POUGHKEEPSIE, NY — If you’ve driven through downtown Poughkeepsie over the past few weeks, chances are you’ve spotted the giant purple billboard announcing the latest independent effort in urban revitalization, a trendy Asian fusion restaurant and lounge, the Bull and Buddha.

Located a few doors up from the Artist’s Palate, the Bull and Buddha promises a culinary presence hitherto absent from both Poughkeepsie and the Hudson Valley at large.

As Bull and Buddha General Manager Luciano Valdivia put it “We’re going for a New York City vibe, young, hip, urban. This is not the same old Hudson Valley restaurant.”

Chief among the restaurant’s stylish, and irrefutably unique, attributes will be a seven foot-tall, two-ton, hard-carved Buddha from Tibet, a water wall and white onyx bar. Food service will include a full sushi bar, steak menu and small plates available in the bar/lounge area.

The restaurant has been the project of Valdivia and owner, Alex Libon since 2008. The two have worked with local tourism and revitalization committees including the Dutchess County Chamber of Commerce and Middle Main Revitalization to garner local support for the project.

“Main Street could become a restaurant locale. Not a Beacon or a Rhinebeck, but something more youth-oriented,” explained Valdivia. “In general, Poughkeepsie needs to identify itself as a city, a New York City outside of New York City, essentially play up our strengths.”

But all this comes with a price, right? Hardly. The Bull and Buddha management acknowledges that steep prices will only deter their desired dining demographic.

“We looked at local restaurants—Shadows, Crave, Babycakes, and Le Petit Bistro—and priced under all of them,” said Valdivia. “If you get a small plate and a drink, you can walk out of here for under 12 bucks.”

And what’s best? The management has plans for the restaurant to become a part of Vassar’s V-Cash program.

Bull and Buddha is expected to open at the end of this month.