Main Street’s fiber to lose Big Eddy Diner

Comparable restaurant is in the offing

By CHARLIE BUTERBAUGH

NARROWSBURG, NY — Dave’s Big Eddy Diner will soon retire into Narrowsburg’s history. David and Sue Cole will leave the restaurant at 40 Main Street in little more than two weeks.

Named after the Delaware River eddy that laps against steep banks below Main Street, the diner has served Narrowsburg as a retail anchor since it opened in the fall of 1999. With a menu and atmosphere somewhere between folksy and refined, chef David Cole has attracted people to dine and then linger amid the hamlet’s shops and galleries. On any given day, Cole could easily capture both extremes, preparing perfectly delicious breakfasts and lunches or dinners served on candlelit white tablecloths.

For some patrons, it might be difficult to think of Narrowsburg without “Dave’s.” The restaurant and Main Street have blended long enough to make them seem nearly inseparable.

“I hate to see him go,” said Jill Padua, owner of Jill’s Kitchen in Narrowsburg.

“It’s an asset to Main Street, which can’t afford a negative impact at this time,” said Narrowsburg resident Norman Meyer. “There’s always that intrepidation about change. Hopefully they try to keep the style.”

Owner Stanley Harper, who plans to take over as managing chef, said Narrowsburg would still have a small-town diner once he opens his new restaurant, Main Street Café.

“We have no intention of raising the menu prices or changing the concept,” Harper said, adding, “What isn’t going to change is the meaning the place has had since the 1960s.”

The space, cozily tucked inside the first level of the historic John S. Anderson building, has been home to several restaurants over the past 40 years. In the 1960s, Marty Criston and Bernie Creamer operated the C & C Pizza Parlor there. Pat and Richie Lyons ran a restaurant into the early 1980s, when Chick and Margaret Smith took over the lease and opened the Midtown Café. In 1988, Padua opened the Chatterbox Café. She reconceived the restaurant’s role in Narrowsburg, offering vegetarian, Mexican, Indian and other international dishes and hosting live music on Friday nights.

“She made it a bridge between two communities, serving good diner food and higher-end specials,” Harper said.

Jim and Jan Sayre bought the business in 1991, and then in 1998, Harper and Michael Eurey bought the Anderson building with plans to restore and renovate it and eventually open their own restaurant. Then Eurey and Harper, both career chefs, accepted a job in Sun Valley, Idaho, which lasted five years.

“The reason we were there [in Sun Valley] was to continue investing in Narrowsburg,” Harper said. The partners used the proceeds from their work to continue fixing up the building, which, now complete and fully occupied, is called Narrowsburg Storefronts.

Once the Sayres’ lease expired, Eurey and Harper went to their friends, the Coles, and offered them the chance to open a restaurant.

“It was a gift. We did it because people in my life had helped me,” Harper said.

Before accepting the offer, Cole had built up a following while cooking for the Beach Lake Hotel, the Narrowsburg Inn and The Settler’s Inn in Hawley, PA.

In the 1980s, he trained at JS Restaurant in Soho, New York City. “That’s where I learned most of what I know today,” he said. Cole then worked at Kenny’s Castaways, a NYC rock club, where he met his wife, Sue.

Dave’s became a success as well as a long-time source of frustration for Eurey and Harper.

“Main Street suffers because we don’t have an eating establishment that’s open seven days a week,” said Eurey, owner of Narrowsburg Fine Wines and Spirits. The diner was open for breakfast and lunch from Wednesday through Sunday, and for dinner on Fridays and Saturdays.

When the Coles’ five-year lease expired last October, Harper asked them to expand their hours to include 15 Mondays during the height of the tourism season in the Upper Delaware Valley, but they were not willing to accept the extra commitment. At that point, Harper provided a month-to-month lease.

Last week, he sent a letter notifying the Coles that the lease would be terminated, effective September 15. There are several reasons for Harper’s decision, one of them being his desire to expand hours of operation at the restaurant in order to increase traffic on Main Street.

“We just want the town to move forward. Not for the weekenders, but for the people who live here and who operate businesses on Main Street,” he said.

While he hasn’t always agreed with Cole’s business decisions, Harper said, “My tribute to Dave is first to his hard work. I admire him for following through.”

Lava, NY resident Joe Clune eats breakfast and lunch at Dave’s every day it’s open. “I’m gonna miss it. The food is good. It’s comfortable,” Clune said, adding, “As a person, you couldn’t ask for a nicer guy than Dave. All that adds to the feeling you have for the place.”

As the owner and operator of the new restaurant, Harper said he will prepare breakfast, lunch and dinner seven days a week. Dave’s will close after serving breakfast and lunch on Sunday, September 11. Cole said he doesn’t yet know what he’ll do next. His fans who wish to follow him to his next venue can sign a guest book at the diner before it closes.