Something's Brewing 

The Brewski in Jeffersonville was supposed to reopen last June after a scheduled shutdown at the end of the ski season. At the beginning of April, however, a fire damaged the unoccupied restaurant — just after Billy and Heather Mossinghoff and their friends, Chris Ferguson and Allison Tafuri, purchased it. Since then, says Ferguson, the two young couples with a combined 70 years of restaurant experience have been working on repairs. On October 7, they’ll re-open as the Brewster River Pub & Grill with a release party for Pulse Prophets’ new CD.

The band will be the main attraction that night, but food is a major focus at the Route 108 bar and restaurant. Chef Billy Mossinghoff, who counts Jeffersonville’s Hearth & Candle and One Federal in St. Albans among his previous employers, will use local ingredients in his handcrafted pub food. Ferguson notes that Foote Brook Farm in Johnson will supply most of the produce.

Not surprisingly, the pub’s most enticing menu items aren’t its healthiest. In a nod to his Pittsburgh roots, Mossinghoff plans to serve a Primanti Brothers-style sandwich with coleslaw and fresh, hand-cut fries stuffed between slices of bread along with the meat. Risotto, house-smoked pork and five different burgers appear on the regular menu, as does Ferguson’s own home-state tribute, a New Jersey-style Taylor pork roll sandwich. Mossinghoff will list specials on a pair of large chalkboards.

Of particular interest to hop heads: Ferguson says that, within the next two years, his business will change its name to Brewster River Pub & Brewery. Local food, music and homemade beer? Sounds like a solid business plan, indeed.