The Huddle, a Sports Bar, Opens in Sleepy Hollow

From the literal ashes of one bar, rises another. 

After a fire all but destroyed the Town Tavern, located at 92 Beekman Avenue, in April 2009, the popular night spot has been slow to recover. 

However, if you were to revisit the location now, you will find no hint of the previous damage that occurred, only bar patrons reveling into the evening. 

The Huddle is a spiffy new sports bar with a choice of 20 beers and four wines on tap, and it has taken root in the location formerly occupied by the Town Tavern.

"Sleepy Hollow needs a Main Street," said The Huddle's owner, Manny Busto III, "Beekman Avenue is on its way to becoming one and I'm happy we can be a part of it."

Busto is a Tarrytown resident with a fair share of restaurant/bar experience. While in college, he was employed by T.G.I. Friday's as an employee trainer, server and bartender, and on a new-store opening team. Following graduation, he worked as a front-of-the-house manager for Sofia's (an Italian restaurant in Croton-on-Hudson). He also worked at the Westchester Broadway Theatre (a dinner-theater in Elmsford), and in real estate management.

The new sports bar is named after a friendly neighborhood gathering place called The Huddle that existed in Tarrytown many years ago.

The draft beers include Chimay (one of six trappist beers imported from Belgium), Dogfish Hellhound, Dogfish 120-Minute, Blue Point's Blueberry Ale and Thomas Hooker Watermelon Ale (available seasonally) and Allagash Odyssey.

The wines on tap (loaded directly from the barrel) are cabernet, chardonnay, merlot and sauvignon blanc – sourced from the Brotherhood Winery in Washingville, NY (established 175 years ago and believed to have America's oldest vineyards) and Chilean wineries.

The innovative kitchen offers a three-meat-blend hamburger, lamb and buffalo burgers and fried pickles. Exotic game burgers including ostrich and venison will be introduced within a few weeks.

Wings with 12 different sauces from mild to hot, meatball sliders, homemade French or sweet potato fries and homemade pizza are also available.

The menu will be expanded in the fall/winter with the addition of more comfort food and Spanish specialities. The same menu will apply at both lunchtime and dinnertime.

The kitchen can provide groups of ten or more with custom-order non-menu food given a day or two of advance notice.

While The Huddle is expanding its potential client base with a bevy of food and drink options, it also stays true to its sports bar foundation. It has seven flat-screen television sets with satellite reception and an AMI Entertainment Internet-connected juke box. It will show college football, NFL games, baseball and other sports year round. 

The establishment is of modest size, with the centerpiece being a long solid mahogany bar which dates back to 1909 that is accompanied by 12 stools. An additional 10 people can be accommodated by a curved-out table arrangement along the side wall and five tables in the back seat 20. 

Entertainment is in the planning stage and will likely include live jazz and karaoke on different nights, possibly beginning in the winter. 

The Huddle is open seven days a week from 11:30 a.m. until late. 92 Beekman Ave., Sleepy Hollow, NY. 914-909-5644.