Coffee, cakes and Peggy McEnroe are Back in the Kitchen

AMENIA — Peggy McEnroe has once again opened her own cafe, this time in Amenia. It’s called, appropriately, Back in the Kitchen. McEnroe was the longtime chef/baker/owner of an eatery on Main Street in Millerton. The Millerton Deli opened 17 years ago, in 1993. The name was changed to Back in the Kitchen in 2001, but two years later, in 2003, her deli (and what was at that time the office of The Millerton News) were sold and became the Irving Farm coffee shop. McEnroe stayed on for two years as a manager for Irving Farm, and began baking cakes, pastries and more for Irving Farm and other businesses including Country Bistro in Salisbury. She has now returned to owning her own business, but this time on Route 343 in Amenia (although she said she will continue to bake for Country Bistro). The new Back in the Kitchen, which opened in January, is on the ground floor of a recently renovated three-story brick building that was most recently home to the Amenia day care center. Claire Houlihan purchased the building in late 2008 and did significant work on it, including repairing water pipes that burst on the day she put in her bid to purchase it.Houlihan said she had always planned to have a cafe in the building (which is now also home to a fresh pasta shop called Pasta di Casa owned by Andrea Salvadore).The problem was, she wasn’t much of a cook. But then she met McEnroe through Millerton attorney Michele Haab.Although McEnroe owns the restaurant, she worked with Houlihan on the decor of the space and the building, which includes antique farm equipment reborn as furniture and enough historic photos of area families and farms to jump-start plenty of conversations.“The style of food is essentially the same [as at the original Back in the Kitchen],” McEnroe said, adding with a smile, “and I’m an even better cook now.”There’s more of an emphasis on local products and ingredients than there was when she last opened a restaurant, she said. “Healthy, farm-fresh classic American” is how she describes the fare, which includes breakfast staples such as bacon and eggs as well as lunch sandwiches that highlight simple but high-quality ingredients.The flank steak sandwich is a popular lunch menu item, along with the fresh-daily soups. Top it off with homemade desserts (which can be special-ordered as birthday cakes, pies and wedding cakes) and excellent coffee (a brand that comes from Chicago, called Intelligentsia, which is receiving rave reviews) and it seems to be a recipe for success.Back in the Kitchen is located on the bottom floor at 3312 Main St. (Route 343) in Amenia. It is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. The phone number is 845-789-1444; a website is currently in the works but for now Back in the Kitchen can be found on Facebook and followed on Twitter (@backnthekitchen, no “i”) for daily specials and updates.