As Springtime looms and the COVID (fingers crossed) subsides, we’re looking forward to more new businesses opening up in or near our town centers and riverbanks. Latest addition is “The Walk In” sandwich and coffee shop, just a bit up the road from downtown Livingston Manor (directly across the street from the Brandenburg Bakery building). Launched this year by Manor newcomers Lily Price and Erin Ellis, Lily describes where they’ve been and why they’re here….
I grew up in Savannah GA and have worked in the hospitality industry all my life. I met Erin through industry friends about 8 years ago after she had moved to Savannah and worked her way up from a salad girl to chef de cuisine of a really wonderful fine dining spot in Savannah – Local 11ten. Erin grew up in the industry as her parents owned and operated multiple restaurants in Bardstown, Kentucky. All 5 of the Ellis kids worked in the family restaurants as soon as they were of age to peel a carrot. Erin’s dad went to the Culinary Institute of America and so did she.
When we started dating after a couple years of knowing each other, I was traveling very intensely and returning to Savannah every so often and told Erin that if we were going to be in a relationship, we had to keep traveling. So we decided to move to Hanoi, Vietnam in 2016 and then to Porto, Portugal in 2017. Erin was opening crew for a few restaurants in Vietnam and I was working in property management. In Portugal, Erin worked at a kick ass restaurant called Flow and I remained in international property management. We found upstate NY after moving back to NYC in late 2017. Our friend and roommate had purchased a home that year in Napanoch, invited us for the weekend, and we left on Sunday having bought our little 500 square foot abode in Loch Sheldrake. It was only natural to discover Livingston Manor soon after as this seems to be ‘The Place’.
The Walk In is how we eat every day and is representative of us essentially inviting this community to our breakfast, lunch and dinner table. The goal here is to nourish the community as we nourish ourselves, to prepare things maybe just one step more artfully than most people care for themselves at home. We went back to our absolute fundamentals to open this restaurant – my great grandmother’s biscuit recipe, tons of influences from Erin’s parents’ first place Lovin’ Oven, etc. Maybe we will do some insane fine dining thing later, but The Walk In is who we really are. Like maybe we drink Dom Perignon on occasion but really we’re just a couple of beers cooled in a riverbed. We kind of want to just become more of what we already are, just us.
The Walk In is located at 67 Main Street – Livingston Manor NY. For now you can follow their progress on Instagram @thewalkinmanor.