A new gastropub is coming to the Metro-North Port Chester train station sometime next spring complete, with a beer garden.
The Saw Pit at Port Chester Station is still in the planning stations but when open, it will feature elevated pub fare and pizza along with locally-made beer. It will also feature breakfast and lunch including acai bowls, pastries, coffee and a full menu both for eat-in and grab-and-go.
The in-house brewery, with its own beer brand, will be called Hop Switch Brewery.
The visionaries behind it are a team of longtime industry vets that span both the craft beer and restaurant worlds. Hop Switch, the beer line which will be made nearby (the historic space doesn’t allow room for full brewery operations), will also be available for purchase as well as something marketed to other restaurants and bars.
Randy Kemka and Kent Kolbig, part of the group spearheading the project, live locally and said they’ve always appreciated the beauty of the Metro-North station (Kolbig commutes from there to Manhattan). “It’s a landmark piece of history for us,” he said. “Both of us live a couple miles from the station and are both fans of the place.”
“We’re excited to get it back up and running, restore it to what it was as well as accelerate it.”
“The goal,” added Kemka, “Is to make the restaurant a community hub where you can come in, grab a drink and get good food at a reasonable price.”
This is not the first time the historic station, which dates to 1890, has been turned into a restaurant. Longtime residents may recall the Station House Port Chester and adjacent Village Beer Garden, which operated for eight months in 2018 and focused on coal-fired pizza and an international beer selection. In 2012 it became Heartland Brewery before closing in July 2016.
When open, The Saw Pit would join a variety of eateries in Metro-North stations among them the recently opened Winfield Street Coffee in Rye (which also features cocktails) and LuDY Cafe in Irvington. Other stations with coffee shops and or restaurants include Shea Station in Pelham, BXVL Coffee in Bronxville, Hudson Social in Dobbs Ferry, Bobo’s Cafe in Chappaqua, Modern On The Rails in Mamaroneck, The Central in Peekskill, Railway Cafe in Hawthorne, The Bakehouse of Tarrytown in Tarrytown, The Good Witch Coffee Bar in Hastings, and Winfield Street Coffee in Croton.
“For us,” said Kemka, whose in-laws went to Port Chester High School, the new place “is a nod to the history of the village but also stepping into the future of the village.”
Got food news?
I’m always looking for info on openings and closings, so email leads to JRMuchnick@gannett.com.
Plus, if you want more details on dining and entertainment in the lower Hudson Valley, sign up for my weekly newsletter. It’s free — and often includes behind-the-scenes info I don’t always share in my stories. Sign up at profile.lohud.com/newsletters/manage.
Jeanne Muchnick covers food and dining. Click here for her most recent articles and follow her latest dining adventures on Instagram @jeannemuchnick or via the lohudfood newsletter.
This article originally appeared on Rockland/Westchester Journal News: Port Chester Metro-North station to welcome new restaurant, beer garden
Reporting by Jeanne Muchnick, Rockland/Westchester Journal News / Rockland/Westchester Journal News
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
