriately quirky signature cocktails, with locally meaningful names like Splendor in the Grass, Parsonage Punch, Discovery of Cement and Murphy’s Law. But mostly, the good news for longtime fans of the Egg’s Nest is that the best of the past has been preserved. “Retaining the essence of it is key,” Eric says.

While a Grand Opening date has not yet been scheduled and the full menu is not yet available, the new Egg’s Nest will be open on Labor Day weekend from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. No reservations are taken; just show up, ready to relax, nosh, imbibe and have fun. For more info, and to put yourself on the e-mail list for future announcements, visit www.theeggsnest.com or www.facebook.com/theeggsnestest1973.

Tags: members
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

Hugh Reynolds: First impressions

Next Post

West Hurley Hannaford opens

Frances Marion Platt

Frances Marion Platt has been a feature writer (and copyeditor) for Ulster Publishing since 1994, under both her own name and the nom de plume Zhemyna Jurate. Her reporting beats include Gardiner and Rosendale, the arts and a bit of local history. In 2011 she took up Syd M’s mantle as film reviewer for Alm@nac Weekly, and she hopes to return to doing more of that as HV1 recovers from the shock of COVID-19. A Queens native, Platt moved to New Paltz in 1971 to earn a BA in English and minor in Linguistics at SUNY. Her first writing/editing gig was with the Ulster County Artist magazine. In the 1980s she was assistant editor of The Independent Film and Video Monthly for five years, attended Heartwood Owner/Builder School, designed and built a timberframe house in Gardiner. Her son Evan Pallor was born in 1995. Alternating with her journalism career, she spent many years doing development work – mainly grantwriting – for a variety of not-for-profit organizations, including six years at Scenic Hudson. She currently lives in Kingston.

Related Posts

Kingston’s new tap room and beer garden was made for locals
Business

Kingston’s new tap room and beer garden was made for locals

May 26, 2023
Rooted in tradition: Popular Hudson Valley farmers market opens for season
Community

Rooted in tradition: Popular Hudson Valley farmers market opens for season

May 25, 2023
Local author serves useful advice for overcoming eating disorders
Books

Local author serves useful advice for overcoming eating disorders

May 18, 2023
Diamond Mills restaurant rebrands as Blackbarn Hudson Valley
Business

Diamond Mills restaurant rebrands as Blackbarn Hudson Valley

May 18, 2023
Get your ‘bier’ and bratwurst on at Hudson Valley’s premiere German culture festival this weekend
Community

Get your ‘bier’ and bratwurst on at Hudson Valley’s premiere German culture festival this weekend

May 17, 2023
How I used AI to plan and manage a garden
Food & Drink

How I used AI to plan and manage a garden

May 14, 2023
Next Post
West Hurley Hannaford opens

West Hurley Hannaford opens

Please login to join discussion

Trending News

  • Kingston’s new tap room and beer garden was made for locals 4.5k views
  • Victim’s mother was assured by Kingston school officials that her son would be safe, notice of claim now entered against the district 3.6k views
  • Who’s to blame for Kingston’s inadequate playing fields? Just ask the parents 836 views
  • Pride reaffirmed in New Paltz 712 views
  • Horsin’ around in Saugerties (photos) 572 views
  • At iPark 87, things do seem different this time 414 views

Weather

Kingston
◉
91°
Sunny
5:23 am8:24 pm EDT
Feels like: 91°F
Wind: 7mph ENE
Humidity: 25%
Pressure: 29.99"Hg
UV index: 3
FriSatSun
91/61°F
70/48°F
72/48°F
Weather forecast Kingston, New York ▸

Subscribe

Independent. Local. Substantive. Subscribe now.

×
You have free article(s) remaining. Subscribe for unlimited access.
View Subscription Offers Sign In
  • Subscribe & Support
  • Sign up for Free Newsletter
  • Print Edition
  • HV1 Magazines
  • Contact
  • Manage HV1 Account
  • Free HV1 Trial
  • Movie Night 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