BEAR-ING UP
The pandemic and limits on restaurant capacity didn’t stop the owners of the Bear Cantina from opening their Mexican eatery
WOODSTOCK, N.Y » For nearly two decades, the family of Luis and Milton Lemus toiled away in the kitchen of the Bear Café, a one-time popular restaurant off Tinker Street in Bearsville.
Today, there’s a different owner of the entire Bearsville Theater complex, where a new eatery occupies the same spot as the former well-known café.
And the Lemus brothers, along with Valerie Blatter, all Ulster County residents, are the proprietors of The Bear Cantina, a Mexican restaurant that has taken root inside the 4,000 square-foot creekside dining facility.
Blatter, 20, says the venture was born out of a working relationship that Lizzie Vann, who is director of a company that purchased the Bearsville complex in 2019, and Luis Lemus, 34, had developed. Lemus, who owns a landscaping firm, did work at Vann’s Woodstock home. Lemus had also worked at the Bear Café for many years.
“Luis and his brother had always talked about having a restaurant,” Blatter said during a recent interview. “Luis (The Bear Cantina chef) can cook just about anything you want him to and he will make it great.”
“My brother and dad worked here for years,” said Milton Lemus. “He (Luis) said we should put a restaurant in here.”
In May 2020, a lease was finalized with Vann and a gut
renovation was launched shortly thereafter.
“It was a mess,” Blatter said. “The roof was leaking. It wasn’t insulated. It was freezing everywhere, and super hot in the summer.
“Everything is painted, new floors, and the kitchen was taken out completely,” Blatter said. “You could see to the basement.”
Blatter says the trio was determined to open The Bear Cantina in February, despite the COVID-19 pandemic and the restaurant capacity restrictions they would face.
“We were given this opportunity and we ran with it and we are trying to do the best we can,” Blatter said.
Blatter describes the interior — festive with some light blue and lime-colored walls — as Mexican rancho with a definitive flair featuring handmade masks hangings imported from that country and elsewhere.
“Colorful but not too much,” Blatter said of her restaurant’s decor.
The 99-seat restaurant, which also features a stone floor patio dining area, is highlighted by a bank of 7by 7-foot windowpanes that stretch for nearly 40 feet just above Sawkill Creek. But Blatter says what is especially inspiring is that all three owners “love Mexican food,” which they describe as Tex-Mex.
The Bear Cantina’s menu is chock full of it.
For starters, there are, among other appetizers: Guacamole, $12; Buffalo Calamari, $11; Nachos, $13; and Luis’ Famous Wings, $11.
Main dishes include Fajitas, with onions, peppers, mushrooms, tomatoes, and salsa roja, served with rice and beans, $16; Taco Sabroso, three warm corn tortillas, caramelized onions, cilantro, queso fresco salsa verde, and served with rice and beans, $16; Cheese Quesadilla, one flour tortilla, cheddar cheese, served with rice and beans, $10; and Hamburguesa Loca, eight-ounce black Angus beef, cheddar cheese, jalapenos, fried onions, avocado aioli, lettuce, and includes pico de gallo, guacamole, or cream on the side, served hand-cut fries or rice and beans, $18.
The Bear Cantina menu also includes vegan dishes as well as a variety of deserts.
The restaurant hours are Mondays through Thursdays from 4 to 9 p.m. and Fridays through Sundays from noon to 9 p.m.