They’re heading for the hills.
Big Apple business owners are fleeing for the bridges and tunnels in search of a better life upstate — taking their unique talents to the charming towns of the Hudson Valley and Catskills.
The trend toward city-weary New Yorkers moving up the Hudson River in search of greener pastures gathered real steam during Covid, and has shown no sign of reversing, according to area real estate insiders.
More and more, that growing population — estimated to have swelled the regional ranks by well over 100,000 new residents in the Covid-years alone, according to reports — appears to include some of Gotham’s most go-getter entrepreneurs. And they’re finding themselves warmly welcomed by locals both old and new.
“It’s amazing how many people I see from the city; they’re like ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe you’re here!’” veteran NYC restaurateur Daniel Cipriani told The Post. Last winter he opened up Dandies, a modern BBQ joint in the mountaintop ski town of Windham.
The marine-turned-chef — no relation to those other, famous culinary Ciprianis — made his name at the popular Brooklyn restaurant Sea Wolf, which Vogue once called the “epicenter of the hipster universe.”
Now, he’s gone from the city to the sticks.
“Post-COVID, it just made sense to go ‘all in’ on Upstate,” said Cipriani.
“There are so many more people coming up here, from visitors to full-time and weekend residents, who all appreciate good food,” he said.
Open for business on the property of Windham’s rustic Eastwind Hotel since last winter (Cipriani also co-founded the mini-hotel chain and serves as its F&B director), Dandies doles out platters piled high with pulled pork, smoked brisket, and succulent chicken.
“We’re smoking it all in a 333-gallon smoker we drove here from Texas,” said Cipriani, noting that he’s recently been firing it up, using dried cherrywood from trees downed during a storm.
Along with sides like apple cabbage slaw and creamy mac n’ cheese, the elevated ‘cue is served al fresco on picnic tables with mountain views, or inside a Scandi-inspired glasshouse built from scratch for the operation.
Dandies is a part of a growing number of Windham businesses with links to NYC and elsewhere gaining a national profile — among them the nearby Wylder resort (which a Travel + Leisure reader survey previously named one of the best in the US) and its on-location restaurant and bakery Babbler’s.
The demand for new venues has been keeping real estate brokers hopping.
“It’s just been snowballing, Nicole Vidor, owner of Nicole Vidor Real Estate in the fashionable town of Hudson, across the river, told The Post.
She’s been in the business and in the region for nearly 20 years — and even after the boom years that began in 2020, she’s been impressed by the recent uptick in interest.
“There is amazing demand from all over — people are even coming here from California,” she said.
In office after office across the valley and throughout the mountains, the story seems to be the same.
“The past couple of weeks are the busiest we’ve been in four years,” one industry vet in the region told The Post — asking not to be named.
And while the pace of life may indeed be slower up here, don’t be fooled, Cipriani said. Operating a business outside of the city is “equally difficult — but for all different reasons.”
“In the city, you have regularity issues, the volume, and all of the other craziness you have to deal with,” he explained.
“In the Catskills, all of those things are easier, even something as simple as construction. But up here, the hard stuff can be staffing and getting all the stuff you need shipped in,” he said.
“It’s the hardest business in the world,” he said of running a restaurant, even in an idyllic spot like Windham. “But it’s also the most rewarding if you love it, and I love it.”
Shelter from the storm
Down the mountain in the nearby town of Woodstock, locals are flocking to another Brooklyn restaurant transplant.
Shelter, a sprawling ski-lodge-inspired restaurant which boasted roaring fireplaces that doled out pizza and empanadas, closed up shop in Williamsburg in 2023 after a ten-year run — following a rent increase to a whopping $90,000 per month.
“The numbers they were asking for were crazy,” Diego Galarza, who co-founded Shelter with Martin Mazzoni, told The Post, recalling their former perch on N. 7th St.
“We knew we had to move and wanted to bring the same style and concept somewhere else,” said Galarza, a native of Argentina who originally concocted Shelter with Mazzoni in honor of the country’s Andean ski culture.
“We’ve been coming upstate for years and noticed there was a vacancy in a restaurant building,” says Mazzoni of how they settled on the town of Woodstock.
A year-and-a-half after saying bye-bye to the Borough of Churches, they opened Shelter Woodstock — and haven’t looked back since. “Our landlords checked us out and said, ‘This is what the town needs.’”
According to the duo, business is booming — with hungry revelers feasting on menu hallmarks like onion and cheese empanadas, wood-fired pizza topped with arugula, prosciutto and burrata, and red wine-braised pork ribs.
“People always used to come upstate on the weekends, but it’s nothing like now,” Mazzoni said.
“It’s such a mix of people, and when customers we had from the city see we’re here now they’re very, very happy. We really work for the locals and community first, and the tourists come next.”
While the duo echoes Cipriani’s woes about staffing (“In NYC you put up an ad and ten people show up right away, which is not the case here,” says Galarza), they note everything else is easy breezy in the country.
“I’d say it’s super positive and chill,” said Galarza. “It’s relaxing!” added Mazzoni.
“Everybody is nicer here than in the city; it really feels like they want your business to do well,” Mazzoni noted.
“Back in Brooklyn, we can remember one night when the Building, Fire, Health, and Police Departments visited at 9 p.m. on a Saturday night like we were hiding Pablo Escobar,” he joked.
“Here, even the building department is a joy. It’s the same nice lady and she actually remembers your name,” he said.
Upstate in smoke
No town upstate quite feels like a missing NYC neighborhood as much as Hudson — which began gentrifying decades ago and shows no signs of slowing.
Up and down Warren Street and in the nearby side streets, former Big Apple businesses — or branches thereof — are increasingly thick on the ground.
Catering to them in recent years include the likes of Nora Allen — a James Beard semi-finalist whose acclaimed Mel the Bakery, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, has been drawing fans to its new home, hours away from the now-shuttered original.
Crusty loaves of sourdough practically fly off the shelves, while smartly dressed Europeans sit at picnic tables in the front yard, nibbling on high-end breakfast sandwiches, blueberry yuzu shortcake and shishito sweet corn danishes.
Up the street, Williamsburg’s luxe butcher shop Meat Hook opened up a second location on the same street in 2024.
Yet another neighbor is the fourth location of Gotham, the refined weed dispensary and lifestyle store that originated in NYC — and has splashy locations in hot neighborhoods like Chelsea and Brooklyn’s Domino Sugar Refinery.
“It’s so much calmer up here, compared to the city which is of course more frenetic,” Gotham founder Joanne Wilson told The Post.
“It’s been a really nice balance to have something in a different part of New York.”
Along with a curated selection of joints and vapes, Gotham also specializes in artisan home goods like $68 reed diffusers, as well as $60 candles and hand and body wash.
“We thought Hudson would be a great location considering it’s a real growing area and we have a lot of employees and customers up here anyway.”
She, too, says she was embraced with open arms by the community.
“People really want to see these stores and businesses succeed,” Wilson said.
“What’s really lovely is that even when we opened, the Mayor and town came out for a ribbon-cutting ceremony. I wish there were more communities who would open their arms like Hudson has. It’s all been so enjoyable.”
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