Beer and Cheese, Please, at Saisonnier in Kinderhook
Craft beers and artisanal provisions are available to dine in or take away.
Photos by Mary A. Nelen except where noted
If you find yourself in Kinderhook, New York some evening, clutching a frosty stein of beer and snacking on cheddar cheese, you may feel you’ve landed in the 1800s. And that small child with a bowl haircut sitting in the distance may be a foundling. But think again. On closer inspection he is two-and-half-year-old Owen, the child of a Brooklyn couple who happen to be experts on authenticity.
How authentic can it be, this cozy brick storefront with a sign out front that reads Saisonnier? The food tastes like it comes from a farm or bakery down the street, and the interior has exposed beams and chalk harking back to when it was Van Vleck’s “Old Store” before the sheriff sold it in 1831.
The inventory of beer at Saisonnier, a new bar and shop at 11 Chatham Street, is extensive. One can buy a can of Lawson’s for $5 or a 750 ML bottle of Ale Apothecary for $50.
And what can be more authentic than a proprietor who tends his own bar? Asked to recommend a craft beer on tap, Patrick Kenny takes a moment to ponder before pouring a sample of the Sloop, brewed in upstate New York, followed by a taste of Thiriez Spuyten Duyvil, “a refreshing dry-hopped grisette from the north of France,” he explains, and it was just that.
We move on to a Lambic, a Boon Lambic to be specific, “aged for two years in oak barrels in the Senne Valley in Belgium,” he intones with his nose right down there in the glass. I learn Lambic is fermented with wild, air-born yeast. The funky flavor has converted me forever from Corona.
The store has 13 beers "On Deck" meaning ready to tap, in addition to the 10 draft beers and 56 bottles and cans available to take home or consume while shopping.
Last month Patrick and Casey Kenny flung the doors open on Saisonnier. At a party of about 75 Kinderhook locals, the couple and Owen were toasted with speeches from friends and town officials, some of whom helped launch the business.
We sipped beer and wrapped our heads around the meaning of the word Saisonnier; it stands for seasonal employees — French-speaking migrants who lived and worked in Belgium since the Middle Ages. Saisonnier beer was brewed by the workers — a 2% alcohol content making it cleaner than water back in the day. The beer we sipped, the Saisonnier on tap, is a higher proof than 2% and effervescent with notes of black pepper.
I usually don’t have the chance to go to a restaurant more than twice when reviewing, but in the case of Saisonnier, I’ve managed to visit four times. If I lived next door, I’d be there every day.
Last Sunday, I took another couple for lunch at 2 p.m. We dined at the sunny community table on a plate of large sardines, a Ploughman’s Board (pâté, cheese, gherkins, candied walnuts, mustard, a Bartlett House baguette and dried fruit), a “Landlord’s Board” (similar to the Ploughman but with a second cheese and sausage instead of pâté) and a board featuring hummus, cheese, bread, dried fruit and gherkins. We all had beer. The day was gorgeous and sun came in through the window onto the little garden next to the building. Earlier in the month I visited with an English friend at around 6 p.m. We shared pâté, cheese and bread and each had hard cider and beer. During our repast, my friend opined that the combination tavern/shop was much like the farm-to-table cafés popular in the English countryside.
Another day I went for lunch on my own to write this review during a quiet time at 11:30 in the morning, but it filled up with people having lunch by noon. I took the community table with the garden view and drank a hard cider with my grilled Vermont cheddar cheese sandwich with kimchee. The combination was so satisfying, on perfectly toasted sourdough bread, that I closed my eyes to savor it and knocked the cider all over my notes, making it necessary to go back to the place one more time to get the story.
Saisonnier is open just when you need it to be, which is most of the time except for Tuesdays. Sometimes there is live music on the weekends, sometimes the place just has a couple of people at the bar, sometimes families cavort in the side room and sometimes there are people on laptops in the morning with coffee. All the time, Saisonnier is a great place to be.
Saisonnier
11 Chatham St., Kinderhook, NY
(518) 610-8100
Open Monday, Wednesday & Thursday 11:30 a.m.–9 p.m.
Friday & Saturday 11:30 a.m.–10:30 p.m.; Sunday 11:30 a.m.–7 p.m.
