The Cobble Stone - Restaurant, De Facto Museum

Nostalgia is the theme at The Cobble Stone. The walls are adorned with vintage photos of "The Joe's," as in Joseph, Sr., Joseph, Jr., and "Joseph Lincoln" who was born on Feb. 12th and didn't want to be referred to as Joseph III. The Salas brothers, Craig and Scott, who manage the restaurant today, come from a long line of restaurant men.

"This used to be the sticks," said Craig Sala, describing the corner of Westchester that meets the northwest corner of Greenwich. "SUNY Purchase used to be a dairy farm, and my great grandfather worked up there and he'd carry home some rocks every day. He used them to build this place."

Their great grandfather built the kitchen and the barn in 1917, and, as Craig tells the story, that was during Prohibition, "so you can guess what he was doing." The legend according to the Sala brothers is that their great grandfather operated brazenly and that none of the townspeople said a word.

Later, and for decades, the drinking age in Connecticut and New York was 18 and Cobble Stone's clientele featured far more undergrads than today. Both Manhattanville College and SUNY Purchase are close by. With the drinking age now 21, according to Craig, "They may celebrate being of age by their senior year, but we mainly get the professors and grad students."

Throughout the restaurant there are reminders of past eras. There is the black and white photo of senior Salas at Playland, as well as a photo taken in Paris of their great grandfather in his WWI uniform.

Down the hall, the vintage pay phone booth remains in tact, minus the phone, though the brothers made an effort with the phone company to maintain that amenity as long as possible. Today an ATM machine has taken up residence inside the booth.

There is also a vintage cigarette machine as well as a working juke box full of vinyl 45s. The cigarette machine is operated by remote control and customers pay the bartender and have their IDs checked. The juke box still takes a quarter and for $1.00, patrons have the option of selecting five songs. 

"If you remember a time when food was still affordable," said Craig, "We still are."

The Cobble Stone is located at 620 Anderson Hill Road. The restaurant opens daily at 11:30am and the kitchen stays open until midnight seven days a week. Tel. (914) 253-9678