By Jill Nagy
A transplant from Brooklyn is introducing the people of Hudson Falls and nearby communities to down home Southern style cooking.
“They are diving into the menu and they like it,” said Randall Cobb, who owns, with his wife, Randy’s Phenomenal Eats, located in the old Washington County Courthouse, 122 Main St. in Hudson Falls.
“People really like the ‘down south’,” a combination of buttermilk fried chicken, creamy macaroni and cheese, and spicy corn bread, he said. But the menu also includes Italian, Mexican and non-southern American selections, and breakfast all day.
The “Number 1 Supreme Blueberry Pancakes” are a breakfast favorite, he said. Later in the day, he will sell a lot of the potato-wrapped salmon and the filet mignon tips sandwich. “We want to complement everyone’s taste buds,” he said. “We don’t hold back on the quantity. You will get a filling meal.”
Cobb opened the Hudson Falls eatery on Dec. 22. So far, he said, “it’s going pretty well.” He is still learning what his customers expect and “how the business flows.”
Cobb had a similar restaurant, with the same name, in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn for about two years. That restaurant is still open and Cobb is doing “a lot of back and forth” while he searches for a responsible manager to take over the day-to-day operation of that restaurant.
Cobb said he “grew up cooking in the kitchen with Mom.” He is from New York City, but describes his wife, Ruth, as a “suburban girl from Chicago” who didn’t like living in the city. They looked around for someplace to move to and “stumbled upon: How about upstate New York?”
They found the vacant courthouse space online. It was formerly the home of the Gavel Grille and needed only modest renovations and some new equipment. For now, he is renting the space but hopes to buy it in the future.
He said that he likes the slower pace of life in Hudson Falls.
“We are kind of adapting,” he said, “I love it.”
Customers include locals coming for morning coffee, breakfast or lunch, as well as people from Saratoga Springs, Queensbury, Glens Falls and other nearby communities eager to try out a new dining spot.
“We’re starting to get a breakfast crowd,” he noted, and then explained, “we serve it all day.”
There are 12 employees, so far, including a baker in its bakery. Plans for a bar are on hold until a liquor license is approved.
Cobb isn’t doing much cooking these days. He has been “trying to keep on top of everything,” being sure that the cooking staff closely follows his recipes and that safety and sanitation standards are carefully observed.
Randy’s Phenomenal Eats is open Sunday through Friday and has food to take out as well as eat-in. Saturdays are reserved for events, the first of which will be a 50th birthday celebration that he will cater. There are also plans for karaoke nights and other community events. The telephone number is 409-4596. Its website is www.myrandys.com.