Rising Hoosick Falls

Walkable business district boasts pizza, cheese, more

Village offers dining, shopping all within walking distance.

Grandma Moses, a covered bridge, Revolutionary-era history, and a river runs through it: Hoosick Falls in eastern Rensselaer County, a 40-minute drive from Troy, is a quintessentially small upstate town with enough to inspire road warriors who cross its path.

But word in early 2020 that veteran French chef Dominique Brialy, formerly of the Epicurean and The Century House in Latham, would open an in-town restaurant came out of left field. I hadn’t been out that way in a decade. What I remembered most was the scenic drive from Brunswick through Hoosick Falls to the Manchester Designer Outlets, with a pit stop at the Man of Kent for fish ’n’ chips and a proper pint. Shopping, after all, is hard work.

Friends were headed to Hoosick Falls for a late lunch the day I held a reservation for Brialy’s recently reopened Bistro 42, so I took advantage of a sunny afternoon to scope out the town.

Downtown Hoosick Falls, with the Hoosac River rushing like whipped caramel in the distance, is a brief, walkable stretch of tastes due to the recent arrival of a cheese-and-provisions store connected to an old-fashioned pastry shop with German roots. They join Iron Coffee Co., a local roastery and coffee shop, and

Byte, an eclectic bar-cum-gallery-cumpizza joint selling art and Turkish-influenced pizzas while the artist-owner hosts a handful of quiet and quirky Airbnb rooms upstairs. And though we didn’t drive the few minutes to Unihog, the live music venue with a living-room feel, word is that it’s amped up its pandemic menu and is also worth a visit. Here’s a quick tour:

Byte 15 John St. Noon to 9 p.m. Saturday. Takeout and dine in. 518-205-5641 and bytehoosickfalls.com.

We started off here for lunch. Owner Yucel Erdogan, a Turkish artist and New York City ad agency creative, has put together a bar selling beer and wine and a pizzeria in an eclectic art gallery built of reclaimed and repurposed wood, farm tools and vintage finds. Tables in the original storefront windows are positioned under a canopied pergola while the far end of the room is anchored by a red, wood-fired pizza oven out of which come thin-crust, cumin-scented pizzas topped with spinach and Kalamata olives, sujuk (Turkish pepperoni) and beef pastirma (Turkish prosciutto).

A salad, calzones and a Byte burger are

all available to go, and pizzas can be bought half-baked, ready to finish at home. Erdogan, who fell in love with Hoosick Falls on a drive to Bennington, Vt., is a prolific artist with a signature bird that appears on assorted mediums from end cuts of wood to door panels. Guests who stay in his Airbnb rooms are treated to one-of-a-kind, beautifully appointed, loft-style bedrooms packed with artsy, vintage finds. Right now, Byte is open only on Saturdays while Erdogan finds staff to reopen additional days.

Hoosick Provisions

15 Church St. 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Wednesday to Saturday, closed Sunday to Tuesday. 518-205-5030 and hoosickprovisions.com.

Inspired by trips to local farms, Marianne Zwicklebauer and Clifford Belden, the owners of Belden Farm, bought the

historic building at 15 Church St. and opened Hoosick Provisions in 2020, selling local and regional foods, cookbooks and an assortment of cookware. While cookware filled a central table when we visited, the space is normally packed with seasonal farm produce, and a pastry case is filled with treats from cakes to macarons. They offer local cheese, including Four Fat Fowl's Camembertha and St. Stephen triple cream, fresh gluten-free spaetzle from Vermont and a daily menu of sandwiches, including a best-selling hot pastrami and, in summer, a BLT made with heirloom tomatoes grown on the farm. In a clever use of social media, they take online orders for fresh fish and seafood with delivery direct from Boston, available for pickup in the shop on Fridays.

Zwicklbauer/(z) Bakery 15 Church St.

The pastry shop is connected inside Hoosick Provisions. The key is to get there early, as they sell out fast. Continuing the name from the family’s 125-yearold bakery since it closed in Obergesenbach, in southern Germany, the owners found local baker Ashley Mccuin to make a daily selection of sweet pastries, piling them on cake stands running the length of the counter. Zwicklbauer’s grandfather also founded the long-running former Bavarian Chalet restaurant in Guilderland and, in another sweet family connection, the macarons are made by Belden, who happens to be the chief medical officer of Columbia Memorial Health in Hudson.

Iron Coffee Co. 9 Main St. 7 a.m to 3 p.m. weekdays, 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, 8 a.m. to noon Sunday. 518-231-9306 and ironcoffeecompany.com.

The rurban (rural urban)-industrial feel of the Iron Coffee Co. cafe is matched by its tattoo-art logo featuring an anvil and tiger, which has been emblazoned on merchandise from sweat shirts to hats. Mike Milliron (the "iron" comes from his name) opened the dog-friendly coffee shop and small-batch roastery in 2017 after noticing a younger population relocating to Hoosick Falls and the town moving, as he puts it, “in kind of the direction Troy went.” He offers houseroasted and wholesale coffee, along with a breakfast menu featuring Willhy Farms bread, bagels and pastries with sandwiches named after his own dogs and others in town. Though pandemic hours are shorter, he plans to expand again and bring back the coffee shop’s live-music events. A standout remains a fixture on the menu: The Ladanc is an espresso with steamed Battenkill heavy cream and a scoop of Nutella served in a cortado glass, although Milliron says you can substitute in any milk if the heavy cream is too rich.

Milliron clearly didn’t lose any momentum in the pandemic. Having grown up in Albany, he is set to open a second Iron Coffee Co. location, at 811 Madison Ave., by early summer.

Bistro 42 42 Classic St. 4:30 to 9 p.m. Thursday, 4:30 to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 11:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Sunday, 4:30 to 8 p.m. Monday, closed Tuesday and Wednesday. 518-205-5679 and bistro42.net.

Chef Dominique Brialy closed his new Bistro 42 for the governor’s lockdown order one day after his soft opening last year, rapidly shifting gears when he found a food truck at an auction. He was able to set up at the Hoosick Falls farmers market and, with the town’s permission, in Wood Park, selling crepes, sandwiches, poutine and hot dogs, a move that helped his business to survive.

By October he reopened Bistro 42 at 50 percent capacity, knowing, as the only restaurant in town, he had to appeal to loyal customers following him from Latham and locals wanting a quick bite at the bar. The result is both French and

casual. A bar menu with les hotdogs and les burgers offers build-your-own bites along with a French riff on Canadian poutine and charcuterie and cheese boards, while the seasonal French dinner menu features escargot in garlic butter and a wonderfully garlicky black Angus steak tartare lit with Dijon mustard, onions and capers. Brialy plans to add frog legs this summer.

Bistro 42’s compact menu benefits the tiny kitchen and small team. Staffing is still tight, so it’s a solo Brialy sending out French crepes with berry coulis, creme brulee and Chantilly pot de creme from a kitchen shared with a busser and a dishwasher; a lone waitress and bartender hold the fort out front. Brialy chooses the few wines to match the evolving menu; an Old Fashioned comes with a muddled maraschino cherry and orange like the

’80s.

But three-onion soup is the shimmering gold of traditional French onion soup, with caramelized alliums in vegetable broth topped with Swiss and cheddar cheeses, and boeuf bourguignon shines in its red wine, stewy glory even if the tagliatelle needs a lick of oil or butter to not stick. Risotto with wild mushrooms is fragrant with Parmesan and truffle oil and perfectly cooked, as is the Faroe Island salmon fillet in an unsalted beurre blanc — though such plain steamed vegetables feel more Century House than French Riviera, where Brialy went to culinary school. With fresh produce in season, Brialy sources tomatoes, zucchini and mushrooms from the abundant local farms. The food truck will return this summer with daily lunch hours of 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Photos by Susie Davidson Powell / For the Times Union Pizza at Byte in Hoosick Falls, where the owner is an artist who also works remotely for a New York City advertising agency.

Zwicklbauer/(z) Bakery in Hoosick Falls continues the name of a former family bakery in southern Germany.

Hoosick Provisions, and food and cookware shop, is at 15 Church St. in Hoosick Falls,

Zwicklbauer/(z) Bakery has its own entrance and is connected inside with the sibling business, Hoosick Provisions.

Photos by Susie Davidson Powell / For the Times Union A standout at Bistro 42 in Hoosick Falls is steak tartare. The French-born chef, Dominique Brialy, was previously ofthe Century House and the former Epicurean, both in Latham.

At left, the dining room of Bistro 42 and, at right,, a table at Bistro 42 full of drinks.

Above, the mushroom risotto at Bistro 42. Below, Bistro 42 previously was home to Farrara's Pub, which was damaged by a 2014 fire. Renovations were largely completed early but the pub never reopened.

Boeuf Burguignon at Bistro 42.

The entrance to the rural-urban Iron Coffee Co. on Main Street in Hoosick Falls.