Day Trippin' in Greene County - Frank Guido's Port of Call

When John and I retired and began our new hobby, day tripping, one of the first things we noticed was the vast array of interesting places that were within a short drive of home. We discovered so many places that, although we are both native to the area, we had never visited. Those places included the popular Grafton Lakes State Park, the Central Park Rose Garden, Fort Ticonderoga, just to name a few. I think many folks travel to the coast, to other states or even to other countries in search of adventure and beautiful vistas when the reality is, our own home state offers a huge array of history, recreation and great food. One area which wasn't on our radar until a couple years ago was Greene County! We made our discovery the first year we heard about the Cat'n Around Catskill exhibit and we've been going back ever since. If you've been reading a while, you've probably seen my posts about the Bears of Cairo, the Owls of Coxsackie and this year's Cat'n Around Catskill exhibit (links at the end of this post). Today I'm bringing you the first of a series of posts featuring some gems of Greene County that we happened upon this season during those hunting expeditions that are too good not to share. I begin the series with the sponsor of one of the Catskill cats, a restaurant that has everything to offer, Frank Guido's Port of Call Restaurant.

Frank Guido's Port of Call is located at the end of Main Street in Catskill, right off Dutchman's Landing where the Catskill Creek meets the Hudson River. We've been dying to get back to Catskill ever since photographing the Catskill cats just so we could enjoy a meal at this most amazing venue!

The "Cat-ch of the day" isn't too shabby either! Honestly, not to get off topic, but is this not the most creative and beautiful cat? It's only fitting that such a fabulous feline should be perched next to a restaurant with views like these:

We arrived at the Port of Call at noon, just as they were opening, so we scored a wonderful seat under the canopy. It looks empty in these photos but by the time we left, most seats were filled.

It was a gorgeous day, warm but not humid and just enough clouds in the sky to make the view picture perfect. Our waitress was awesome - efficient, friendly and full of great suggestions when I asked for recommendations. I can't imagine there's anything on the menu that wasn't insanely good, but I decided to order the lobster roll with their fresh tomato, cucumber and red onion salad.

The menu didn't specify and I didn't ask whether it was a hot or cold lobster roll and as you can see, it was a cold one. It was perfect - a very generous portion of lobster with diced celery and just enough mayo to do the job without being overdone. The roll was perfectly toasted and buttery. The salad.....well that was just as my mom might have made....freshly chopped seasonal veggies lightly dressed in oil and balsamic. John eventually settled on a fish sandwich. For his side, he selected the pasta salad. Once again, this side salad was so fresh and clean tasting, it was obvious it was just made fresh today, with just the right amounts of additives (celery, onion) and good 'ole Hellman's mayonnaise. If I didn't know better, I'd have thought my mama was in the kitchen! It wasn't too hard to clean our plates! This is perhaps the best food I've had in ages. I decided to live on the wild side and since I wasn't driving I also ordered the Port of Call punch. O....M.....G....talk about delicious! You can get a glimpse of that in the photo with my lobster roll. It was really just what the doctor ordered for a beautiful lunch on the deck - refreshing, cold and only made me a tiny bit tipsy!

What I didn't realize until researching for this post, the restaurant's kitchen was damaged in a fire on May 25th. Rather than let their 33 staff be out of work, Mr. Guido put up a temporary outdoor kitchen under a tent, scaled down their regular menu and carried on. Frank Guido is no stranger to adversity. It seems in the ten years in business at this location, they've also suffered two floods. After Irene, they had to knock the whole building down. (according to an article in Hudson Valley 360 (https://www.hudsonvalley360.com/article/port-call-stakes-tent-reopen-after-fire-decimates-kitchen). We noticed the food seemed to be coming to us from outside the building, rather than from inside, but we had no idea it was being prepared in an outdoor kitchen! Talk about rolling with the punches! We lingered over lunch to enjoy the view and as soon as we were able, we headed to the next item on our agenda, the Bronck House in Coxsackie. That will be Part II in my next post.
If you're looking for a fabulous venue for a delicious, fresh meal, we strongly recommend you take a drive to Catskill and visit Frank Guido's Port of Call. You can also find their other restaurants in Kingston - Mariner Harbor on Broadway and Little Italy on Thomas Street. For more information:

https://www.facebook.com/portofcallcatskill/

http://frankguidosportofcall.com/