Business Profile: Hudson Fare, Shrub Oak
Photo credit: Neal Rentz
Mohegan Lake resident Alex Arrieta has shopped with his family at the Jefferson Valley Mall in Shrub Oak for years.
“Every time we came to the mall we realized that there weren’t a lot of food options we thought were healthy for the kids and even for ourselves,” Arrieta said last week.
Arietta and his partners did something about it. They opened Hudson Fare in the mall’s food court about six months ago. The idea was to create an eatery featuring more nutritious food than typically found in malls.
Hudson Fare offers “a wider array of options for growing families,” said Arietta, the founder of the establishment.
Arietta owns the restaurant with his fellow partners Tarrytown resident Kevin Mozdiak and Mohegan Lake resident Vincent Dellamonica. Arietta’s wife, Laura, is the manager.
There have been many recent news reports about the negative health effects of preservatives, colorings and other items put in foods on both children and adults, Arietta said. His new eatery offers foods that are “healthier, while still being able to output food options that we’re very familiar with.”
Hudson Fare offers made-to-order chicken, beef burgers, turkey burgers, grilled chicken, slow roasted pulled pork that cooks for about 12 hours, vegetables and panko bread crumb-crusted fried cod as sandwiches or wraps or part of platters. It also offers salads and a variety of beverages, including smoothies and raw juices.
“Unlike any other restaurant that we have ever seen, and we may be exclusive, the only restaurant in the United States, that uses rice bran oil exclusively,” Arietta explained. “It has zero trans fats. It has tons of Vitamin E. It contains anti-oxidants.”
Hudson Fare has a varied menu “that really mimics and mirrored a lot of the different cultures that we have in the Hudson Valley,” Arietta said.
“The most popular item on our menu is our fresh herb grilled chicken sandwich,” Arietta said. “We use free range chicken and it’s marinated in fresh herbs and vegetables that we prepare in-house. We clean, portion and prepare the chicken. It does not come prepackaged, pre-flavored. So we do everything from scratch.”
The eatery offers burgers because “we knew it was a product that people wanted,” Arietta said. “So we set out to build the best burger possible.” Beef burgers feature “a prime beef blend,” he said. “We have different variations and we’re constantly looking to our customers for input. We’re constantly scouring gourmet magazines to try to make sure we stay on the cutting edge of food products. So we’re really proud of what we put together at this point.”
“Part of the concept of Hudson Fare obviously deals with the Hudson Valley and the Hudson River,” Arietta said. “The Hudson River is really a national treasure and was one of the main key components in helping westward expansion and really the Industrial Revolution in the early stages of this country.”
Hudson Fare is not the first business Arietta has owned. Previously, he operated a construction contracting business. Before he opened his contracting business Arietta was a photographer whose experience included taking the photos for “The New York Restaurant Cookbook” for the New York City Tourism Board.
“That sort of planted the seed. It gave a lot of inspiration to what we see now,” Arietta said. “We wanted to bring full service restaurant quality foods to a quick food environment.”
Hudson Fare is located in the Jefferson Valley Mall in Shrub Oak in the food court. For more information, call 914-469-0140, visit hudson-fare.com or send an e-mail to www.hudsonfaremarket@gmail.com.
