Come into the Carnival: Sideshow Brings Barbecue to Main Street

Nestled behind the New Paltz town staple and iconic bar, McGillicuddy’s, a new barbecue restaurant has entered the world of New Paltz eateries. 

Sideshow, which is run by the same owners as McGillicuddy’s, opened on Jan. 7. The restaurant’s tagline is “Welcome to the Night Circus,” offering a carnival-inspired menu, featuring build-your-own barbecue plates and  specialty cocktails. 

According to owner Brian Keenan, he and his co-owner Craig Gioia had the inspiration to open the restaurant when they added picnic tables to the parking lot behind McGillicuddy’s during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The industrial-vibe restaurant features raw metal beams spanning the ceiling and two large garage doors functioning as a threshold from the indoor portion of the restaurant to their dog-friendly patio with a fire pit in the front. Starting March 15, there will be live DJs on Saturday nights, with DJ Joey Fresh kicking off this new feature. 

The inside of the restaurant also includes multiple TVs, used to broadcast sports and their upcoming music bingo nights. 

“We feel like it will be more of a chill, laid-back vibe, where, if you don’t want to go to McGillicuddy’s or Snugs, it’s a really nice alternative, especially with the patio,” Keenan said.  

The menu is heavily inspired by barbecue and Southern dishes, as opposed to McGillicuddy’s, which is traditional American bar food. Sideshow’s star item is their build-your-own barbecue plate, which comes with multiple sides and a choice between multiple types of meat, like pulled pork and smoked chicken wings. 

Sideshow puts its own twist on classic BBQ, with menu items like the Sideshow rib rolls, which is rib meat inside of an egg roll-like casing. They also sell some seafood options, including rattlesnake pasta and pistachio crusted mahi mahi. 

“I think what we did that has worked is that if you wanted barbecue heavy, but we’re not only barbecue. So if you’re to just come in and have a burger or a salad? We have those options,” Keenan said. 

“We have comfort food at McGillicuddy’s, so we didn’t want to do the same menu right next door and just cannibalize our own customer base. We got a lot of feedback from our customers, and what we saw was missing in this town was barbecue, so we decided to go in that direction,” Keenan said. 

The restaurant is converted into a bar with no cover fee on Friday and Saturday nights. These weekend nights, Sideshow remains open until 2 a.m. With drink specials, the upcoming DJ and fire pit on the patio, Keenan says he’s most excited for the next phase of his business with the upcoming spring weather and its influx of tourists.

“We haven’t really had nice weather to really see what we’re going to get, but we know, based on our feedback, every table that comes in points outside and says, ‘Man, we can’t wait ‘till you’re open,’” Keenan said. 

There are six signature carnival-themed cocktails offered along with an extensive beer list. Most notably, the Cotton Candy Cosmo, which is topped with real cotton candy customers can stir in, and the Popcorn Crunch which comes with popcorn garnish. Sideshow also offered four drink specials for Valentine’s Day. 

For St. Patrick’s Day weekend, Sideshow announced five drink specials, including a Rainbow Irish coffee and an Irish Mule. Customers will also have the choice to turn any draft beer green. 

Considering that they had their grand opening just a brief two months ago, Sideshow is still workshopping its menu and is extremely receptive to customer feedback. “We got some feedback that it’s very heavy on meat dishes. We just just added three vegetarian items to the menu to appeal to a wider range,” Keenan said. They also plan on adding five new mocktails, so then everyone can enjoy a fun drink. 

DeAnna Galeno is the general manager at Sideshow and handles employees and employment opportunities. She previously worked as a manager at McGillicuddy’s for four years and followed Keenan and Gioia over to Sideshow.

“We’ve gotten a decent amount of applications, especially when we first opened up. It’s just looking for experienced people, but we give people chances to [be trained],” Galeno said. 

As the owners of McGillicuddy’s for the past 28 years, Keenan and Gioia have seen multiple businesses come and go in the village of New Paltz. “I think the reason that we’ve stayed, and we’ve been successful is that we just have the nicest, most accommodating and welcoming staff, and that’s been the difference,” Keenan said. 

The two co-own multiple restaurants together, including Novella’s Catering Hall in New Paltz and Darby O’Gills Food & Spirits in Hyde Park. 

Gioia and Keenan sold a restaurant they owned in Poughkeepsie to finance Sideshow, according to Keenan. “We believe much more in the future of New Paltz and our place in it, more than we believed in the city,” Keenan said.