Above: Vietnamese Restaurant Bà & Me will celebrate its grand opening tomorrow in Callicoon. Photos courtesy of Nhi Nguyen. 

The name of the first Vietnamese restaurant in Sullivan County, Bà & Me, is a play on words: In Vietnamese, it means “grandmother and mother,” while, in English, it sounds just like the banh mi sandwiches served there. 

Owner Nhi Nguyen said it’s a fitting name, as she’s scoured through her mother’s recipes to organize the perfect menu for her new restaurant, which celebrates its grand opening and ribbon-cutting ceremony tomorrow at 26 Upper Main St. in Callicoon. 

Left: Nhi Nguyen, the owner of Bà & Me.

Nguyen, who was born in Nha Trang, Vietnam, and immigrated to the United States in 1980 after the Vietnam War, grew up working in her parent’s Vietnamese restaurant in the midwest before moving to New York to pursue her marketing degree. 

“I hated working there as a kid,” she said. “In hindsight, that experience taught me the importance of hard work and a love for Vietnamese cooking.”  

She was living in New York City with her three kids and her fiancé when Hurricane Sandy hit. Their Manhattan apartment flooded, forcing the family to relocate to Sullivan County. Soon after, she and her partner Michael Mundy began mulling over ideas for businesses that would contribute to the community. 

“We realized that people around here were literally starving for good, healthy food choices,” Nguyen said. “So it was clear that I had to open up a Vietnamese restaurant.” 

Music lovers of all ages can come out to hear local groups perform opera, jazz, Broadway and more once a month at the Dead End Café in Parksville as part of the Parksville USA Music Festival.

Performances are held on the first or second Sundays of each month, and feature a variety of local artists: the Coyote Anderson Quartet, the Hudson Valley String Quartet, Lydia Adams Davis and the Lyric Quartet. The festival line-up includes a few special themed shows, including a November tribute to the late Pete Seeger called “Folk and Country Music That Made a Difference.” 

The next performance in the lineup will be on Saturday, June 7, and will feature the Lyric Quartet -- now with a few new members -- singing Viennese operetta and Broadway musical numbers.