Posted by Erin Dillon
Beverly's Café, a gem of a restaurant nestled at 47 Phila Street, has been serving Saratogians breakfast for more than 20 years.
Beverly Reedy opened a specialty foods store and café in 1989. Though both were initially successful, within a decade, competition from other local specialty shops caused the café component of Beverly's to thrive instead.
Michael Bowman, Reedy's son, joined the team in 1999 and now owns the restaurant.
Beverly's is known for making the best breakfast around. Bowman's personal favorite is the Eggs Benedict.
The café also has a variety of fresh pastries baked by Beverly herself. Bowman emphasized the mission is to provide "a place in town where you can get a good, home-cooked breakfast for cheap."
Largely because of the reasonable prices and hearty food, Beverly's draws in quite a few Skidmore students.
There is even a breakfast named "The Skiddie," consisting of three pancakes, three eggs, home fries and breakfast meat. What hungry college student could turn that down?
Although Beverly's serves breakfast all day, the café also offers lunch items: sandwiches, wraps, soups and salads with homemade dressings.
Go ahead, order that stack of Pineapple Coconut Pancakes with your Curried Chicken and Apple Salad.
And why not top it all off with dinner? Beverly's now serves dinner from 5 - 9 p.m. Tuesday through Saturday, in addition to its usual 8 a.m. – 3 p.m. hours.
The restaurant itself is pleasant and welcoming. "It's very casual; people come to catch up," Bowman said.
Despite the relaxed atmosphere, Beverly's dinners have a sophisticated, gourmet appeal. Chef Robert Cone designs a new dinner menu weekly.
Cone studied at the New England Culinary Institute and has worked everywhere from Nantucket to Los Angeles. Bowman is excited to have Cone as his chef and hopes he will "take Bev's to the next [level]."
The staff at Beverly's tries to use as many local, fresh ingredients as possible. When crafting each week's menu, Cone starts with the protein element then chooses sides to complement it.
The dishes, ranging from Blackened Hanger steak to Stuffed Shrimp with Crab and Goat Cheese, are surprisingly elaborate for Beverly's setting and exemplify Cone's expertise as a chef.
I ordered the cilantro lime-glazed quail, char-grilled. The quail, risotto cake and burgundy mushrooms were artistically plated and absolutely delicious, as was the appetizer: local dipping breads, hummus and refreshing green beans and red peppers.
Cone also whipped up a fabulous Banana Foster, which my hot date (Photo Editor Maddie Pelz) and I ravenously consumed, along with a cupcake freshly made by Beverly.
Beverly also has a cookbook, "Beverly's Best," for sale at the café. It includes recipes for her Wunderbar baked goods and countless other dishes served at the restaurant.
Robert, Beverly and Michael were very hospitable and fed us well. Maddie and I ate an embarrassingly large amount of food, but it was just so good we could not help ourselves.
The staff is fine with you grabbing a bottle of wine from the market down the street and enjoying it with your meal.
They also will not judge you for eating a carrot cupcake after you have already had dessert.
The café will be accepting Skidcards by mid-February. Bowman is looking to make Skidmore students happy and "give kids an alternative to dining hall pizza."
So get to Beverly's Café for a delectable meal whether it is a Tex-Mex burrito or scallops or shrimp!
Beverly's aims to please.