If you’ve only just discovered downtown Rosendale in recent years, you might think of the storefront of 407 Main Street simply as the site of the Alternative Baker. If you didn’t linger to consume your comestibles on-site, you might never have noticed that there’s an enormous old wooden bar in the side room.
That bar is nearly a century old now, and it’s imbued with local tippling history: As the Well, it was founded circa 1930 by a man named Jack Daley. Forty years later, the legendary “Uncle Willy” Guldy took it over and transformed it from a “redneck bar” (Guldy’s words) into a hippie hangout and rock ‘n’ roll club that brought in some famous names, including members of the Band and Hot Tuna. Wild tales about the Well still abound among old-time Rosendalers, including one infamous instance when police raided the place and came back to their cars to find that some rebellious local(s) had let the air out of all their tires.
The Well closed in 1976. Guldy went on to open the Astoria Hotel up the block, found the Rosendale Street Festival, run a very small-scale presidential campaign, become an unofficial mascot for the New York Yankees and show up at every Kingston parade and Artists’ Soapbox Derby for decades in his signature wild outfits. Eventually, in partnership with Joe Misasi, he opened a bar called Uncle Willy’s in Uptown Kingston. He died last June at the age of 85.
Meanwhile, the former Well has lain dormant, except as a quiet place to sit and enjoy one of baker Essell Hoenshell-Watson’s famous lemon cakes. But its time for a revival as a watering hole has come at last: It is now the home of a slightly classier establishment that pays homage to its history with the new name the Well Nice Wine Bar. Its mission, according to Zoe Wilkins, co-owner with Joe Barron, is to be “not sleek, not polished, but a small-town bar providing an elevated wine experience… It’s meant to be as casual as a wine bar can be — not pretentious.”
You wouldn’t guess it from her speech, but Wilkins is English by birth. Moving to rural Maine with her father 20 years ago, she “worked very hard to develop a US accent” after being teased by her high school classmates. “I started working in restaurants at 13,” she says, and continued doing so while attending college in Boston. After graduating she found a job at a high-end restaurant called the Butcher Shop, along with a mentor who opened up the world of oenophilia to her. “The wine director of the company I was working for was very thoughtful and generous with her knowledge,” she recalls.
Says Wilkins, “Wine’s very complex. It changes with every season and every country. It’s a great field of interest for people who love to be challenged — to do something different every day. Often I take a sip of wine and feel very humbled by it.”
It was in 2018 that Wilkins became acquainted with Barron, a fellow sommelier at a wine bar in TriBeCa. A Michigan native, he began working in restaurants in high school. “I made my first foray into wine bars after college in Pennsylvania. I moved to Philadelphia and found a robust wine education program that really piqued my interest,” he recounts. He then spent a few years teaching English in Europe, touring its wine-producing regions, before returning to the US. A job in an “Old World butchery in Los Angeles set me on the path to being a chef.” Then he tried being a cheesemonger in LA and New York, moving to Jasper Hill Farm in Vermont for a while to learn the art of cheesemaking, before returning to the chef’s trade in Manhattan and meeting Wilkins.
Opening a wine bar of their own, where the eclectic selection would pair well with Barron’s culinary creations, was a dream long in the making for the couple, who got married right around the time the Alternative Baker closed up shop last summer. “We both love wine, and wanted to provide a place that celebrates it,” says Barron.
Ending up in Ulster County was a matter of “happenstance,” thanks to a friend living in Dutchess County who urged them to relocate to the Hudson Valley. “Our friend Max sold us very aggressively on being up here,” Wilkins explains. “We started looking in Kingston at first.” But a summertime jaunt to Rosendale quickly engaged their affection for the quirky downtown with its gritty blue-collar industrial history and more recent artsy vibe anchored by the not-for-profit Rosendale Theatre. Barron took note of the growth of “cute little independent businesses” on Main Street, while Wilkins found herself impressed by “how proud of Rosendale Rosendalians are.” When the bakery space with adjoining bar came on the market, they knew they’d found what they were looking for: a likely spot to nurture a sense of community.
Barron didn’t need to make many changes to the well-equipped bakery kitchen, but they’ve done a fair bit of renovating both before and since Well Nice’s opening on December 18. The little-used bar room got some sprucing up while preserving its historic ambience, such as the gorgeous pressed-tin ceiling. Worn vinyl flooring was ripped up to expose the original hardwood; they installed some new light fixtures and put up fresh wallpaper in a charming pattern that suits the building’s era. Currently the bar is the focal point, with a few tables clustered around it, while the new owners overhaul what used to be the bakery’s reception area. That will soon become the main dining room, with six to eight additional tables plus some couches and armchairs, according to Barron.
Dining options at Well Nice lean toward small plates, with an emphasis on food that’s “nostalgic and cozy,” says Wilkins. “All the dishes are based on things we ate as kids.” The ever-changing menu includes traditional English comfort foods such as chip butties and kedgeree, but she also has Polish ancestors on her mother’s side, while Barron’s family came to the Midwest from Hungary. Thus, on any given day you’ll find some creative variations on pierogi being offered, along with other Eastern European dishes such as a paprikash version of chicken pot pie.
Eastern European wines are also heavily featured on the wine list, along with New York State wines, although the selection is international and full of unusual choices. Wilkins explains that, while their ideal would be to have 100 different wine varieties open for pouring at once, the economics of being a small-town establishment make that unsustainable. So, they have come up with an intriguing policy of how to sell wine: Put a selection of already-opened, by-the-glass choices on the menu each day, with prices ranging from $13 to $18 per pour. Then, in addition, let customers open any bottle they wish from the full wine list if they commit to buying two glasses, at half the price of the bottle. (Full bottles range in price from $40 to $140.) If their party decides not to finish the bottle, what’s left goes up on the menu board until it’s gone.
Thus, on any night you visit, you’ll find a huge array of “specials” that are available briefly and then replaced by others. “It’s a chance to learn about wines and try a lot of them,” says Barron. “You get a little bit of education in a really comfortable environment,” Wilkins adds. More formal educational options are coming soon, as Wilkins is looking forward to offering “lots and lots of wine classes — hopefully by summer. It’ll be our next project after finishing the dining room.”
At present, Well Nice Wine Bar is open from 4:30 to 9:30 p.m. Wednesdays through Saturdays. Trivia Night happens at 6:30 p.m. every second and fourth Thursday of the month. On a recent Saturday evening it was packed, mostly with locals, and seems to be well on its way to achieving Wilkins and Barron’s dream of becoming a neighborhood hangout. You can get a look at a sample menu and wine list at www.wellnicewinebar.com and photos of food specials at www.instagram.com/wellnicewinebar; but to know what today’s adventure will really be, you need to show up in person.
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