Regional Archives — The Altamont Enterprise, November 24, 2011
Rustic Gourmet expands, bringing color to the dead of winter
By Zach Simeone
DELMAR — Bonnie Kohl-Laub is looking to add some color to the impending gray of winter.
“I decided that I was going to design something so that, in March, when the snow is dirty, and everyone’s depressed, you’d walk in there and think you died and went to heaven,” Kohl-Laub, a Westerlo resident, told The Enterprise. “I’ve done a room in pale apple green and amethyst, which can seat 50 people.”
Her restaurant, The Rustic Gourmet, is in a part of Delmar where, Kohl-Laub said, there is “no readily available food,” which is why she chose 785 Delaware Avenue as her location. It opened this past spring. In addition to this 50-person room, the restaurant has also added a smaller meeting room, which can seat 10 to 12 people, she said.
The restaurant features many “to-go” items, including breakfast foods, sandwiches, wraps, salads, baked goods, coffee, and specialty beverages. Most of the dishes are available in three different sizes: a taste, regular, and hearty.
“People like our food,” she said. “They come from all over: Rensselaer; East Greenbush; we have a lot of local support. And, we have regulars that come in all the time, and they know each other. It’s just a genuinely sweet place.”
The restaurant will be closed on Thanksgiving, “But we’re going to have a Dickensian type of Christmas,” Kohl-Laub said. “We’re going to have a big tree; we’re going to have pudding; minced-meat pies; orchard pudding; roast beef; and people should put their orders in no later than December 16 for that.”