Double the food, double the fun

The Rayevskys get on the bus in P’ville

By Rachel Zuckerman | Manor Ink

Parksville, NY – What is something that we humans enjoy? Food! Well, I have some good news for you. Next to New Memories in Parksville, a new restaurant is about to open – the Double Up.

In 2022, Rob and Kim Rayevsky bought a retired double decker tour bus from Philadelphia. It was a 1980 Bristol Lodekka, with the seats still intact and its engine still humming. They hauled it to Sullivan County and have wonderfully renovated it by installing a modern commercial kitchen on the first deck, and a cute eating area on the second, accessible by the bus’s original winding staircase.

Half of the original seats were removed from the second level and tables were installed for a 30-person dining room (there will also be outdoor tables). The engine and gas tanks are gone, but the huge steering wheel and some gear shifts were left in place for children of all ages to sit in and play. It took two years of hard work to outfit the bus – and paint it – plus a number of other travails with regulations, including whether the Double Up was a food truck or a restaurant. With the receipt of one more permit, the Rayevskys expect the restaurant will open this month.

Readers will remember Rob and Kim as the proprietors of the Rolling River Café that they opened in 2008 and closed a decade later. Rob then opened the kitchen in Upward Brewery where they worked for about two years before turning their attention to this new adventure.

The Rayevskys plan to be serving breakfast, lunch and dinner from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., five days a week. Double Up will have a pretty interesting food menu. Its main staple will be soups, but they will be heartier than the usual diner fare. As Rob is from Georgia, Russia, he also wants to bring some of his country’s recipes to the Double Up to give people a taste of that cuisine.

One such dish is “khachapuri.” As Rob explained, khachapuri is kind of like a pizza dish, but with an egg yolk in the middle of the bread crust, and served with different toppings. They will also have a baker on staff to make fresh breads and pastries, available for breakfast and throughout the day. Rob and Kim envision having a changing menu, as they like to offer a variety of dishes, especially using what is available throughout the year from local farms.

Now, when the Ink heard about the Double Up being a double decker bus, the Harry Potter books’ purple transportation bus came to mind. But no, the Double Up looks way cooler. Whenever you take a drive to Parksville, look for a red bus that has paint splatters on it, and get ready to chow down.