340 WARREN STREET
HUDSON, NY 12534
(518) 822-8938
CHEF/OWNERS: NINA BACHINSKY GIMMEL AND JEFF GIMMEL
While Nina Bachinsky Gimmel and Jeff Gimmel opened Swoon in 2004, they’d already been visiting Hudson for at least four years (Nina’s parents were artists with studios in town). Swoon predates Fish & Game, the Crimson Sparrow, and Cafe le Perche by nearly a decade. Having been in town so long, the Gimmels remember Hudson’s really tough times. Says Jeff Gimmel, “We were living in what used to be my wife’s parents’ art studio, which was on the corner of Third and Union, the big house right next to where Fish & Game is now.
“And so one night we were watching TV, and all of a sudden we heard gunshots. Just pop-pop-pop-pop-pop-pop. And I look out the window, and right across the street from us at the Boy’s Club there was a drive-by shooting. And right around the corner from there on Third and Warren was one of the heaviest drug corners I’d ever seen—and that’s after living in New York for ten years.” He concludes, “Just in 2000, Warren Street was pretty rough.”
Undeterred, the Gimmels returned to Hudson to open Swoon in 2004. “There was a real energy in town with a lot of new people showing up and starting new things.” But the Gimmels, who both came out of high-profile kitchens in Manhattan, also noticed, “There wasn’t a lot of good food. Even the number of farms now has greatly increased from what there was then. I mean, there were definitely farmers around—and some that we knew for years before we opened—but now you see this influx of younger farmers starting up these smaller farms that are geared to supplying restaurants and the new foodie markets. The farmers that were here before were the generational farmers that were still farming the same land that their grandparents had farmed before them.
“My wife and I [both chefs] were working in Manhattan for ten years before leaving, but she grew up around here, so we knew this area well. We were regular shoppers, both for work and for home, at the Union Square Greenmarket. So, when we first moved to the Hudson Valley and started driving around, we realized that these were the farms that we saw at the Union Square Greenmarket. To be here in the Hudson Valley among these farmers—and to walk their land and talk to them about their day-to-day lives—gave me a really personal connection to the food. It wasn’t just about a stand in Union Square; it was about the people and their livelihood.”
Their connection, through Nina’s parents, to the art community in Hudson gives the Gimmels some perspective about the way the town has changed. Says Gimmel, “Hudson is really unique from the Berkshires or even Rhinebeck in that it offers a level of sophistication that you really don’t find in small towns. Its culture and sophistication are equal to a large city—a Manhattan or a Boston—and you can just see that in the storefronts on Warren. You know, when the Internet came on big for antiques shopping, the dealers and the designers from the city could go online to buy things instead of having to come up to Hudson. That started the end of Hudson’s identity as an “antiques only” town. Correspond this with the real estate boom of 2004–2006, and these antiques dealers who bought their properties in the late 1980s or 1990s for $20,000 and $30,000 could sell them in 2004 and 2005 for $200,000. They cashed out. And so that was what brought a greater diversity to Hudson.” He concludes, “But I think that because the architecture is so unique and beautiful and old, it attracted a certain type of person that wanted to be part of a beautiful, but still kinda bohemian, place.”
The Gimmels fell in love with 340 Warren Street, a spot that had been a restaurant since it was built in the late nineteenth century. Though its upper floors had been damaged in an arson fire, the street-level restaurant remained mostly intact. “We always loved the bones of the place with the high tin ceilings and the tile floors. It just had a really great feel to it. The fire started on the second floor, so a lot of the first floor is original—of our tin ceilings, about 70 to 75 percent are original.
“For the first year that we were open, someone—and I still don’t know who—would come by in the morning and slide Xeroxed copies of old local newspapers under our front door. These said things like ‘Brandow’s at 340 Warren Street: The First Restaurant in Hudson to Have an Electric Icebox!’ They were just these old, weird clippings about the history of the space and of the building from somebody in town.”
More bizarrely: “And my next-door neighbor where I live here in town is a retired Hudson police officer, and he said that when he was a cop in the 1960s, my restaurant was a bookie’s shop. You could come in here and make a bet on anything, from baseball to horses. You could bet against the lottery and they’d take your money. So my neighbor used to run a wiretap from his basement next door to where I live now to the basement at the restaurant where I’m sitting right now!” Gimmel sighs. “It’s just kind of funny, the long connected history of the place.”
(SERVES 4)
1 clove garlic
1 day-old baguette
High-quality extra-virgin olive oil
Salt
3 bunches good-quality asparagus: 2 bunches for cooking, 1 for shaving
As many fresh, tender herbs as you can get. Gimmel recommends parsley, tarragon, chervil, basil, celery leaves, lovage, mint, and chives, but warns against cilantro, sage, or lavender.
3 lemons
Fleur de sel
Freshly ground black pepper
½ pound sliced, high-quality cured meats, such as prosciutto, speck, lomo, bresaola, etc. (Gimmel cures his own meats, but he recommends that you substitute cured meats from artisanal producers)
The day before you plan to serve the salad, peel the garlic clove. Cut off the root end, and rub the baguette all over with the cut side of the garlic. Slice the baguette into thin rounds and lay them in a single layer on a cookie sheet(s). Air dry the bread for 1 day, then, using a food processor, grind it into crumbs. Season with a touch of olive oil and salt and reserve.
Free the asparagus of all rubber bands, then, taking each stalk between forefinger and thumb, snap off each stalk, Gimmel says, “at the point at which they would like to be snapped.” Discard the snapped ends and reserve the stalks. Separate approximately one-third of the asparagus stalks and reserve for shaving.
Fill a large pot with cold water and salt the water heavily. Bring to a boil. Meanwhile, prepare an ice bath and salt the ice water, too. When the water reaches a full rolling boil, blanch two-thirds of the asparagus in small batches, trying not to let the water cool between each addition of vegetables. When you remove each batch of asparagus, shock it immediately in the ice bath to halt its cooking.
Drain the blanched asparagus and prepare it for grilling by dressing it in a bit of olive oil and salt. Heat a grill pan. Meanwhile, cut the reserved raw asparagus into manageable lengths. Prepare a small ice bath and shave the asparagus using a mandoline. The slices can’t be too wispy because the asparagus won’t crunch, and they can’t be too thick or it will be tough. Gimmel suggests trying a couple of thicknesses to see where you like it. When you finish, refresh the shaved asparagus in the ice water. Drain after 5 minutes; it should still be crunchy and appealing.
Take all the herbs that you have assembled, and pick the leaves off the stems. Clean in an ice bath and drain after 10 minutes. Lay out four plates. Grill the asparagus in the pan, turning the slices often to get an even char on all sides, being careful not to burn. When you have finished grilling, dress the asparagus with a healthy squeeze of lemon juice, olive oil, a pinch of fleur de sel, and pepper. Gimmel says, “If you want to go all out, hit it with some lemon zest as well.”
In a large mixing bowl, place the herbs, shaved asparagus, and some slices of cured meat. Dress with salt, pepper, olive oil, and lemon juice. Gimmel says, “Consider some zest. It is up to you.” Mound the grilled asparagus on the plates, says Gimmel, “in a fashionable way,” and sprinkle with a healthy dose of the reserved bread crumbs. Dress with the shaved asparagus, herb, and meat salad. Finish with more slices of cured meats and bread crumbs.
