Silver Spoon Café, Cold Spring
Jimmy Abdelhady’s mantra has always been trying to get ahead with a tireless work ethic.
The owner of Silver Spoon Café, Abdelhady has been a staple on Cold Spring’s Main Street for more than a decade. Proving that hard work always prevails, Abdelhady is looking forward to taking the next step in his business as he hopes to open a bed and breakfast at his current location.
Vying to expand his café is just another chapter in Abdelhady’s remarkable adventure to America and small business ownership.
Abdelhady came to the United States from Egypt in 1991 after visiting the country several times. Once he arrived, he started at the bottom, working in the hotel business in Dutchess County as a busboy, security guard and waiter.
“I moved step by step,” the friendly Abdelhady said.
During each of those steps, he was looking toward something bigger: opening his own eatery one day. That finally happened in 2005 when he originally leased the building he’s in and then bought it nine years later. He named it Silver Spoon after his late brother, who had a restaurant by the same title before he passed away.
And that hard work continues today, where Abdelhady said he hasn’t taken a day off in three years. And now he’s channeling that hard work into an expansion.
Abdelhady, a Wappinger Falls resident, is working toward turning his restaurant into a cozy bed and breakfast. Currently, he has two apartments in the upstairs of his building and wants to turn that into five hotel rooms. The plan is under review by the village planning board and Abdelhady hopes he can start the transformation so the rooms are ready by tourism season in the spring.
When visitors eat at his restaurant, he always hears how they have to travel up to Fishkill or other places in Dutchess to their hotel rooms. He knows there is certainly a need for more places to stay in the village.
“Just a lot of people come and say ‘we’re looking for a room we’re looking for a room,’” Abdelhady said.
And the food he serves already draws a crowd of folks not looking to stay overnight. He hopes to open a second eatery one day soon.
Abdelhady stressed how great the country he immigrated to has been, calling America “wonderful.” He knows without this country, his dream would not have come true.
“My dream came true,” Abdelhady said. “I’m doing good, I’m doing very good.”
