Page 22 - Valley Table - Spring 2023

Q au e L o Q u e
Dominican flavors are spicing up Tinker Street. BY FRANCESCA FUREY
t first glance, most assume that the town of Woodstock has a lot going on. And it does. But for some, like Chef
Sam Fernandez, it was missing something. “There’s a lot of Eurocentric food. Every place has a burger, every place has a steak, every place has a kale salad,” says Fernandez, who uses they/them pronouns. “There are all these people—millennials around my age—who are living in Woodstock [and] want something different.”
Fernandez, a first-generation Dominican who grew
up in Queens, worked their way up from dishwasher to cooking at a variety of restaurants including Wolfgang Puck’s CUT in Manhattan. They eventually relocated to Ulster County and led kitchens at The Lodge and PUB in Woodstock. In 2020, Fernandez’s father passed away from complications due to Covid. “I was struggling with my mental health and my life spiraled,” says Fernandez, who decided to take on personal chef work—and hosted occasional Dominican pop-ups at The Rhinecliff Hotel and The Pines in Mount Tremper—but felt uninspired. Early last year, when reflecting on their father’s life, Fernandez began focusing on the fact that there were
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no Caribbean restaurants in Woodstock’s burgeoning culinary scene. They learned from a friend that popular lunch spot Shindig was closing. Owner Ryan Giuliani— who also owns Woodstock Way Hotel—wanted to invest in a new concept. The two connected and did a few trial runs of serving Dominican fare in Shindig’s kitchen. And to their surprise, people went “crazy.”
After two weeks of overwhelming support, Fernandez and Giuliani knew they were on to something good. Enter Que Lo Que: once an unnamed pop-up that, since last July, is a full-fledged establishment on Tinker Street. (Que Lo Que is Dominican slang for “what’s going on?” as well as a term of endearment symbolizing kinship in the region’s growing Dominican community.)
Dominican food is influenced by the cuisines of North Africa, the Middle East, and other Caribbean islands. “It’s a flavor bomb,” says Fernandez. The Que Lo Que menu is split into four sections: empanadas, fresco (fresh), lados (sides), and platos (main dishes). The best-selling empanada is the pollo guisado—the filling is stewed, shredded, and spiced chicken and potato. “People go insane for it. It’s just ridiculous. One person literally
PHOTOS BY MATT PETRICONE
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