NORTH CREEK – You could call it a love story, of sorts, one that begins with an out-of-towner’s business trip to a remote Adirondack village and ends with the relocation of an entire family plus a slew of new businesses in the community.

It was 2006 when Delaware resident Michael Bowers made his first visit to North Creek as part of a construction management project he was part of.  It was during nearly a dozen visits that year that he became increasingly intrigued with not only the town’s charm, but potential and began brainstorming with Greg Taylor former owner of The Friends Lake Inn in Chestertown about available properties along Main Street.

Wanting a base from which to live during the construction project, Michael  bought the old North Creek Bank with the intention of renovating it and selling the property when his project was completed.  When the national economy took a turn for the worse, the construction project fell through and he was left with the building.  Which turned out to be good news.

“For a year Michael had gotten to know the community and decided he wanted to invest here,” said his wife Mary Ann.  “He saw potential for opening a business and wanted to make it work.”  Mary Ann was still living in Delaware at the time, fulltime caregiver to her elderly parents, but daughter Anna was coming to the end of a teaching tenure in Mexico and decided to join her father on a family venture.

Enter barVino, a wine bar and restaurant with a tapas menu downtown that opened three years ago.  BarVino draws an equal blend of locals, second-home-owners and tourists, for bottles of Pinot Noir and plates of gnocchi bathed in brandy cream, bacon, and almonds, Prince Edward Island Mussels in Abbey Ale, and beef brisket sandwich with Stilton.
“The menu is locally sourced when possible and we serve close to 80 types of draft and bottled beer, more than 100 kinds of wine, and 30 wines by the glass.”

Anna said the large and small plates on the menu are specifically designed for sharing, especially on nights when live music is played. “We opened in 2008 and it’s become one of those great neighborhood places and my dad’s the unofficial host. There was a cool place in town called Harry and Harry, the owner, would stand behind the bar and chat everyone up. Dad always joked he wanted to be like Harry.”

Rounding out the family involvement is Chef Luke Bowers (Michael and Mary Ann’s son), who oversees the menu along with fellow-chef Kevin Gardner, who are friends from their middle school days and both had worked together at restaurants in Santa Fe, New Mexico.

“The name barVino may sound fancy, but there’s nothing pretentious about the place,” said Anna. “The people who come through the doors are warm, fun, and eclectic, whether it’s a lawyer, dentist, or farmer. We use simple ingredients on the menu, and there’s something for everyone. We serve a $5 glass of Pinot Noir that’s great.”

Mary Ann agreed.

“There’s no television in barVino, being there is about visiting and connecting,” she said. “It’s about the connection that happens over wine and good food. A woman friend of mine said it’s the kind of place she feels comfortable coming into and sitting at the bar. She’ll either run into someone she knows or the bartender takes care of her.”

When Mary Ann moved to North Creek in 2009, she decided to put her own retail signature on Main Street when she opened Poiema, a boutique in the former North Creek Bank that specializes in home décor and artisan gift items for the home.

“I knew when I moved here they didn’t need another Bowers giving input at the restaurant,” she said. “There was retail space available and Anna and I decided to share it. There were already some great retailers in town and we didn’t want to step on any toes, so we came up with something different,” said Mary Ann. “So I created the offerings of Poiema with those who don’t necessarily ski in mind. I wanted a boutique that was chic, with a bit of an Anthropologie vibe.  Poiema carries lotions, soaps, candles, pillows, and found objects.

“Poiema means work of art, or handwork in Greek,” explained Mary Ann. “We offer design services for the home and also do event design for parties, dinners, and special events. We never advertised for that, it came out of people coming in and inquiring.” A new facet of Poiema will be the addition of locally blended, certified organic loose teas courtesy of Linda Smith who owns Divinitea in Schenectady. The teas are sold by the ounce and served hot.  “We’ll see how it goes,” said Mary Ann. “I talked with diners and cafes in the area who serve coffee because I didn’t want to ‘take over,’ but nothing like this is being offered anywhere in town.”

Within the same building is Anna’s “The Vault,” which carries jewelry, clothing, handbags and other uinque and original items. She said that most of the inventory is made by local artisans.  “They’re all people who’ve heard about the shop and come in wanting to sell their works here.”

Michael and Mary Ann live in the town’s former IGA on Main Street, which is next to the former bank that houses The Vault and Poiema. And immediately next to that is barVino and barVino Celler, the retail store for the wines on the restaurant’s menu. “You can literally jump from one to the other,” said Mary Ann.

The Bowers’ credit the train for bringing in significant extra business during the summer and on holiday weekends.  “The train brought in a lot of orders. When it’s not running we manage to hold our own,” said Mary Ann.

“The wonderful thing about being self-employed and having a family business is if it works, great. If not, we can regroup and try something else,” said Anne. “We’re not encumbered with lots of rules.”

But for now, there appears to be no need for regrouping on the horizon.

“This is really an awesome community that has been incredibly supportive,” said Anna. “To make a business work here you need second home-owners and tourists, but you also need the community.”

For more information on Poiema and The Vault at 274 Main St., visit http://poiemathevault.com
For more information on barVino at 272 Main St., visit www.barVino.net

barVino food photos by Anna Bowers

Curried chickpea fritters with red onion rita

Frites with sea salt and truffle oil

Fresh herbs in the kitchen

Thai marinated Kilcoyne beef skewers with Puckers Pickles