Krazy Kate’s Landmark Inn opened on December 11, 2009. They had a long road ahead of them when plans set sail in January of 2009 to begin work on the concept; the end result bringing together many local contractors, Executive Chef Logan Ronkainen from Michigan, Sous Chef Brendan Binder from California and an owner Dushan Amchin of Hungarian background.

Dushan Amchin moved from New York City to Ulster County in April of 2009. After an incredible amount of research on the area, its people and general demographics she decided to set her sights on opening a restaurant and café in the Shokan area. Her original concept was to be a lunch and breakfast place that would have an attached cyber café and news lounge and serve dinner on weekends. Due to unforeseen issues with the desired location, Dushan was forced to look elsewhere.

After looking into restaurant locations in Woodstock and the Shokan area Dushan couldn’t find anything that had the right feel to it. Though one Sunday after having brunch at Sweet Sue’s in Phoenicia with her daughters and friends they were on the way home when she spotted a “FOR RENT” sign on the Landmark Inn in Boiceville, NY. She promptly met with the landlords and peaked inside and finally decided on her location for her venture.

Boiceville is located on Route 28 which stands as a major roadway for the Catskill Mountains. Many people who work and live in New York City have second homes in the area, or at least visit for skiing and other outdoor activities.

The new location, layout of the dining room, presence of a bar and size of the kitchen all warranted a change in Dushan’s original concept. She envisioned white tablecloths, a happening bar with artisanal beers and award-winning wines, New American cuisine with fun flavorful food and small plate bar snacks, and most importantly a revival of the “historic” Landmark Inn that once served as an institution for locals, skiers and tourists passing through. Thus the concept of Krazy Kate’s Landmark Inn was born as a restaurant and bar, serving dinner and lunch six days a week and brunch on Sundays.

The name of the restaurant pays tribute to Dushan’s mother, who passed away just last year around Christmas time. “I wanted to name the restaurant in my mother’s memory but also create something fun and easy to remember. I also wanted to keep the ‘Landmark Inn’ as part of the name to pay our respect to Jon and Diane Klippel who still own the building. It is kind of nostalgic for them as Jon’s parents ran the old Landmark Inn which used to be the local hot spot for food and drinks back in its day,” Dushan explains.

The building was completely gutted: walls, ceilings and kitchen; everything except for the old cherry wood bar, wood flooring and a few pieces of art. Maria Mendoza of Marigold Home took on the interior design project. Local contractors were brought in to completely renovate every room. The layout was changed only slightly to encourage better restaurant flow while the colors, lighting and wallpapers were changed dramatically to truly revive the over 80 year old building.

Dushan attended the Food and Wine Festival in Rhinebeck, NY in September to get some ideas for products to use in the restaurant. She stumbled upon a booth that was providing samples of their olive oils and aged balsamic and met Logan Ronkainen, who, at the time, was trying to sell her some vinegars! Without much time to spare in the midst of a crowd of people wanting to sample the booth’s products, Dushan mentioned that she was looking for a chef for her restaurant. Logan jumped at the opportunity with a quick exchange of phone numbers written on the back of someone else’s business card. It was only a matter of days before Dushan made the phone call to set up a cooking interview with Logan to make sure his style of cooking fit her vision.

Logan prepared a four course meal featuring some of his favorite foods and cooking methods. He started the dinner off with a taster of a Crostini with Pickled Red Onions, Fresh Goat Cheese and a Savory Balsamic Drizzle. The second course was Bourbon Braised Pork Belly with a Jambalaya Inspired Cajun Congee followed by Chipotle-Citrus Glazed Salmon served with Lentils, Farm-Fresh Corn and Asparagus Tips. Dessert was a simple Lemon Bar garnished with a touch of powdered sugar. Dushan was immediately hooked and knew that Logan was a perfect fit for the restaurant.

Logan started working in restaurants as a dishwasher at the Library Restaurant & Brew Pub in Houghton; a small town within the Keweenaw Peninsula in Upper Michigan. While studying to be a Business Major at Michigan Technological University he worked his way up to Assistant Manager of the kitchen as well as helping out with new menu concepts, bartending, serving and training new employees. He fell in love with restaurants and slowly leaned towards making it a career. He finally looked up culinary schools and decided upon The Culinary Institute of America in Hyde Park, NY.

With everything Logan owned packed into his car he moved out to start school in May of 2007. His externship took him to Park City, UT in early 2008 to work under the Bill White Restaurant Group with Executive Chef Alex Malmborg (former Sous Chef for Ming Tsai) at Grappa; a fine dining Italian restaurant on the main street. Arriving in Park City during the Sundance Film festival, the busiest time of the year for the restaurant group, Logan was thrown into the fray and quickly worked his way up through the ranks of the kitchen becoming an integral part of the team. It wasn’t long before he was creating specials and tasters under the supervision of Chef Malmborg. Logan returned to the Culinary Institute after his externship with a new sense of passion and persistence for becoming a chef.

The last few months of Logan’s time spent at the institute was absorbing as much information as he could from the professors that the school had to offer. From wines and spirits to menu development classes on top of the fundamental building blocks of French, Asian, American and Mediterranean cooking classes. Professor Vincenzo Lauria of Caterina De Medici (Italian Restaurant at the C.I.A.) played a big part in Logan’s front of house training including food and wine pairing, cocktail service, guest etiquette and how to organize, train and run a near-perfect dining room. Logan graduated February 6th, 2009. Following his graduation he executed a few summer catering events with one of his former classmates and continued his education through real world experience at some of the Hudson Valley’s restaurants.

Starting in October of 2009 Logan began work on designing the menu for Krazy Kate’s as well as the planning and construction of the kitchen. Building the kitchen was one of the longest running projects in the birth of the restaurant. It took many days of planning and precise equipment specifications to put together a kitchen that could handle the menu design and concept.

Brendan Binder was brought in from San Diego, CA as the Sous Chef. Brendan had attended school with Logan, graduating merely a couple months afterwards. He too, comes from a similar culinary background. He grew up in a family of 7 with a mother who collected cook books. At a young age he began helping his mother out with dinners. Before long he was experimenting with recipes and creating dishes of his own. He trained under a butcher in Santa Cruz before his parents recommended the Culinary Institute to him. He moved back home to San Diego to work at a restaurant that his sister managed to meet the requirements of the C.I.A., which requires 6 months of real world experience.

In May of 2007 Brendan stepped foot on the Culinary Institute’s campus where, on his first day, he met Logan; neither of them knowing that three years from then they’d end up running a kitchen together! His externship took him to Seattle, WA to Café Campagne where he trained under Chef Daisly Gordon. He graduated in May of 2009 and went home to San Diego to work as a School Chef preparing nutritional meals for children ages six weeks to five years old, only to return to the Hudson Valley within a few months in time for winter to take on the Sous Chef position.

Now, merely two months after opening, Krazy Kate’s Landmark Inn has already established a regular crowd. Guests only leave happy and satisfied and have returned to sample the rest of the menu. “The [Balsamic Marinated Hangar Steak] was perfect. Even better than Peter Luger,” one guest expressed after finishing his entrée. The Madagascar Vanilla Bean Ice Cream along with other house made ice cream flavors has already been deemed “famous”.

“Our menu features fun American Cuisine pulling in many quality local products to put together our menu,” Logan states as he continues to elaborate on his menu, “We are vegan and vegetarian friendly as well, as we do not use animal products unnecessarily in dishes that don’t need it. You will find many restaurants putting chicken or beef stock into almost everything even if it doesn’t belong there. We are very conscious about what ingredients go into our food and I try to keep things as consistent and simple as possible. I utilize cooking techniques to imbue the most amount of flavor into our dishes.” Some examples of their vegan dishes include a house-made veggie burger, butternut squash soup, smoked chili (with the option of having beef or tofu) and many other sides and entrees.

A liquor license has just arrived, and the restaurant features an all-American wine list. They have selected a wide range of varietals from the locations where they grow the best in the states; such as Pinot Grigio from Oregon, Chardonnay from California, Rieslings from the Finger Lakes and Cabernet Sauvignon from Long Island.

Krazy Kate's Landmark Inn is located at 4072 State Route 28 in Boiceville. They are open for lunch and dinner every day except Wednesday. For more information, call 845 657 8777 or visit www.krazykateslandmarkinn.com