Bimi’s Story
About
Bimi’s Cheese Shop has been an anchor in the charming village of Chatham since 2014. Now, nearly ten years later, owners Christopher Landy and Ellen Waggett have expanded and are offering customers a place to gather, relax and share a meal or a pint at Bimi’s Canteen and Bar.
Our Team
CHRISTOPHER LANDY AND ELLEN WAGGETT
Co-Owners and Founders
Ellen and Chris are the unlikely founders of Bimi’s Cheese Shop, Canteen and Bar. Theatrical designers by training, the couple designs major television shows and events through their company Vibrant Design. They have raised their two children shuttling between Brooklyn and Columbia County, and have called Austerlitz their home for 18 years. They are robustly committed to both preserving and revitalizing Columbia County through hard work and thoughtful investment in the area. They take on projects others wouldn’t dream of, but their confidence in their on tenacity and creativity have a proven track record of success.
Ellen is currently the production designer of The Amber Ruffin Show and Late Night with Seth Meyers. Her credits include numerous shows for Food Network- most notably Chopped. She designed Colbert’s Christmas Special (for which she was nominated for an Emmy), sitcoms Whoopi, Hope and Faith, and Sherri, and spent years as the art director for movies, sitcoms, and episodic television shows.
Chris is an Emmy award winning lighting designer whose credits and clients include Oprah Winfrey, The Tonight Show, John Oliver, Comedy Central, Food Network, Netflix, and MTV.
ISABELLA WALDORF
Chef
Chef Isabella Waldorf was born and raised in Chatham, NY. She comes from a large and loving Columbia country family; she is the second-oldest of seven kids . Bella grew up in a family who grew fresh food in their backyard and prepared meals together from scratch. She learned from early childhood the details and importance of every step of nourishment from seed to plate.
Bubbling with infectious joy, and driven by curiosity and compassion, Bella has carved her own unique path to leading Bimi’s kitchen, always with her compass set to caring for her community. After graduating from Buxton School in Williamstown, MA, Bella dedicated two years to the Camphill Association, an anthroposophy-based program where volunteers live with and care for adults with special needs. Camphill communities are largely self-reliant, operating their own farms, gardens, bakeries, and wood shops. As chef, Bella became profecient at cooking at a large scale during her time with Camphill.
Bella is a gifted artist and potter, and also volunteers at St. Peter’s church in Spencertown NY, cooking for community benefit events like their Election Day dinner.
In Bella’s own words:
“Food is magic– it is nourishing, healing, exciting and comforting; I aim to capture and create space for all of these different facets. It is an honor to be able to work with food that is grown so close by.
At the restaurant, I have no idea who is walking through the door and what they are looking for at that moment. If somebody wants the comfort of a burger or the delight of something the have never heard before, I want to create that for them. It’s really exciting to me that within this restaurant I have the opportunity to play and to create as many experiences as I can think of.
I often come back to the idea that life is about the people you surround yourself with. To me, it;s about caring for those you know and even for those you don’t.
Food is a direct way to extend that offering and one of the most wonderful ways to bring people together.
Currently I get to bring that idea to life everyday being the chef at Bimi’s Canteen. Being in the right place at the right time had a big role in me being the Chef, however, I am filled with gratitude because it’s very important to me to be able to explore the world of food in such a supportive environment while also bringing people together in the town I grew up in. ”