Beloved eatery Black-Eyed Suzie’s Upstate has found a new home in Uptown Kingston after moving out of their Saugerties location in March. The organic catering and takeout outlet opened April 27 at the bustling corner of Washington and Hurley avenues.

“We love the location,” said business manager Cheryl Paff. “We’re so happy here.”

Paff and kitchen manager Juan Tzitzimititila settled on the Hurley Avenue space in January, after the sale of Black-Eyed Suzie’s Partition Street building due to pandemic-related real estate challenges, bringing an end to their seven-year run in Saugerties. For several months, Paff’s husband, who owns Chestnut Hill Renovations, took the lead in revamping the new location. Since opening at the end of April, Paff reported that familiar faces, as well as curious Kingstonians eager to welcome the newcomers, have flocked to the building.

“It started out being this kind of horrible, difficult thing we had to deal with in the middle of Covid,” Paff said of the move. “Now it’s great — we love it.”

The Hurley Avenue storefront is bigger than Black-Eyed Suzie’s previous location, which included a few small tables for dining in. The new shop features additional seating, as well as space for local groceries and goodies.

Black-Eyed Suzie’s began in 1996 in Manhattan's East Village. Paff had been working in the restaurant industry for some time and decided to partner with her boss from another restaurant to create a small eatery focused on organic food. A 17-year-old named Juan Tzitzimititila began working as a dishwasher not long after the café’s opening. He took an interest in cooking and moved quickly through the kitchen ranks.

“He was very enthusiastic,” Paff said.

By the time Paff returned to her cafe, after a hiatus spent traveling and later managing the Rhinebeck Farmers Market, Tzitzimititila was her natural choice of co-manager and kitchen head. The two have helmed the business together ever since, first catering across the Hudson Valley before setting up shop in Saugerties and now Kingston.

A Troy native, Paff coined Black-Eyed Suzie’s name in 1996 as an homage to the common flower of upstate New York. Paff and her husband returned upstate after 9/11, moving from New York City to the Hudson Valley.

“We came up here for one year — and never left,” she said.

The beauty of local nature held an attraction for Paff, whose passion for the organic first prompted her love of cooking and her idea for a business. Paff said she owes that passion to her parents, who both gardened and often cooked with home-grown ingredients.

“They liked to make everything from scratch,” she said.

In the café’s earliest days, Paff collaborated with upstate farmers who commuted to the city and back on a regular basis. Today, Black-Eyed Suzie’s menu revolves predominately around what fruits, vegetables, and roots the seasons and the environment offer. Paff and Tzitzimititila are constantly exploring new recipes in an ever-evolving cycle of natural flavors.

“Customers have to be a bit adventurous to come in and see what we have,” she said. “That’s kind of the fun part for us.”

Black-Eyed Suzie’s Upstate is open Tuesday-Friday 11 a.m.-6 p.m. and Saturday 11 a.m.-5 p.m. at 14 Hurley Ave. To reach them, call (845) 383-1755, or click here.