LE PETIT BISTRO, EXPANDED
Village favorite has larger space, offerings
RHINEBECK, N.Y. » After 30 years Le Petit Bistro continues to be a favorite spot in the heart of the village.
“We’re an institution in Rhinebeck,” Joseph Dalu, who co-owns the eatery with his wife Jennifer Dalu, said. “We have a lot of regulars who have come for years.”
The Dalus have lived in the area for 20 years, and they’ve owned Le Petit Bistro for the past 18 years.
Much has been going on lately at Le Petit Bistro, including an expansion that opened last year and the restaurant offering Sunday brunch for the first time a few months ago.
Joseph Dalu said the expanded dining room, which includes a long bar, occupies a prime space at the corner of U.S. Route 9 and Market Street that was once occupied by the Rhinebeck Cigar Shop.
“We always needed a bigger space, and we did this,” he said.
The expansion required taking down a wall that separated the space Le Petit Bistro has occupied since it opened, and the storefront the cigar shop occupied for the previous 75 years, he said.
Residents have applauded the change, he added.
“People have complimented that this has improved the town in a way smoking wasn’t,” he said.
The new space features multiple large storefront windows on the walls that face the street
corner which flood the room with light. Tables are aligned so diners can either sit in chairs facing outwards towards the street or on a long booth that nearly runs the length of dining room facing inwards.
Opposite the tables is a large bar with a marble countertop that wraps around to a corridor that leads to the eatery’s original dining room, which features a similar layout, but in a bit more subdued space covered in wood paneling.
With the expanded space, the Dalus have been able to make it more convenient by allowing diners to eat at the bar without making a reservation.
Reservations are still recommended for special occasions, he added.
But what really attracts people to the expanded space is a commitment to food and service, he said.
“It’s the spirit of people welcoming people into their home. It’s the food, the service, the commitment of the owner throughout the years,” he said. “There have only been three chefs.”
He added that a prime location in the heart of a bustling village certainly doesn’t hurt their business.
Diners come again and again for dishes like their fried oysters, fish tacos and hanger steak frites, he said.
“We have about eight
types of oyster nightly,” he said, adding that they work with many different purveyors along the coast.
And he gave an idea of just how popular they are.
“We shuck around 1,400 a week,” Joseph Dalu said as he made preparations on a recent afternoon to get ready for the restaurant to open at 5 p.m.
He worked at Old Chatham Sheepherding Company Inn in Old Chatham in Columbia County before he bought Le Petit Bistro, and he said their emphasis on being as local as possible influenced him to do much the same.
“At Old Chatham we had our sheep, our cheese,” he said.
Now he plans to get involved in farming by having their own pigs and partnering with a local farmer to start a garden farm.
He said this arrangement, common in European restaurants, has been important to him since he worked at Old Chatham.
Joseph Dalu said he looks all over the world to find inspiration for new dishes.
After returning from a recent trip to Jamaica, he said he’s already working on Jamaican-inspired dishes.
Shortly after, his wife Jennifer Dalu, whom he met while in business school at the University of Kansas, arrived and she discussed Le Petit Bistro’s brunch offerings that include French muffins in brown butter and cinnamon sugar and freshsqueezed orange juice.
She said they’ve offered brunch for several months and it has really taken off.
“It’s a whole new level of business,” she said. “It’s a great spot for daytime dining with big windows right in the middle of town.
“It’s a busier town, some local people like sitting up in the front big windows watching the town go by.”
Sunday brunch has become such a hit that plans are in the works to start a Saturday brunch starting this summer.
Jennifer Dalu has a background in human resources, and she said a successful restauranteur must have a passion for their work and let that shine through in the front of the house where the staff interacts directly with diners.
“You’ve got to love it, and have a lot of energy,” she said
“We’re not an absentee owner.”
And the Dalus balance running a popular local eatery with raising their three sons Henry, 12, Finley, 10, and Simon 3.
“All of the boys like to cook, but Simon’s got the passion,” she said. “We’re grooming him.”
Le Petit Bistro, 8 East Market St., Rhinebeck, is open for dinner from 5 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. on Sunday, Monday, Wednesday and Thursday, and from 5 p.m. to 10:30 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Sunday Brunch runs from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. It’s closed on Tuesday.