At a time when British pubs are struggling, Mount Kisco’s new Ambleside Pub is drawing a lot of attention.
Given its long gestation period and a significantly long labor, there can’t be an expat Brit or pub-o-phile in a radius of 50 miles of the village who hasn’t been expectantly awaiting the opening.
The folks behind it are the local Anglo-American couple Drew and Leigh Hodgson. It’s been three years since they opened The Hamlet, the British goods store, also in Mount Kisco, with their friends Mike and Karen Ransom, and an authentic British pub seemed the logical next enterprise.
I say “authentic” because like “bistro,” “brasserie” or “bodega,” the term “pub” has become somewhat bastardized. But the Ambleside’s website has the answer to the question, “What is a pub?” It’s short for “public house,” or community center. It continues: “On most days a pub is filled with folks from the neighborhood, who refer to it as their ‘local’ (or ‘boozer.’”) At the Ambleside – named for the scenic Lake District village near where Drew Hodgson grew up – the aim is to bring this tradition to Mount Kisco, offering a place for locals, travelers and expats to gather, relax and make new friends.
Inside the door, I found the open-plan main floor, significantly larger than I was expecting, with deep-buttoned banquettes along two walls and a smattering of circular high and low tables, with padded stools taking up the rest of the space. I particularly liked the dark wooden floors, a great improvement on the nasty, beer-ingrained, patterned and desperately unhygienic carpets you can still find in some “authentic” U.K. country pubs. An eclectic collection of knickknacks, old prints, including prints of pubs, maps and views of the Lake District all add to the atmosphere, and the naturally friendly staff makes this a cheerful, unthreatening place to relax.
The bar itself is fairly compact but, as it says in the website notes on pubs and pub etiquette, the bar is where you stand and chat rather than somewhere you sit. It’s also where you order your drinks and – where applicable – your food, which is subsequently brought to your table by a server.
The bar itself runs the gamut of liquors, with an especially good line in Scotch whiskey. (Ambleside is only an hour from the Scottish border.) I was also tickled to see Pimm’s No. 1 Cup, the quintessentially English summer drink. That’s before you even get to the long list of beers by the bottle or on tap, which includes Ambleside Best Bitter; Old Glenham Guest (from the British-owned Old Glenham Brewery in Dutchess County); Guinness – of course – and Sloop West Coast IPA, should you be looking for a premium pale ale. Hardscrabble traditional British dry cider makes a great alternative to beer in the summer months. Be aware that draft beers are served in 20-ounce imperial pints and 10-ounce half pints.
As for the food, it’s a nostalgic throwback to the pubs of yesterday, Cornish pasties (a kind of pie); sausage rolls; Scotch eggs (hard-boiled eggs encased in sausage meat and then fried); bangers and mash (sausages and mashed potatoes); and, of course, fish and chips. It’s a great menu, even if these days, most pubs – well, those in London, certainly – are more likely to be offering avo toast and poke bowls than a plate of cod and chips.
The cheese and onion pasty I ordered at Ambleside, by the way, was superb – gorgeous melting cheese and potato, like a Swiss raclette, in the lightest, flakiest pastry case. And at a neighboring table, two customers proclaimed their steak and ale pie, a special of the day, “heroic.” There were top marks, too, for wonderful “nursery” desserts, including a “99” in a bowl – a riff on the English treat of vanilla ice cream in a cornet, speared with a Cadbury’s chocolate Flake (a famous English candy bar). And although I didn’t try it for myself, my neighbor’s description of his sticky toffee pudding as a “no-brainer” spoke volumes.
Music is 1970s and ’80s rock and leans towards heavy-ish metal. That’s thanks to co-owner Drew, who loves his U.K. bands. (You can check out his for-sale vinyl collection at The Hamlet nearby, where LPs are housed in an old bank vault and where you also find foodstuff like Cadbury’s chocolate, British books, royal tea towels and such.)
I also appreciated being asked how I was enjoying the food, as the English bartender made a round of the tables. In a traditional, unreconstructed English pub, as opposed to a trendy “gastropub,” I don’t think anybody would ever ask whether you were enjoying the food, or indeed anything else.
The Ambleside is a treasure of its own – a welcome addition to the sophisticated Mount Kisco dining scene and certainly the equal of many of its cousins across the Pond.
For more, visit theamblesidepub.com.
