REVIEW: PRETEND RESTAURANT at C. Cassis Tasting Room, Rhinebeck
C. Cassis owner Rachael Petach reimagines the greenhouse at her tasting room as an occasional Pretend Restaurant with a rotating roster of guest chefs. You should go.
PRETEND RESTAURANT AT C. CASSIS TASTING ROOM
108 Salisbury Turnpike, Rhinebeck | ccassis.com
We like it for: Weekend activity, tasting room, cocktails, leisurely something to do, snack/picnic lunch, occasional guest chef lunch!
Must try: C. Cassis flight with the spear; tomato aperitif; NYS cheeseboard, Pretend Restaurant prix fixe lunches.
Vibe: Relaxed, art-forward tasting room in a former dairy barn. Relaxed, rural chic.
Sound: Staff playlists or Pretend Restaurant guest chef playlists geared towards to the featured cuisine. [Like Ah W Noss by Lebanese Nancy Ajram during the recent Palestinian film maker lunch.]
Style: Design forward barn-turned-tasting room. Lots of artistic touches, all accented in their signature azure blue
C. Cassis Tasting room. To visit, pick any blue-sky weekend and crunch up the driveway where owner Rachael Petach has created an oasis in a former dairy barn for her blackcurrant liqueur, along with a slim menu of craft cocktails, C. Cassis tastings, and a refrigerator-load of NYS-made snacks. In milder weather, you might linger around a fire pit surrounded by patio picnic tables and Adirondack chairs, or wander a path past netted tomato gardens to flop in a wild meadow. In winter, hang out in the azure blue and white tasting room where branded sweatshirts, bags and growing variety of C. Cassis products are stacked neatly on shelves.
Pretend Restaurant: The tasting room is reason enough to go and spend a leisurely afternoon any Saturday or Sunday, ideally with friends, though friendly enough to venture in alone. But Petach has added an “experimental Pretend Restaurant… with three days of seated service with rotating guest chefs, a set lunch menu in the greenhouse, and à la carte small plates at the bar.” Reservations (via Resy) are recommended for the communal-style tables where staff serve a prix fixe 3-course lunch, plus optional extras like dessert, with wine, cocktails and N/A drinks from the tasting room bar.
We see chef-in-residence models like this in NYC and London, but rarely upstate, where one-night pop ups and bar takeovers are more common. Having the opportunity to show up for lunch by Petach’s roster of visiting chef-friends is where the fun begins.
Past chef guests have included:
- Sira Ulō — Jesseca Nalda and Harrison Cohen, a New York-based duo behind Sir Ulō’s Filipino and SouthEast Asian-inspired culinary studio, bring vibrant, rooted flavors to life through immersive pops up and impressionable dining experiences.
- Nadia Irshaid Gilbert, a Palestinian-American filmmaker, visual artist, chef, and Reiki master who aims to create immersive experiences through her work that plant seeds of empathy and wonder.
- Jocelyn Ueng, a Taiwanese-Chinese American chef, creator, traveler, and entrepreneur. Her approach to cooking is rooted in a core belief that “food is everywhere you look” and who draws inspiration from nature.
Parking: Large parking lot
Worth visiting nearby: 1. {pretty to think so} (modern, small plates + cocktails) 2. Little Goat (new, farmhouse coffee shop/bakery + modern mediterranean dinner) 3. Terrapin (25-year staple) 4. Cinnamon Indian (affordable, sibling of Nirvana in Woodstock)
Check out our in-depth Guest Shift interview with owner Rachael Petach, here.
