Hudson has gone to the dogs

Art dogs that is. Kim and I had a wunnerful walk around town. Catskill has gone to the cats and Hudson has gone to the dogs. They even have a dog parade. Sort of like Los Altos, California's Pet Parade. How I miss the homey touches.

Hudson New York, what a concept.

Swoon Cafe in Hudson, New York

Kim and I went for a late lunch at the Swoon Kitchenbar.



Swoon Kitchenbar
340 Warren St, Hudson, NY 12534
(518) 822-8938

We had very high hopes for it. Very high. My mom recommended Swoon and had a great time there. She went with some of her fake LA friends. I know, that's a redundant oxymoron, like good LA suburb, but because they're really from Danville, VA, not LA, they're really fake LA. Mostly. Mom told us the gazpacho was not to be missed. We did miss it. What we wound up having almost made up for it. Almost.



Swoon cafe is a nice place. Large and well lit.

I enjoyed their steak tartare. Not as yummified as Spago Palo Alto, which is now closed, but beautifully made with gherkins and toast (points). Do I hear a trip to the Jersey Shore coming?

The duck confit scrapple combination was good but as you can see, the egg was over poached and I thought the potato overshadowed the duck confit. However, a nice, $15, glass of Jean-Pierre Grossot Chablis, AC, went very well with the dish. Personally, I would have preferred this for breakfast. Personally, I would have preferred it for breakfast in Baltimore, home of scrapple.

Kim had a panino with chicken, avocado and bacon. She liked it. She enjoyed it. Remember, I have taken Kim out to the finest restaurants in the world and the French Laundry and Per Se and have given her the finest wines to drink, Margaux '61, Cheval Blanc '78, Krug '85, even a Clos de Mesnil, not to mention dozens of Yquem vintages. She always says, "They're fine." But still, don't that look good?

I loved their zeppoli (zeppole) with blueberry and crème anglaise. And yes, I started eating and had to stop and take pictures. So, I take full responsibility for messing up the plating. Yum.



Kim had a cappuccino. I had an espresso. Because we were having a late lunch, we were there until 5:00 o'clock and had our waitress changed out from under us. Sort of like an oil change when you're driving down the highway. The waitresses, I felt, lost their focus as they transitioned to dinner. Basically, the dining experience fell apart. Kim commented that she thought it was because of the change over from lunch to dinner and not to hold it against them. Perish the thought. So, in that case, I would not recommend coming in for a late lunch because you'll wind up with shoddy wait service. Before our team of waitresses lost their focus, it was good. Price was less than Lupa more than the Spanish Pavilion in New Jersey. But that's another story.