Freelance Cafe & Wine Bar: A Founding Table in Piermont's Dining Scene

Some restaurants arrive. Others anchor. At 506 Piermont Avenue, in the historic Hudson River village of Piermont, Freelance Cafe & Wine Bar has been one of the latter — OpenTable describes it as one of the founding restaurants of Piermont's now-bountiful selection of eclectic spots to wine and dine.

The menu is organized the way a good evening is: small plates, large plates, and daily specials. The kitchen blends modern American cooking with the vocabulary of the French bistro, the Italian trattoria, and the Japanese izakaya. Guests keep coming back for the signature favorites — French onion soup, Thai pasta, braised short ribs, and a classic crème brûlée — alongside a wine list poured by the glass or the bottle that, according to travel guides, leans into Hudson Valley wines paired with dishes made from fresh local fare.

The dining room is small and candlelit, the kind of place reviewers keep calling a "neighborhood gem." On OpenTable the restaurant holds a 4.8 rating across 369 reviews, with diner-voted badges for Best Overall, Best Food, Best Service, Best Ambiance, and Best Value in Rockland. It's the kind of place people book for anniversaries — and just as often for an easy pre-show dinner before the Turning Point's 7pm shows down the avenue.

If you haven't been in a while — or haven't been at all — Freelance is a reminder that some of Rockland's best evenings happen in its smallest rooms.