Hot Spots for Summer Food
by Cait Johnson

Nothing says "summer" like food from southerly regions where they know all about heat. Here in the often-chilly Hudson Valley, we're lucky to have a few restaurants that understand the magic of Mexican/Southwestern cuisine and the arcane mysteries of an authentic Southern barbecue pit. So, if you have a hankering for something zesty, come and check out these three hot spots that really know how to cook up a little heat.

Max's Memphis Barbecue
136 S. Broadway, Red Hook

David Weiss owns the popular Santa Fe restaurant in Tivoli (which we also visited, see below); he's plenty busy enough already. Why open an authentic barbecue place as well? It all happened on those trips to Mexico, where Weiss likes to pick up recipe ideas for Santa Fe. It's a long and hungry drive and you can't get there without passing through the deep South, where roadside barbecue joints abound and you can get a side of grits with just about anything. Weiss brought his curiosity about regional cooking along for the ride ("I tried a lot of barbecue," he grinned) and brought back was a real sense of what makes authentic barbecue authentic: not glopped-on spicy sauce, but a three-step process that includes smoking foods for four to fourteen hours in a real smoke oven. The one at Max's is the real thing, and fired with local hickory.

I've long been a Max's regular, and I can tell you that barbecue isn't the only thing they do superbly: the curried crab cakes are worth a special trip, and I've crunched up more than my share of the tasty cornmeal-crusted shrimp. Then there are the side dishes. I spent three of my formative years in Virginia where I learned to love grits--and I had pined for them ever since. What bliss to find Max's, where the creamy, flavorful cheese grits were just what I'd been missing. The cornbread is also a favorite of mine, so sweet I thought there had to be sugar in it, but Weiss assured me there isn't--they just use a very fine-quality cornmeal. The garlic mashed potatoes won the rapt attention of the folks at my table, and both the collards and corn are rich and delicious. For the vegetarians among us, you can get a dinner of sides and walk away replete and very happy. My son, a carnivore, orders pulled pork every time ("Hey, it's great. Why mess with a good thing?") and of course there are ribs, briskets, pork tenderloins, and steaks as well as the tender chicken.

Max's offers many amenities, including desserts (I can devoutly recommend anything involving chocolate), selections of sipping Bourbons, and fine cigars, which may be smoked on the balcony after 10 pm. The atmosphere is warm and casual, but with a pleasing aesthetic, and the wait staff are friendly and easy on the eyes. Prices are moderate--around $12.95 for most dinners, including those great sides and a mesclun salad. Sandwiches or chili are available for much less, and the take-out menu a bargain.

Max's serves dinner from 5 p.m. to 10:00 p.m., with the bar remaining open until 1:00 a.m., Tuesday through Sunday. It does get busy, so call ahead , 845-758-MAXS.

Santa Fe Restaurant
52 Broadway, Tivoli, NY

Every once in awhile I get this craving for rice and beans. Not just any rice and beans, but the rice and beans at Santa Fe, a very far cry from the tasteless starchy stuff you find at a run-of-the-mill Mexican-American place. Last time I was there, I asked the manager what makes them so extraordinary. Turns out the rice is cooked with oregano and olive oil, then topped with black beans simmered with garlic, cinnamon, cumin, and red wine. The results are great. But then, Santa Fe seems to cook up consistently delicious, healthful, lively food that won't break your bank account (the restaurant was voted "Best Buy" in the Mexican-Southwestern category by the Zagat survey). Everything they serve is ultra-fresh--most of it from local purveyors--and the recipes are inspired by authentic Mexican cuisine: all those trips Weiss made there have paid off.

The starter-basket of chips with salsa could serve as a fitting emblem for the way this operation works: the chips come to Santa Fe in the form of three types of raw tortilla, plain corn, blue corn, and red pepper. They are cut and fried fresh on the premises and served up, often still warm, sprinkled with just enough salt. The salsa is made from fresh local ingredients, pleasantly rough-cut and zesty.

The dinner choices are many and intriguing. I opted for enchiladas San Miguel, a generous stack layered with mushrooms, spinach, feta cheese, and sundried tomatoes, while my date tried one of the nightly specials, grilled mahi-mahi tacos which he gave two very enthusiastic thumbs-up. Santa Fe's burritos, tacos, enchiladas and tortillas are anything but ordinary; the fillings include Yucatan-style barbecued pork, grilled chicken with chocolatey mole sauce, Baja shrimp, and charred eggplant with pumpkin seeds and queso fresco.

The frozen margaritas, identical to those at Max's, are the best in town (with the exception of 40 West's mango margarita, but then that's in a class by itself), and there is a nice list of aged sipping tequilas to choose from. As for the desserts--well, once I tasted Amy's chocolate expresso torte I was hooked for life. Other offerings include key lime pie and fresh ginger creme brulee.

Prices at Santa Fe are very reasonable; most dinners (which include the fabulous rice and beans and a generous mesclun salad) cost around $12.95, and the desserts are a real buy at $4.50. Hudson Valley Magazine has said, "It just doesn't get any better than this in Upstate New York." Hear, hear. The word has been out for some time now, so call for reservations: 845-757-4100.

Armadillo Bar & Grill
97 Abeel St, Kingston, NY

A couple of years ago, I went with my new beau to Armadillo, a Mexican restaurant in Kingston, for a forgettable lunch. Granted, we were more interested in looking into each other's eyes than in the food, but it was so bland that the only heat at our table was being generated by us. So I was interested to see, now that the flames have died down a bit, if the food was only suffering in comparison to the fires of passion, or if it really was as pedestrian as I remember. I was pleasantly surprised and pleased: this time, Armadillo delivered.

The introductory chips were warm--always a plus--and accompanied by two kinds of dipping sauce, creamier and smoother than salsa, one a red and smoky (chipotle, perhaps?) tomato thing, the other a delicious and highly addictive green concoction with, we found out, green tomatoes, sour cream, cilantro and lots of garlic. We split an imaginative appetizer: mussels grilled in banana leaves with lemon-shallot butter that came to us right off the grill in a foil wrapping that opened to reveal the tenderest mussels I've ever run across. We both chose dinners from the regular menu, but the specials looked pretty interesting, too--that night, they included tempura soft-shelled crab with soy-ginger dipping sauce, and tri-color peppercorn-grilled tuna with wasabi mayonnaise (did the chef take an Asian detour somewhere along the line?) Anyway, my date gave his chile rellenos a very high rating, and my enchiladas del Mar, filled with shrimp, spinach, and salsa verde, came to me swimming in a sea of cheese and were very satisfying. The servings were more than generous, and while we agreed it wouldn't do for us to eat like this very often (Santa Fe is easier on the waistline), we certainly enjoyed the experience.

Prices tend to be only slightly higher than Santa Fe, with dinners around $14.95 (including very credible rice--cooked with poblano peppers--and black beans), and most desserts around $5.00. Call 845-339-1550 for reservations.