From epic Woodstock Film Festival parties that drew the likes of Woody Harrelson and Adrian Grenier to countless first dates and plenty of live music, New World Home Cooking was more than a restaurant. It was a scene.
Now the former eatery run by local chef Ric Orlando and his wife, Ulster County Public Defender Liz Corrado, is turning into a scene of an altogether different sort: a wedding venue. Joe Bailey, who bought the building from Orlando in 2020 for $225,000, said he’s already invested a half-million dollars in renovations.
“We’ll see what’s legal and what’s allowed,” said Bailey, 64, whose From Europe to You in Saugerties sells custom-made marble, bronze and iron architectural pieces. He expects to lease the building to Provisions Takeout & Catering in Boiceville and have it operational by next year.
It’s one more incarnation for a site that’s had plenty over the years. From 1984 to 1988, it was home to the Getaway Hotel, owned by Bob Illjes, which hosted performances that ranged from Levon Helm, Rick Danko, and Richard Manuel of The Band to Richie Havens and Happy and Artie Traum. In the hotel’s basement was the drained swimming pool that was the site’s first occupant. Prior to that, it had been an antique shop and, before that, a giant chicken coop.
Under Orlando’s direction, New World earned a loyal following as it served up eclectic menu items that ranged from blackened string beans and Ropa Vieja to Ric’s Original Purple Haze Shrimp—a tip of the hat to Jimi Hendrix, who rented a home in Boiceville during the summer he performed at the Woodstock Festival and once played at the Tinker Street Cinema in Woodstock.
“It was lightning in a bottle,” said Orlando, 66, of West Hurley, who ran New World with Corrado between 1993 and 2018. “It was the nineties into the 2000s. The restaurant scene was happening. It was fun.”
The couple opened a catering and event site in the former Seasons restaurant in 1996 and moved New World there in 1998, five years after relocating from the Zena Road location where they founded it in 1993.
By 2018, the time had come to move on.
“I had done 25 years,” Orlando said. “I had done all that I could do. I was looking to do more things with my life.”
The chef opened New World Bistro in Albany in 2009 in a partnership that ended after 11 years. Then he pivoted to developing a line of food products, sold online and at Adams Fairacre Farms, and running culture and food tours of Sicily and northern Italy.
“I have a great history and a great legacy and I wouldn’t change a thing,” he said. “I loved every minute of it. It was a life. It wasn’t a job, it was a life.”
The sale to Bailey came about when his banker, who was also Orlando’s banker, asked whether he’d be interested in buying it. The building was on the market for $595,000 in 2019, a year before the pandemic crushed the worldwide restaurant and hospitality industries.
“I thought the price was right,” Bailey said. “It’s probably one of the smarter decisions I’ve made.”
So far, Bailey has installed a new floor, raised the building by six inches, replaced the exterior, added new windows and insulation, and renovated eight upstairs rooms that were intended to be offices but could be used for lodging.
John W. Barry is a reporter for The Overlook. Reach him at john@theoverlooknews.com.