Ossining -- Please introduce me (Syracuse, Albany: hair salon, real estate, credit)

[Ma Kettle]

Hello:
We just purchased a house in Ossining. We love the location and the home itself, and although the schools don't rank high on the SAT charts published yearly by "Westchester Magazine", they do win a lot of awards, and so do their teachers. We also love the fact that our kids are going to have the opportunity to be bilingual thanks to Ossining's diversity.

Tell me your favorite restaurants, grocery stores, great playgrounds for growing toddlers, hair salons, dentists, etc.. Are there any moms groups you recommend? How about a place to take toddlers for swim lessons?

Any tips and tricks about the area would be greatly appreciated as we prepare to move there from Manhattan.

[Biigdaddio]

I'll answer some of your questions about the town in my second post, but first I have to say -- do not worry for one second about the schools. They are great and any student who is ready to apply themselves and who has the support of their parents can and will get an excellent education. I went to the District website to get:
- A list of the colleges our 2010-11 graduates went on to attend
- A partial list of the awards and recognition our schools have achieved

Also note that 34% of our HS students earned a semester's worth of college credit in our AP classes. And 8% earned a full year of college credit.

Colleges:
Brown
Bucknell
Carnegie Mellon
Clark
Colgate
Columbia
Cornell
Dartmouth
Duke
Georgetown
Harvard
Howard
Johns Hopkins
Johnson & Wales
Loyola
McGill
NYU
Northwestern
Princeton
RIT
RPI
Sarah Lawrence
Scranton
Skidmore
SUNY Albany + Others
Syracuse
Temple
Tufts
UCLA
University of Massachusetts
University of Pennsylvania
University of Vermont
University of Virginia
Vanderbilt
Washington
Wesleyan
Yale

Awards and Recognition
Intel Schools of Distinction Finalist Award: OHS
Semi-Finalists (4): Intel Science Talent Search
ACTSO National Competition Gold Medal: Asa Jordan
Finalist in National Merit and National Achievement Scholarship Program: Kenyon Winfield
Commended Students (7): National Merit Scholarship Program
First Place: 8th Annual Youth Business Skills Olympics – OHS
“Rookie Awards” [Clean Sweep!] for O-Bots OHS Robotics Team
First Place Awards (2) in NYS STEP Competition: Frances Russell and Eddie Aryee
Finalist and Semi-Finalist Awards in Young Naturalist Competition of American Museum of Natural History: Rebecca Policello and Andrew Leibert
International Science and Engineering Fair (7)
Intel International Sustainability World Energy Engineering Environment Project Olympiad (2)
NYS Finalists in Junior Science and Humanities Symposia (7)
“Gold With Distinction” Ratings from NYS School Music Association Festival: AMD 7th and 8th Grade Bands
NYS 2012 Band Directors Honors Band: AMD and OHS Students
Westchester County School Music Association (WCSMA) Student Selections: Area All State Performing Ensembles (9)
WCSMA Elementary and Intermediate All-County Chorus, Orchestra, Band: Claremont, Roosevelt, AMD, OHS

[Biigdaddio]

Restaurants:
The Wobble Cafe is a local treasure.

The Boathouse is down on the waterfront and a little tricky to find at first but it is a great place for drinks or dinner. Pricier than the Wobble but wonderful.

BBQ: Memphis Mae's in Croton.
Indian: Bollywood in Pleasantville
Sushi: Yama on Pleasantville Road. Okinawa on Highland Ave.

Special Occasion: Stone Barns. Fantastic and pricey. Did I mention fantastic? Did I mention pricey? Rivals any restaurant in Manhattan. Can also eat at the bar for a little less.

Chinese: have yet to find a really great Chinese place in the area that did not require a drive. Would love to hear from anyone who has.

Swimming
The Community Center has a great pool and aquatics program, including after-school swimming and a swim team.
Pace University also has an excellent program for teaching young kids to swim. That's where my son went and it worked great for us. Register early.

Coffee:
If you like a homey, comfortable coffee shop and free WiFi, the Black Cow in Croton is it. (Of course we have two Starbucks in Ossining/Briarcliff as well.)

Also great coffee from Quimbaya in downtown Oss. More of a grab and go as its not quite so comfy as the other places.

Grocery:
Stop and Shop is the giant. Big selection.
Both Ossining and Croton have excellent Farmers' Markets on the weekends.

Hope that helps.

[Ma Kettle]

BiigDaddio:
Thanks. That was a great reply. Especially about the schools. And the swimming information. The more I learn about Ossining, the more impressed I am with the town. It offers great deals in real estate. Big yards. Big houses. Decent taxes, depending what part of town, and great recreation. We are actually close to Croton, so I will be doing a lot of shopping and exploring there, as well. And I am already addicted to the Black Cow.

I have to confess it was not my first pick. Ossining. But we fell in love with a house and the land it's on, and then gradually fell in love with the town. And we got a lot more for our money in Ossining than we would have in some of the neighboring towns.

I love the mom and pop hardware store and the navy surplus store downtown. Someone told me there is a great grocery store that specializes in fresh fruits and vegetables, as well as South American spices and hard-to-find food items. I think it was called Four Seasons?

The people seem down to earth, too. Not quite as...well...snooty...as some other towns.

Ma

[KathyNY76]

Welcome to Ossining, Ma!

Teatown Lake Reservation is a nature preserve in north Ossining very close to Croton - probably very close to where you'll live! Great trails and nature classes/camps/activities for the kids (and the whole family!).

Not sure exactly where you are, but there are lots of playgrounds all around and each have something different. There is great one in my old neighborhood but I don't remember the name! But it's at the end of Park Ave so you could probably google map Park Ave and figure it out. There's also the one down on the water that I refer to as "Prison Playground" b/c it IS next to Sing Sing! LOL But you'd never know it - it's got fun equipment and also a spray park in the summer. You drive through the train station's back parking lot to get to it. There's one across the street from Park school (where your child(ren) will go to Pre-K & KG). No swings there, but it's a nice park.

Down at the south end of town there is a nice seafood restaurant called Goldfish - you can often get great deals on groupon or restaurant.com for it. Also in the Arcadian shopping center (where Stop N Shop is) is Planet Wings. They are a wings place, but you can get grilled chicken and chicken strips and all that quick and relatively cheap. And they use fresh organic chicken (Bell & Evans or Murrays - I can't remember which!).

The market you refer to is a C-Town (also called Four Seasons) and is in a little strip mall with a Dunkin Donuts and laundromat on 133/Croton Ave (close to the aforementioned playground on Park Ave). Many of the Latin population shop there so it does have a lot of cool items you can't find other places. And I do think the produce might be better there, too. I think they have a good fish selection, too.

[Monsterdog60]

I agree with below poster about ossining schools. Ossining has fine schools, teachers are supportive, programs are fantastic. Especially the science program. I was part of Robotics team . Won all three rookie NY regional awards . As a recent graduate i have nothing to complain about my experience at OHS

[Ma Kettle]

@ Monsterdog60
I have enjoyed reading your posts and perspective about Ossining and her schools. You sound like an astute, intelligent, well adjusted teenager.

My husband just learned about the Robotics team. He is an engineer, and he loves that sort of thing. When he read you guys made a robot that could dribble and shoot, he was intrigued. I am sure he'll be a coach to the team some day.

Thanks for your replies everyone. We move in four days, and I cannot wait. We went to the farmer's market this weekend, and had some great bread and picked up some fresh produce and cheese. Had some empanadas, too. The Ecuadorian population really bring in some great food and culture. We have missed having goo Latin food as residents to Manhattan's Upper West Side. Now we have a plethora of it.

Thanks again for your thoughtful and insightful replies.

[catnip8056]

I second the poster who says check out Goldfish Restaurant (6 Rockledge Avenue). Great seafood, wonderful prix fixe menus and so much great food for your money, great drinks too. I miss this place

Cappello's Auto Repair (184 S Highland Avenue) -I used this shop quite a few times and liked them a lot. They are even open until 3pm on Saturdays.

[ANM1982]

Love this thread! I just moved to Ossining the end of July and I've been slowly discovering places. This gives me some new things to check out.

(And Ma Kettle, just saw that we moved in within a day of each other!)

[WardEq]

Cool thread guys! Has anyone eaten at Keenan House yet? It’s a great spot for beers - really nice selection - and the food looks delicious too. I haven't had a chance to eat there yet, so I’m wondering if it lives up to the looks. Btw, if that’s your kind of place, then Peekskill Brewery is another one to check out for sure. It is really lively and not too far from Ossining. Love that we have KH right here now, though.


A couple of Ossining recs on the cheaper side: Pon di Riva for Caribbean (by the train station, only done takeout), and Los Abuelos for Mexican (cute little place if you want to dine in). Both really tasty, imo.



Outside of food, I highly recommend Adega wine shop on Main Street. They do great recommendations and the prices are really good for the quality if you like Portuguese wine. It’s in a whole “Portuguese building” actually…you can browse Melita’s there too which is a beautiful store for home items (not cheap, but I did find an awesome wedding gift for a friend there). Also the bakery next door is excellent.


I'll have to try Goldfish again. I went right after moving from the city and I though it was good, not great (though a great deal if you do the prix fix). With all the post-move excitement, I had probably set my expectations just a bit too high :-). Looking forward to giving it another shot.