Port Jervis eatery fans out southern flair

By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH

PORT JERVIS, NY — For the past couple years, the cozy restaurant at 17 Front Street has been unveiling its varied tastes in home cooking little by little, and in early February the owners came out with their most extensive assortment of southern-style cuisine ever.

New options like Miss Molly’s North Carolina pulled pork—passed down from co-owner David Lawrence’s mother—and slow-cooked ribs with homemade barbecue sauce have arrived on the menu with a brand new name for the restaurant, Ramblin’ Bear Eatery. Outside is a new life-size hand-carved bear carved by Kevin Ryerson, a Barryville, NY-based woodcarver who works throughout the Upper Delaware River Valley.

“He’s out foraging for goodies,” said co-owner Seth Goldman, a professional chef who was trained at the French Culinary Institute of New York. Goldman and Lawrence also own the Bear Ramble Farm in Godeffroy, NY, just a few miles up Route 209.

Since they made the change in February, they’ve been getting steadily busier, said Debra Markowitz, the eatery’s third co-owner.

“People have liked what we’re doing. It’s been overwhelmingly positive,” she said.

Ramblin’ Bear’s devotees won’t be disappointed either, for favorites like pistachio-crusted shrimp and sausage and dried fruit-stuffed pork chops with apple brandy sauce remain on the new menu.

The eatery serves breakfast lunch and dinner. New lunch options include “Po’ Boys,” New Orleans sandwiches on 10-inch hero bread with outlandish filler options like fried oyster, catfish, southern-style pulled pork and barbecue chicken breast. The Growl Burger is stuffed with cheddar cheese and chopped garlic and served on an English muffin.

Creating new specials every evening for dinner is chef David Driscoll of Port Jervis.

Everything is made from scratch, a standard born out of a shared love for cooking among the owners.

“I’ve just always loved cooking. I read cook books like others read novels,” Markowitz said. In the past she lived in Norway, working for a chef who taught her about the country’s national love affair with apple cake.

“In Norway apple cake is as popular as apple pie is here,” Markowitz said. “Every place in Norway that has food has apple cake.” And on the menu is Driscoll’s Mormor’s Norwegian Apple Cake, made with layers of apple rosettes.

“Mormor,” she said, is Norwegian for “grandmother.”

“The most brilliant apple cake was made by the chef I worked for. It was her grandmother’s recipe,” Markowitz said. Hence, the name.

Many of their customers come from Port Jervis, and others from nearby Milford, PA and Dingmans Ferry. They see a lot of families with kids, which pleases Markowirz, who has three children of her own. She said many old Victorian houses in Port Jervis that were previously partitioned into apartment buildings with six to seven units are being restored as single-family homes, and she hopes the trend continues.

Brunch is served Saturday and Sunday from 8:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. For information call 845/856-3377.