A long-running casual eating establishment on Main Street in New Paltz that made a success out of a location previously deemed “cursed” has now spread its sphere of influence to nearby Plattekill Avenue. Last week, McGillicuddy’s Restaurant and Tap House — fondly known as “Cuddy’s” to locals — opened a satellite business called Sideshow Kitchen and Bar, wedged between two parking lots in a newly constructed building on a site where a smoke shop used to be, and a laundromat before that. So far, the feedback from patrons has been enthusiastic.
In 1992, at the tender age of 22, McGillicuddy’s owner Brian Keenan opened his first watering hole, Legends Sports Bar,on Route 32 North. Legends wasn’t a roaring financial success, so after two years, Keenan relocated to New York City to hone his restaurant management skills at the Caliente Cab Company Café and Hard Rock Café. One day a former Legends regular, Craig Gioia, came by to pitch a partnership to open a small bar in Poughkeepsie. This brainwave spawned the original McGillicuddy’s Ale House. By 1997 Keenan had come full circle to New Paltz, opening the current Cuddy’s at 84 Main Street: a spot where many eateries had failed over the preceding decades, including the Olympic Restaurant, Cosmos, J. K. Boles and the Village Diner.
The formula that Keenan and Gioia brought to that unlucky space — the cozy vibe of an Irish pub, a kitchen open late into the night and a menu featuring high-quality American bar food, including killer Buffalo wings — made McGillicuddy’s thrive where its predecessors had not. The partners did well enough to open several other restaurants in the mid-Hudson, including Darby O’Gill’s Food & Spirits in Hyde Park, Union Square in Poughkeepsie and Novella’s in New Paltz.
Now, tucked back in the interior parking lot behind Cuddy’s, but more easily accessible from the Plattekill Avenue side, Sideshow is taking that winning approach to a space designed for multiseason indoor/outdoor use. Especially since COVID, McGillicuddy’s had set up picnic tables for its customers’ use in a part of the same lot. The design of the new structure at 5 Plattekill Avenue targets outdoor dining, with enormous overhead garage doors on its east side, ready to be rolled up when warmer weather arrives. They open onto a sprawling paved patio, where music spilling out from the cavernous interior is bound to attract passersby to sit for a drink, a snack or a full meal.
The advertising tagline for Sideshow is “Welcome to the Night Circus.” According to Keenan, celebrated local artist Ryan Cronin was brought in as the general contractor/builder for the new space. The vibe is modern and industrial, with steel girders and ductwork spanning the high ceiling. Lots of hard, echoey surfaces make this a noisy, boisterous environment that will appeal mainly to a younger crowd of extroverts who appreciate a lively, stimulating, carnival-like atmosphere.
When HV1 paid a visit on Friday evening, the music was cranked up so loud that the decibel level impacted the service. We had to shout at the waitstaff to be heard, and vice versa, leading to our order getting garbled. Next time we visit, we’ll do it in the afternoon, when things are mellower.
That caveat aside, we liked the food very much. Like McGillicuddy’s, their strong suit is barbecue-style dishes, featuring excellent meats smoked on-premises. A Smoked BBQ Plate with mac and cheese, sweet-and-sour slaw, cornbread and two or three choices of meat — chopped brisket, pulled pork, crispy pork belly, country fried chicken thigh, smoked chicken, four wings or a half-rack of spareribs — sounds like a great way to sample Sideshow’s signature offerings. We hear that the fried chicken is outstanding. They do burgers, pasta, seafood and salads as well.
Both the brisket and pulled pork sandwiches we chose were solid options, generously laden with tender, tasty meat. The fries are nicely shaved into scalloped slices, but needed more seasoning, we thought. Another side we tried was a green salad, whose intensely cilantro-forward dressing will not prove to be everyone’s cup of tea.
We started with wings: big, plump, meaty and smoky, with enough sauce to add tang but not so much as to smother the crunchy skin. Our favorite item was another appetizer, the Sideshow Rib Rolls, which swathe pulled pork, caramelized onions and cheddar in a crispy eggroll wrapper. We could easily have made a meal out of appetizers alone, but will have to try the street tacos and brisket-stuffed potato skins another time. Same goes for the desserts. If I were just sitting at the bar for a beer or a cocktail, I’d be strongly tempted to order a bowl of chewy Burnt Ends of smoked brisket to snack on.
Sideshow Kitchen and Bar is open for lunch and dinner daily from 11:30 a.m. to 11 p.m., serving food until 2 a.m. Friday and Saturday in the time-honored McGillicuddy’s tradition. Be prepared to wait for a table on a weekend evening, or call for reservations at (845) 633-8183. To see the full menu, visit https://sideshownewpaltz.com.
Join the family! 
