Poughkeepsie Pop-Up Menu That Elicited Death Threats is Returning

A limited-time menu that was so good it caused people to resort to violent threats is returning for one day only. What could go wrong?

It was the spring of 2020. After weeks of being locked down due to the pandemic and having no end in sight, we were all getting a little "antsy". There wasn't much to do to pass the time besides drink and eat, so breweries began making house calls and restaurants started coming up with creative take-out specials to keep customers happy.

I remember a few violent encounters with scared and emotionally exhausted people while picking up food during this time. Once, while grabbing dinner from a favorite restaurant in Fishkill, a man lost his mind after I asked him if he had checked to see if his food was ready. For no reason, he lashed out and began yelling at me and everyone in line about how the restaurant was calling names and people needed to be patient.  It turned out that the restaurant wasn't calling names, and customers did need to approach the window to pick up their food. After realizing his food was ready 20 minutes ago, the man grabbed his dinner and stormed off.

Innovative Pop-Up Menu Takes Hudson Valley by Storm

One of the most innovative restaurants during the pandemic was Mill House Brewing Company in Poughkeepsie. Aside from offering home delivery of their beer, the restaurant began scheduling special "pop-up" events where customers could call in to reserve take-out dinners from a special menu. These dinners were limited to a certain amount and were first come first served.

Their most popular pop-up was designed to fill a hole in the culinary world after many Chinese restaurants shut their doors during the pandemic. You may remember an irrational panic over the safety of Chinese food from people who ignorantly believed that they could get sick from anything associated with China, which was blamed as ground zero for the Coronavirus.

Mill House Brewing Company decided to offer its own twist on Chinese food while giving a nod to Mill Street Panda, the former occupant of the restaurant's location in Poughkeepsie. A $75 dinner bundle including beef and broccoli, eggrolls, sesame chicken, lo mein, pork fried rice, spare ribs and special fortune cookies went on sale at 2:30pm to the first 100 or so callers.

Death Threats Made to Poughkeepsie, New York Restaurant

I remember plugging my phone into its charger and patiently redialing the Mill House Brewing Company's number over and over beginning at 2:30pm. My phone log showed 150 attempts before someone picked up on the other side. Amazingly, I was one of the lucky callers and was able to secure a Chinese food bundle for the family. It was better than winning the lottery.

While I was fortunate enough to purchase a dinner, hundreds of other crazed customers were met with a recording saying that the restaurant had sold out. Most took the disappointing news in stride, but some who were already losing their minds during lockdown did not go quietly.

Mill House Brewing Company announced that it would be shutting down any future plans for its Chinese Food pop-up after receiving not one, but two death threats. Apparently, people were so upset that they couldn't buy beef and broccoli that they threatened to kill employees at the restaurant.

Chinese Food Pop-Up Returns to Mill House Brewing Company in Poughkeepsie

Thankfully, those crazy times are long gone and Mill House Brewing Company has announced that their hugely popular Chinese food pop-up is returning. And this time, you can enjoy dinner seated at a table.

On Tuesday the Poughkeepsie restaurant announced that it will be offering its Chinese food menu for one night only. On Wednesday, April 17 Mill House Brewing Company will set aside its usual menu and offer up a prix-fix menu of its own twist on Chinese food. For $50 per person, customers can enjoy one appetizer, one entree, two sides, and one dessert.

There are tons of dinner options including egg rolls, spare ribs, wonton soup, peeking duck, beef and broccoli, sesame chicken, pork fried rice, lo mein and more. For dessert, customers can choose between fried sesame donuts and a sampler of mochidoki, an extremely popular Japanese-inspired ice cream treat.

Reservations are currently available online, so if you think missing out on the pop-up is going to leave you unreasonably upset it's probably a good idea to secure your spot now instead of getting yourself into trouble later on.