Courtesy of the Zengen family.
The fire tower atop Stissing Mountain is an iconic image in Pine Plains. Sixteen years ago, when Jeff Zengen opened his restaurant at 2947 Church Street, he named it Tower Pizza and put a sign out front. “I gotta get that word pizza out there on the road,” he said, so people driving by and wanting a pie would know to stop in.
Pasta, burgers, wraps and fish join pizza on the menu in the main building, which serves beer and wine; Tower food can also be ordered from The Cabin and the Back Bar Beer Garden, Zengen’s adjacent businesses, both of which have full liquor licenses. The Cabin opens its doors for the colder months when the Garden is closed, or whenever rain forces customers inside during the outdoor bar’s regular season, May 1 to Oct. 31.
“Some people still don’t know the beer garden is there,” said Zengen, though he and bar manager Pat Puca continue to win new customers, sometimes with enticing food options: The Cousins Maine Lobster Truck was parked outside the Garden entrance twice last year and will be back by popular demand in 2024. There are plans to add other food trucks and continue inviting guest cooks to the Garden kitchen from time to time.
Oktoberfest lures those hungry for hot pretzels, wursts and schnitzel—or the all-encompassing Von Zengen platter—into the Garden, accompanied by live music, or into Tower Pizza during the three-day October event.
Credit: Murphy Birdsall
Pat Puca and Vikki Soracco created the bar in The Cabin, establishing an indoor alternative, when they took over running the beer garden. The two women opened the Back Bar Beer Garden on Memorial Day weekend in 2008—commemorated by a wooden plaque given them by Joann Amelio—at the same time Zengen started Tower Pizza. About eight years ago, Soracco chose to leave the business and Puca offered the two adjacent establishments to Zengen. A new and amicable arrangement was made with Puca then (and still now) being employed by the Tower owner. “He’s the best,” Puca said.
Puca books all the live music for the Garden as well as musical acts that can perform in the smaller space of The Cabin. The expanse of the outdoor venue often encourages dancing.
Asked if being located across the street from Stissing Center resulted in increased business when the arts center held events, Zengen and Puca both commented that they have noticed some additional activity, and are seeing more and more as the theater’s patrons discover Tower. Puca noted that some of Stissing Center’s staff are familiar customers at The Cabin. Zengen added that a high school musical can clearly expand Tower Pizza’s dinner crowd.
Going down the rabbit hole of the building’s history, records show it has been an eatery since the 1950s. Some former restaurant names recalled by Pine Plains residents were Lee Van’s, Campbell’s, Jeanie-Rich Restaurant, Soracco’s, Junction Café, Milano’s, Calamity Jane’s, Cozzy’s, and Tower Pizza, plus The Back Bar Beer Garden and The Cabin.
All three venues of the Tower Pizza family have regular and loyal customers. Zengen recalled that when he took over the ownership of The Cabin’s business, the regulars told him, “Don’t go changing my bar.” “It’s their bar,” he added. He is the owner operator of Tower Pizza, but he knows that it belongs to his customers.