A challenging year that has brought the death of my father, my best friend, the founder of Stewardship Farms, Prince and David Bowie, began with one of Hudson’s best chefs, and my personal favorite, checking out.

Dan was a self-driven perfectionist and it showed on every plate. His kitchen had a digital clock in it of a size one might expect in Times Square, large red numbers counting away the minutes as the orders rolled in. He always sent out a surprising Amuse Buche, often on a little white ceramic spoon. The server would put them in  front of me and then rattle off 4 or 5 tantalizing ingredients that filled my mind with anticipation and curiosity.

DA|BA started in Hudson before the influx of restaurateurs. In a town with no grocery stores and limited options for dining out, especially under $15, Danny was a God-send. His menu was two menus really — fantastic higher end seafood dishes inspired by his Scandanavian roots and a bar menu with 5 or 6 great options under $10. They had Brooklyn Lager on tap at $4 and the most perfectly cooked burger served up on thick cuts of bread was $8.  A perfectly satisfying BLT and a tempeh sandwich rounded out the every day offerings but Dan was better known for his more ambitious stalwarts like his amazingly rich and deep Chantrelle soup.

“DABA Dan,” as he was known here,  was very accepting of all us in Hudson despite, or perhaps because of, our eccentricities. As someone who has worked in a dozen restaurants, I was a bit jealous of Dan who had great reviews, great food and had managed to overcome one of the biggest challenges of this very time-demanding business — his family lived in the space directly above his restaurant and he could go upstairs during service to tuck his young children into bed every night.

I was walking Julia one morning in February when I saw his wife and children getting out of a van in front of the darkened restaurant. They all looked so numb and so weary. Hours later I heard the news that Dan Nilsson had committed suicide on a friend’s farm.  I was destroyed and within hours was thinking of leaving Hudson for a new home. It was as if a cloud had descended here and the streets and shops suddenly felt more empty and lifeless than ever before.  It was unfathomable to me how a young man with so much talent and so much love from this community could simply be gone forever. In order to avoid scaring my sweet dogs, I went out to my car and had a good cry.

I hadn’t cooked my own burger in about 4 years but did so after Danny died. Some grilled onions and dry mustard completed the satisfying trio. I have longed since that February day for a menu that serves two price points, two distinctly different appetites and I dedicate my first real restaurant menu to Dan.  Life is too short not to enjoy at least one great meal every day but we’ll all have to do it without DA|BA Dan who is 86’d.

God bless you Daniel Nilsson.  As I told you more than once, you were “rock solid consistently great!”