Can you believe this??? A drive-in theatre? Yes - in Amenia, NY! About a 2 hour drive from Queens up Route 22 parallel to the Hudson River, Amenia boasts a rural feel similar to some of the further reaches of Long Island, while also offering some intensely delicious food and just about the best bed and breakfast I've ever experienced.
My husband and I had driven up to Amenia on a jaunt from housesitting in Westchester in early July, and from some cursory internet searches, read some positive reviews about Amenia, and in particular, the restaurant Serevan. We have been keeping an eye out for places to possibly buy a weekend home, and thought, let's go check out Amenia, and have a meal at Serevan.
We were utterly charmed. Amenia has some horse farms, a green market and a tiny center of town, where you can find the post office, library, gas station, pizzeria and several quirky antiques stores. Using our trusty (read:it's now more like a family member) GPS, we drove around and scouted some houses for sale, and then sailed on over to Serevan as it opened its door for dinner. What a lovely building - an old house converted into the restaurant, it has well tended gardens and we lingered outside for a few minutes. Then we headed inside - the attentive staff directed us to a table by a window, and the owner himself, Serge Madikians, swept by our table, and we chatted for a few minutes. Serge took a photo of us silhouetted by the window, and it appeared on facebook, a few days later.
But back to: the food! We got a hummus appetizer, which was fresh and tasted homemade - there is a stark difference between hand crushed chick peas and the store bought hummus - this was handmade. We gobbled that up. We then moved on to our main dishes; now I am a BIG fan of Kaesespaetzle - my favorite iteration coming from Zum Schneider on Avenue C in Manhattan; this was from the same family. The spaetzle I ordered had a mix of herbs, mushrooms and goat cheese - forkful after forkful was gooey, slightly crunchy and very satisifying. I finally raised my head to look over at my husband, and he was immersed in his plate of chicken with lemons, olives and couscous. He offered me a bite, and I could see the slight reluctance to let a forkful of this get away from him; but when I finished my dish before him, he felt bad for me and my cow eyes and I scored a few more bites!
I ordered baklava - because I knew it would be good and I was right - real honey and a mix of nuts - just - no words. My husband got a mix of fruits with pistachio ice cream. REAL pistachio ice cream.
We will be back here - this place is a real showcase - a place to take guests and to celebrate.
We returned to Amenia at the start of last weekend. We were looking at some properties nearby, and decided, on the fly, to stay overnight. Again, checking out reviews, my husband found great reviews for a Bed and Breakfast called Hilltop House Bed and Breakfast - he called them and they readily agreed to put us up for the night.
First, we decided to grab a bit to eat - and thought we would try out the pizzeria that is off the center of town, called Four Brothers Pizza and Restaurant. We ordered the artichoke dip, and shared a medium sized pizza. We thoroughly enjoyed our food - the artichoke dip was what we expected - a concoction of artichoke and cheese; and the pizza was very tasty - a crispy crunchy crust and they were able to do one of my favorite toppings - fried eggplant. (That's an extra bonus point in my book.)
As we stepped outside of the restaurant, we noticed, directly adjacent - a sign for a drive in theater. We trotted over - what - really? And yes - with a little ice cream shack to supply snacks during the movie, this was a real working drive in theater. What a delightful find! The last one I ever saw was near Rocky Point, NY, already defunct, but you could see the screen from the roadway. We vowed to come back one time and do the whole drive-in experience.
Then we were off to our B & B.
We arrived at the enormous home at the corner of Depot Hills Road and Prospect Avenue. The house and the neighboring homes reminded me of the homes from Anne of Green Gables - I immediately had a cozy feeling. We opened the wooden screen door and our eyes were drawn to the light from the kitchen - a huge kitchen - my dream kitchen - and off to the side was a little nook with a table where we were greeted by Sandy, one of the owners. We chatted and found out that she and West, her husband, both hail from Brooklyn - also Noo Yawkas! She showed us up to our room - the Sunshine Suite - a corner room with en suite bathroom - with double basins (I thought it was called Jack and Jill, but that describes a bathroom with 2 exits). And there was a little chandelier above the headboard.
OH the quiet! OH the greenery out our windows.
And then, as evening came on, we went out for a walk in the neighborhood - more of the charming Green Gables houses, and on our return - the scent of cinnamon and cookies baking greeted us. Simply enchanting!!! That scent of cookies wafted through the house for the next couple of hours - and to me, there is no smell more inviting, homey or trance-inducing than that! I was hoping that we would see the baked goods at breakfast the next morning, and I was not disappointed!
Sandy asked us what time we wanted breakfast, and we told her 8 a.m., as we had to get back to the city for work. We had a peaceful night in the room - there is no television, and we quite liked that - we had our various electronic devices, but it also allowed us to give ourselves permission to relax and not be so connected.
We bounced down the stairs at 8 a.m, and there the cawffee was waiting, and Sandy greeted us and told us to sit wherever we liked. We sat out on the covered side porch - I cannot describe how delightful this was - here are some pictures to help relive it.
And the breakfast was scrumptious - as you can see - scrambled eggs from local farmers, crunchy toasted bread, a pat of butter, stewed plums, the most perfectly crisped bacon, and then the source of the lovely baking aroma - zucchini bread!!! This is what Sandy had been baking the night before - it was evenly browned, you could see the shredded zucchini in it, yet it had the beckoning cinnamon and brown sugar taste that a breakfast bread should have.
My husband at first was hesitant to try the zucchini bread - he thought zucchini should not be a breakfast food - but I begged him to try, and his eyes expanded 2x at the first bite.
We were so enchanted with the whole experience, we were sorry to finish our breakfasts and to have to leave. My husband is a big bacon fan, and Sandy shared with me her secret to that perfect bacon.
Off we went on that sunny morning, vowing we would be back.
Yes it's all in Amenia!
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