HIGH FALLS – The history of an area is often interwoven with the rise and fall of eateries, and even the legends who ran them. For the Hamlet of High Falls, things started jumping in the late 1960's and early 70's. Two hallmarks of the era were John N. Novi opening his Depuy Canal House restaurant in 1969 and Richard Murphy opening his Egg's Nest restaurant in 1973.

If Murphy, a Mohonk waiter at the time, hadn't opened the Egg's Nest, the hamlet would probably not have become the Center of the Universe, said Novi, in a recent interview at his home behind the Canal House. "Richard was an ace business man. He positioned High Falls to win, and then pushed everyone in town into a competitive state of mind."

Murphy and Ed Boyle founded the magazine, The High Fallonian (where the hamlet first claimed 'Center of the Universe' status); established the High Falls Yacht Club; and invented the High Falls University ($5 per degree of your choice).

Murphy, said Novi, "was a genius in gathering people and then getting drunk and planning with them every night. Being serious people, they discussed establishing a Center of the Universe United Nations branch on the banks of the Rondout Creek. Also, being fun-loving, they created the notion of the East and West Sides of High Falls."

The Egg's Nest, on the "liberal" East Side, was open seven days a week. It closed when it closed, and had never heard of reservations. The Depuy Canal House, on the "conservative" West Side, was open Thursdays through Sundays, closed at 11 p.m. and took reservations.

Growing Up In High Falls
Novi grew up in High Falls. His parents owned a bakery and delicatessen in what is now The Kitchenette. He worked in the bakery and his mother taught him to cook there.

"The bakery walls were covered with photographs of canal days," said Novi. "When I was working there, every time anyone old came in, I'd beg for photos. I'd make copies and return the originals. That's where I got the photos that covered the walls of the Depuy Canal House."

Novi said that when he got the building, it was "in ruins," and his intention was to open a business and support the house. "But I guess I'm a historian at heart because I really wanted to the restore the house to its canal days status. This building," he said gesturing around at the walls of his home crowded with art and knick knacks, "was a collapsed barn."

"John Davenport's hardware store, in what is now the Last Bite," said Novi, "sold me the parts for restoring and building Depuy House and the floor of this building. I also added on a couple of dormers that are now my studio."

Novi is currently working on a Stone Ridge painting, and was concentrating on Leggett Road when visited.

"Thirty years ago," said Novi, "a city picture framer offered me $3,000 a painting if I could put together a collection of fifteen. It's taken me until now, but I've now completed the collection. However, I doubt he's still alive."

Praying The Stove Would Work
When it opened in 1970, the Depuy Canal House was running on a shoestring. "I was one person in a kitchen that cost a total of $500," Novi said. "The stove cost $35 and I prayed every day that it would cook. The drag board was $15 and the refrigerator, the most expensive kitchen item, cost $400."

"I had a young woman, Jean, working for me," said Novi. "She'd clean my house, make my bed, that sort of thing. But she was a bit of a pain, always calling her father to complain about me. However, her father had a garden and late at night Jean and I would sneak into it to steal lettuces, herbs and stuff for the kitchen."

"In February 1970, I was playing around with a mock turtle soup recipe from an 1836 recipe book," said Novi. "It called for a stock made from a calf's head. Where in Ulster County does one get a calf's head? I got mine from Robert Schneller's butchery in Kingston, next to the Mohican Market. I boiled that head for two days making the stock. Then I took the boiled head, stripped and dried, and put it in my bed. Then we all stood around the stairs until Jean made the bed, waiting for her screams. Which she did, then called her father."

Novi continued that the next weekend he ran out of food for Sunday. "Having to improvise, I added the mock turtle soup to the menu. Someone called from Hunter Mountain and made a Sunday booking for a party of nine skiers. They arrived and one of them ordered a margarita. Sue, whose fulltime job was at Rock Cliff Mountain House, dressed up in a long gown, was tending bar. 'I don't know how to make those,' said Sue, 'but if you like you can come and make it yourself...'"

And so, the famed New York Times food critic Craig Claiborne made his own margarita in the Depuy Canal House and wrote a much-coveted four-star review that appeared on March 6, 1970. The review propelled Novi into chef stardom and his creative cuisine was hailed as the dawn of New American Cooking.

What did Claiborne think of the calf's head mock turtle soup?

"An excellent mock turtle soup followed that tasted rather as though it came from a good stock pot that contained the leftover carcasses of chicken but with fresh beef balls added," said his review. Bartender Sue? She became "a demure (to use a word) bar maid." The cost? "A complete dinner is $6.75," noted the review.

Richard Murphy's Egg's Nest now has new owners, as does the Depuy Canal House. The Egg's Nest is still a restaurant, the Canal House is not. Now possessed by the D&H Canal Museum, even the future of its name is uncertain.

Novi is currently working on putting together a hospitality program for SUNY Ulster. "Something simple and non-culinary," he said. He also cooks and caters, for individual dinners and benefits. This week he catered at the Ashokan Center's 50th Anniversary Benefit, starring Jay Ungar and Molly Mason, in the city's West Village.

Bryan Miller, a New York Times reporter, has offered to assist him in writing a book. Novi sees the book, perhaps titled, "Growing Up In High Falls," as a beautiful picture book.

And he's still painting.