LONG LUNCH AT CAFE MUTTON’S NEW MERKIN WINE BAR IN A HUDSON GARAGE
Originally posted 3/30/26
Updated 4/1/26
Long Lunch in a garage?
A garage bar now named Merkin.
Cafe Mutton’s chef-owner Shaina Loew-Banayan serves up pâté and cheese, platters of meat + casually poured wine.
Merkin | 45 8th Street (physically around the corner from Cafe Mutton,) Hudson. IG: @merkinhudson
Pull up to the newly named Merkin in a garage at 45 8th street from noon until 9 p.m., Thursdays and Fridays, and you’re sure to be surprised.
The garage-turned-artist space-turned extra space for Cafe Mutton has a huge retractable garage door and a new lease on life. Rock up for pâté by the pound and head cheese to go, linger over wine and soup, or book ahead for Long Lunch on a Sunday. It literally might run 3+ hours and it’s the antithesis of hearing, “you have this table for 90-minutes.”
On April 1, 2026—when most people interpreted Cafe Mutton’s instagram announcement as an April Fool’s joke—the garage wine bar officially launched as Merkin, Hudson, with gold letters in the glass of the garage door. The name itself reflects a combined history of Hudson brothels and a busy merkin factory that once occupied the address. Read the whole story here.
However, after a sharing Sunday lunch at a table with 6 new friends, I caught up with chef-owner Shaina Loew-Banayan and asked about their new addition. - SDP
*This interview was conducted one week before Merkin’s official launch. Loew-Banayan’s interview has been updated to reflect the garage bar’s newly announced name.
Chef, the Long Lunches are truly a laid back feast. What’s your inspiration behind hosting them?
Just creating a type of meal format that feels less rushed and more communal—I like the idea of bringing strangers together, because I think we are living in highly isolating times. I also like that the lunches give me a chance to connect with guests in a slower paced setting. It’s nice to have a day of the week when I can cook and serve and have time to talk without there being a lot of pomp and circumstance around it. I also think the Long Lunch allows guests to try more of our food in one experience because it’s family style, and there’s more food on the table.
When/how did you acquire the space and is it connected to Cafe Mutton?
We started renting the garage in the fall. It’s in the same building as Mutton, so even though we are running a different concept in the garage, it’s still part of the Mutton brand and world.
I hear you’re going to open up during the week as a bar?
Yes, we are going to start out being open Thursdays and Fridays from noon until nine, and we will be serving a small menu of sandwiches, soups, and wine. Once the weather gets better, we will open for another day or two, and then, of course, we will continue to have Long Lunch on Sundays.
I am planning to formally launch this next week… For now, it’s “the garage at 45 8th street” but I do have a name, and there’s a story behind it, so I’ll wait to share that until we are closer to opening!
[Ed note: On 4/1, Loew-Banayan formally announced the name of their new garage wine bar: Merkin, Hudson. Read their announcement and the historic brothel and merkin factory backstory here.
In this expanded space you seem to have more room for your charcuterie and sausage production…
Yes! Because we have more space for storage and some better grinding and mixing equipment, we’re able to produce more charcuterie. We are able to sell pâté by the pound, sausages, bologna, head cheese, and a few other rotating items. All those items are available to pre-order on our website, but folks can also just walk in and buy stuff on site!
How should people sign up for the Sunday Long Lunches?
Long Lunches are sold as ticketed events on our Cafe Mutton Resy page. If you go to Resy, you’ll see the lunches on each Sunday, and you just select the day you’d like to come and buy a ticket.
