I didn’t rush to Bia when it first opened. The space where it’s located — in the Garden Street Plaza in Rhinebeck — had housed too many other restaurants that have come and gone. Much like a skittish fan who’d been left dangling by a favorite television series’ cliffhangers, only to have show after show cancelled, I feared I’d fall in love with the menu and be crushed if Bia didn’t work out.

Although I was right about my feelings towards the lovely Ireland-by-way-of-the-Hudson-Valley-inspired dishes (no surprise: Chef Rich Reeve’s former endeavor was Kingston’s beloved Elephant), I was, happily, wrong about risking my heart. Bia, in capable and savvy hands in both the front of house and the back, is bustling and busy, and it’s not going anywhere. Fall in love safely, friends — this restaurant won’t be ghosting us.

Owner Kyle Kelley opened Bia in the summer of 2019 after nearly 15 years working in restaurants in Poughkeepsie, Rhinebeck, and elsewhere in the Hudson Valley. When the space next to Osaka Sushi became available, Kelley jumped at the chance to turn it into his dream establishment, “stopping just short of knocking down walls” to get it ready. The interior is warm and inviting without veering into claustrophobic, with a bar up front that’s perfect for a low-key bite and cocktail. Not to mention Bia’s fantastic outdoor patio for warmer nights.

The goal of the restaurant is to take familiar ingredients and do something unique with them. The menu, changed seasonally, is streamlined and thoughtful, with a focus on fish and game, plus a solid array of vegetarian options that don’t feel at all like an afterthought. On a recent winter night, we tried a perfectly balanced and flavorful earl grey tea organic Irish salmon starter (appetizers range from $12-$16, entrees $20-$33); a Colorado pastured leg of lamb "noisette" with cabbage that felt like the ideal, hearty warm-you-up winter dish (it was served with a delicious potato, leek and cheddar tart which could absolutely be its own entree); the curried barley and butternut risotto, a vegetarian entree that no one wanted to have to share; and an indulgent crab-stuffed flounder special that was served with charred little gem lettuce, which Chef Reeve says is popular in Ireland.

Delightfully, Bia’s meals start with house-made fresh bread because in Ireland, “you get good brown bread with good butter, which is such a throwback,” he says. Kelley chose the wines, and he says his goal was to find ones “with character and modest prices.” The specialty cocktails are created by bartender Josh Rosenmeier, who makes drinks that Kelley describes as “food driven, using a lot of savory tones and spices.”

Rhinebeck-based pastry chef Terese “Taffy” Fantasia (owner of T-Spoon Desserts) makes the majority of Bia’s desserts, including a spicy warm date pudding ($9) and a decadent chocolate torte ($10). Or opt for one of the cheeses ($8 per piece, served with nuts, chutney, and toast points) which are local, with the exception of one Irish cheese, if you prefer that with your, obviously, Irish coffee ($10).

Reeve’s interest in modern Irish cooking came after he and his wife sold Elephant and took a trip to the the Emerald Isle. “I was blown away by the simple elegance of the food. And if they were tricking it out, there were no foams or dots or cubes.” Kelley, coincidentally, also visited Ireland, and afterwards the pair bonded over their mutual appreciation of the country’s food, its young, creative chefs, and the French, Spanish, and Scandinavian influences in modern Irish cooking. It made perfect sense for Kelley to tap Reeve to join him at Bia. “I’ve been eating Rich’s food for a decade,” Kelley says. “Elephant was my wife and my favorite place to go, and towards the end I even worked there.”

The goal, Chef Reeve says, is to “try to pretend that I’m in Ireland and this is the product I can work with, local product. I’m trying to capture how they treated food.” And being located in the Hudson Valley, with its agricultural bounty and farms just down the road, makes that doable — and incredibly successful.

The pair is proud of how far Bia has come at not even a year old. With constant improvements and adjustments, they learn what’s working best for their customers. Summing up his philosophy, Kelley says, “The word itself, bia, is an Irish Gaelic word for nourishment, so we try to do that with everything we do, nourishing your emotional sense just as much as satisfying you. We’re tying our food with the cocktails, with the season, with the time of day, with what we’re feeling, to make sense and tell a story, like a good book has a beginning, middle, and end. That’s Bia.”

Bia
Garden Street Plaza
22 Garden St., Rhinebeck, NY
(845) 516-4044  
Monday & Thursday, 5-9:30 p.m.
Friday & Saturday, 5-10 p.m.; Sunday, 4-9 p.m.
Closed Tuesday & Wednesday

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Written by
Andrea Pyros