Page 37 - The Valley Table - Winter 2022

Phoenicia Diner
If you try just one menu item
at the Phoenicia Diner, let
it be the pancakes. “People drive hours out of their way for our pancakes,” says General Manager Courtney Malsatzki of their elevated breakfast basic, which comes in both buttermilk and buckwheat varieties. “I’ve worked at a lot of restaurants all over the United States and I’ve never had a pancake as good as ours.”
Situated deep in the Catskills, the Phoenicia Diner was originally built in 1962 on Long Island and was relocated to Phoenicia in the early 1980s.
In 2012, Michael Cioffi, who had a weekend house in Margaretville, purchased the space and revamped the menu with an emphasis on breakfast. (Their skillets—eggs fried up with fixings like trout, chorizo, or grass-fed brisket—are also a fan favorite.)
All the sauces and dressings are homemade, and the potatoes are hand cut (which takes 40 hours a week!). The diner also serves a standout lunch, and we suggest you order a burger—the beef is sourced from Highland Hollow in Schoharie—topped simply with lettuce and tomato or make it more interesting with pimento cheese and bacon. The perfect accompaniment (beside fries of course) is their signature bourbon milkshake, made with Taconic Bourbon.
Phoenicia; 845.688.9957; phoeniciadiner.com
PHOTO BY K. TRAGESER dec 2021 – feb 2022 valleytable.com 35