Nu-Cavu Restaurant, Wallkill NY

The Cavu Restaurant at Kobelt Airport in Wallkill, New York was a nice place to grab a burger, or a sandwich, but it closed a few years ago. I’d heard that they’d re-opened recently as the Nu-Cavu so we decided to give it a try and popped in on a Saturday night.

The same ambience was there, an A-framed building with lots of sunlight streaming in and a good view of the airfield. There was light jazz playing too. One thing that stood out is the white tablecloths and the wait staff dressed in black. The menu confirmed it, more upscale, but not over the top.

The burgers and sandwiches are gone, replaced by a nice menu of seafood, steaks and pasta. We looked the menu over and the prices are reasonable ranging from fifteen dollars up to twenty-five for the surf and turf. Entrees come with a salad and a side, and they give hot bread with a nice olive tapenade.

Teresa decided on the Broiled Seafood Scampi. It was a huge plate of jumbo shrimp, flounder, and sea scallops in a lemon wine sauce with a side of pasta for 18.95. I had La Pescaotore that was a huge plate shrimp, clams, mussels, and calamari with a spicy Fra diavolo sauce over linguine, also 18.95. Well, mine was delicious and I sampled Teresa’s, and it was equally good. On mine, the calamari was cooked just right and there were a ton of mussels. In fact, my portion was so large I even had to bring the pasta and some of the calamari home.

Service is good. Food is great. Atmosphere is nice. Prices are reasonable. Overall a winning combination, and a restaurant you should visit soon, and often.

After we got home I checked out the web site and saw that they still serve the burgers and sandwiches at the bar, so I'll stop by again. It looked like they had a pretty good selection of beers on tap.

For more information check out their website.

Update 04/24/10-

This review is one of the most popular on this blog, as evidenced by the number of hits, so we decided to pop in again and see how they were doing. We got there at five on Saturday and there were plenty of seats available, but as we ate I saw the hostess placing reservation cards on most of the tables so I'd suggest getting there early, or making a reservation. The bar area was filling up too.

I ordered La Pescatore again and it was every bit as good as I remembered. Teresa tried the Cavu Chicken and it was delicious. Chicken breast layered with roasted peppers and eggplant, done parmigiana. Very good food, good portions (I brought some of mine home, and that's rare) good prices, very good service, and you even get to watch small planes land and take off. Get there and eat.

Update- July 9, 2010- We stopped by and tried the bar menu tonight and it was great. I had a bacon and blue cheeseburger, we shared chicken cordon blue bites, and Teresa had the chicken quesadilla appetizer (it was enough for a meal) all for less than $30.00 including tax and tip.

I had a chat with Carmela, one of the owners, and she is a nice person. Great food, good prices and good service are the benchmark at the Nu-Cavu.

Update- April 15, 2011- Here's a few more pictures.

Ward's Bridge Inn, Montgomery

Ward’s Bridge Inn in Montgomery has been around for a long time and has a slightly rustic look with a bright sunny sunroom in the back. They also have a nice upstairs dining area that can accommodate a good-sized party. I’ve been there for dinner, lunch, a wedding, and my daughter’s wedding rehearsal party and I’ve never been disappointed.

I went there today for lunch with a group from work to celebrate the end of the school year, and the retirement of a colleague. Our party was seated promptly and the waitress took good care of us. After looking over the menu I decided on a burger, of course. The problem was, which one? I narrowed it down to two, the Cowboy Burger with bacon, cheese, and BBQ sauce, and the Blue Cheese Burger. The Blue Cheese won out. Look at the picture above and you'll see why.

Okay, this burger was amazing. It is a half-pound Angus beef burger with blue cheese and caramelized onions. As a side, and you have a choice of several, I got the sweet-potato fries. I ordered it medium and that’s exactly how it came, perfectly cooked. The fries were delicious too. A couple of my friends ordered the Cowboy Burger and they were just as pleased. I’ll have to go back and try that one next.

For nine bucks you can get a great burger right here. That’s not much more than a fast-food place and you get waited on. Oh, they have a good selection of beers on tap too, including Brooklyn’s Pennant Ale. I took a pass on the beer what with it being a work lunch and had a nice glass of ice tea.

Give Ward’s Bridge Inn a try and it’ll become a favorite of yours too. For more info click on the web page. Ward's Bridge Inn.

Update- 06/24/10- I went here with the same group from work today and the meal was excellent as usual. This time I tried the Cowboy Burger; cheddar cheese, bacon, onion rings, and BBQ sauce on a soft ciabatta roll. Delicious.

Eveready Diner Brewster

Teresa and I were headed back from Danbury the other day, trying to decide where to eat, when we saw a sign announcing the opening of the new Eveready Diner in Brewster. Having seen the Eveready Diner featured on Diners, Drive-ins, and Dives on the Food Network, we decided to give it a try.

The diner is off exit 19 on Route 84, next to Kohl’s. When the Food Network features a restaurant, get ready for a long wait but it was only about twenty-five minutes and they have wireless internet so we passed the time using the i-pod touch so the wait passed quickly.

Inside the diner has a nice look to it but it seems a bit cramped, like they tried to shrink a large diner to fit into a smaller space, this was a small problem for us as we were seated next to the cashier and the people trying to pay got a bit closer than we wanted. The line backed up a bit since the credit card machine was down. This can be chalked up to being a new place and we had cash anyway, so it wasn’t a problem when we went to pay.

The menu had a lot of interesting things on it and was a bit different from the traditional diner fare. I’m sure they had plenty of house specialties to sample, but I have a theory about sampling restaurants to get a good basis of comparison; I order the same thing at similar restaurants. In Italian restaurants I order the veal Sorrentino or the Saltimbocca, at a diner I order a Rueben. A word of advice to any diner that can’t make a good Rueben; close your doors.

Well, this Rueben was the one of the best I’ve ever had. For a busy place, the service was good and the food came out fast and hot. The corned beef was tender and tasty, the marble rye bread was lightly toasted, and the French fries were crispy and hot. Teresa ordered the Trattoria Chicken, which was also good. Overall, a very good meal at a very reasonable price. I think the whole tab came to about twenty-three dollars including tax and tip.

My advice, give the Eveready Diner in Brewster a try. I think you’ll be quite pleased. We are going to try the one up in Hyde Park in the near future and I’ll give you the lowdown when we do.