To Accommodate Trains Daily

We wanted an Italian meal.  We?  I did.  I figured we could go and get something substantial at at one of the local Italian places.  I know of one that is supposed to be great.  It’s closed on Tuesday nights.  Looks like its closed Wednesday too.  But New Paltz is a popular little hamlet and there are at least two other Italian joints noted.  Let's try . . . The Station. 

The Station is, predictably enough, located at the old town train station.  This has resonance as fifty meters down from our home is the local rail trail that used to accommodate trains daily along its rails, as they made their way towards the New Paltz Station.  We learned, dining at the establishment from a waiter who’d been there for decades that the station ceased to function as such back in the 1970’s. 

We took a seat in the Station.  There were a half a dozen other diners all served by one old-time waiter and one eager young busboy.  Dimly lit with views out to where the tracks had been, we all soaked up the atmosphere and agreed that it was a grand setting.  Our server, once he finally showed confirmed that the building was set to have been demolished in the late seventies and was only just saved. 

The prices at The Station are brazenly aggressive.  Really?  Thirty dollar entrees?  Well, certainly they must be good.  But unfortunately they were not.  The food, so thoughtfully suggested: “oh, the veal?  Outstanding!” was in fact, middling.  The tastes seemed like the same fare one could expect in a half a dozen other cheap, predictable, Italian places that the Hudson Valley claims as home.  I was polite with the gent who’d served here for so many years.  But as I considered the bill and made my way back to the car, I reckoned it would be a long time before we returned. 

Tuesday 8/06/19