Looking for suggestions for the Hudson Valley

Hi, i am new to the site and very excited to try out some of the dining suggestions. We are headed up to Woodstock for the first time next week and are looking for suggestions of where to eat. We are carnivores. Love Italian and a great croque madame. We also love DiPalos Italian Market and are looking for an equivalent in the Catskills, Hudson Valley, Berkshires.

Welcome, Laura. Just wanted to day that. Unfortunately, I have not been up that way in so long I can’t give you any information. I hope you enjoy it here at HO.

Thanks, I look forward to my time here.

There’s a great German style butcher just outside Woodstock (on the way to Saugerties) called Smokehouse of the Catskills. They do seasonal things like weisswurst, have housemade head cheese, all sorts of german sausages, pretzel rolls, occasional venison products and lots of German groceries. Really nice people and always worth a stop.

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Wow, thanks, i just looked it up… right up our alley. Especially if they have a pretzel roll!

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Darn it, we were just up in Saugerties on Saturday! I wish I had known about this place - looks right up my alley. Next time!

To the OP - we had a very nice trip to Newburgh Brewing on Saturday. Good beer, good food (great burger and poutine).

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depending on things you like to do and you driving route…

the CIA has ‘student run’ restos vicinity of Hyde Park. check their website - as they are not in ‘full operation’ during the summer break.
and do take their dress code seriously - observed one group get turned away . . .
don’t buy the Greystone wines, , , , not to our liking
don’t miss the bookstore - lots of interesting ‘stuff’

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Thank you Looks amazing… and thanks for the dress cods tip.

What were they wearing? We had lunch at Bocuse yesterday and I wore dress shorts and a polo shirt and was fine. I actually got my reservation at the last minutes, the day before. The instructor told me that they had two cancellations, so I got lucky. They check your name at the gate, cannot enter the campus without a reservation. The restaurant was still only running at half capacity due to Covid restrixtions, so it’s tough to get a reservation. We had a very nice meal.

Was surprised to find the Apple Pie bakery open, but obviously only for students and those who had reservations.

American Bounty had ‘business casual’ listed - they declined to seat a group with (some) in shorts and tee shirts…

altho I see the absence of a dress code on the site and several comments they have no dress code now…

perhaps they’ve changed their minds . . . ?

If you are taking the Taconic up from NYC, and then switch to Route 55, you can go past Rossi’s Deli in Poughkeepsie which makes fresh mozzarella daily, and has all sorts of Italian meats, along with stuffed breads and lots more. rossideli.com

I would suggest checking out places in Kingston and Saugerties, but I don’t get over to that area much anymore.

Poughkeepsie it is… sounds like a day trip as we are up here for 3 weeks. Thank you

Oh, if you will be in the area for three weeks I definitely recommend a day trip to Rushing Duck Brewery, preferably on a day when NeeNee’s Kitchen is there. Excellent Thai food and good beers. Followed by a trip to Bellvale Farms Creamery for fabulous ice cream and stunning views of Mt. Peter.

Thank you, I tried to search out Neenee’s and it looks like they are only doing catering these days… but I will definitely be getting ice cream. Unfortunately, we dont do beer so the brewery is out, We had a nice dinner at Cucina last night, with a caramel ice cream sundae for dessert… lovely place. And a really nice cookie at Violets in Saugerties while we were driving around in the rain yesterday. Thanks for all the suggestions… keep them coming!!! Desserts are our thing.

In that case, Bellvale is worth a trip on its own! There are several cute restaurants in the nearby town of Warwick, or a trip to Warwick Vallery Winery and Distillery is a nice way to spend the day, too - they have a big selection of ciders, wines and spirits and a nice grill with good wood fired pizzas, salads, sandwiches, etc. Live music and other events as well.

Thanks, more places to add to this ever growing list. We loved Rossi’s., thank you bob_g!!! OMG the sandwiches. And everyone was so nice. The most amazing breads and yes, some ravioli from the freezer and a little prosciutto. Nearby we found an Italian bakery, La Deliciousa, and got a selection of cookies then onto The Pastry Garden for a sweet little cheesecake and a Death by Chocolate cupcake for tomorrow. If only it would cool down and stop raining.

Great, I’m happy Rossi’s hit the spot! Glad you found La Deliziosa and Pastry Garden, we’ve used both of them for parties. Cannolis are very good at La Deliziosa.

If you get back over, there are plenty of decent places to eat in Poughkeepsie. Essie’s (right next to La Deliziosa) is quite good, even if he has a pared down menu because of Covid. The flavors are always outstanding, the meats (or fishes) are cooked to perfection, and if it matters, he was on Food Network’s Chopped (didn’t win, made the final), is a CIA grad who has been allowed to take over their Instagram page today (Friday). (https://www.essiesrestaurantpk.com/)

Other places that are a bit different in the area - Twisted Soul in Poughkeepsie calls itself international street food, and without Vassar in sesssion, you can get your order quicker. https://www.twistedsoulconcepts.com/

If you are looking for beers, ciders or sodas Half Time (Route 9, Poughkeepsie https://halftimebeverage.com/) has an immense selection, you can buy single cans/bottles, and I know before they opened up a store in Rye?, people would come up from NYC just for the store. And in the Poughkeepsie Galleria is Hudson Valley Exotics (or 845 Exotics), where you can get Thai Pepsico snacks and other oddball things.

Bia in Rhinebeck is Irish cooking meets local sourced, and I haven’t had a bad dish there. The Sunday night roast special is delicious. http://bia-rbk.com

A bit further away, but possibly on the way back down - in Wappingers, just off Route 84 by the bridge (next to the baseball stadium) is Red Pepper Diner. Great Sri Lankan food, and the buffet is worth it (if they are serving it again). https://www.facebook.com/pages/category/Diner/Red-Pepper-Diner-1586749234894224/

Also, if you didn’t get a chance before, you might want to check out the Walkway Over the Hudson (right near La Deliziosa). My friends from NYC who came up loved that.

Welcome!

Are you based in NYC? If so, do contribute to the NYC board!

I love the HV but haven’t been up since before covid times.

Rhinebeck makes a nice day trip. Terrapin has a casual cafe next door that has great food. Gigi is good Italian. There are some old timey ice cream shops around the corner on the main stretch. The Tavern at Beekman Arms isn’t fancy food but is very atmospheric A bit further south is Matchbox Cafe - casual and takeout.

Tivoli - also across the river - has lots of casual places, and in the summer you won’t have the Bard crowds (well, also given covid times).

Enjoy, and do write up a report (or a few) so the rest of us can live vicariously - and also for the next person along!

Hi… Thanks… we are going to do the walk over the river and if we don’t get back to Poughkeepsie this trip we will eventually as we keep a car in the city and like to travel out -

I am not really based anywhere these days. We spent covid in Miami , the year before that in London , the 2 prior years in between Miami, NY and London and now we will travel the east coast for the summer then settle back into NYC. We have started to pass through Richmond, DC, and a little bit in North Carolina because we are driving, not flying these days.

SO here is a bit of an intro into our food hobby and a bit of train of thought on our experiences here there and everywhere.

I can recommend good food in Coral Gables which is south of Miami and the surrounding areas -

Along with bakeries we like chinese soup dumplings so we search them out as we travel.

The latest place we were really impressed by was near RIchmond at a place call Peter Chang Richmond, 2816 W Broad St A, Richmond, VA 23230 - fabulous soup dumplings, fried rice, pork belly… we used to drive out to Flushing for Kung Fu Xioa Long Bao, and have probably tried a dozen other places in Flushing.

But we are up here for 3 weeks and are eating our way through the Catskills and Hudson Valley. We had our second really good meal today - Bistro Zinc, 56 Church St, Lenox, MA 01240 - A duck confit grilled cheese. Its hard up here, lots of restaurants are open only for dinner, only a few days a week.

We LOVED smoke house of the Catskills. Its really a butcher shop - smells wonderful and thanks for the Peekamoose recommendation ,it is at the top of our list. We tried but couldn’t get into the culinary school but we eventually will

Last week we brought our picnic from Rossis deli in Poughkeepsie to Tanglewood and tonight we saw Ballet Hispanica at Jacobs Pillow. We do do a few things other than food, but not many. We consider ourselves Hunter Gatherers because it seems we spend most of our waking hours searching down our meals.

Here is a quick summary -

Amazing sushi at SushiMakio, 1088 Morton Blvd, Kingston, NY 12401, just blocks from some pretty bad sushi at Miso, 478 Albany Ave, Kingston, NY 12401 - the fish was fine, the rice was old.

Of course the best sushi in NY is at Sasabune Express, 322 E 59th St #2, New York, NY 10022. I swear I think they soak it in sugar salted water.

I am not sure if I reported here on Oriole 9 where we had a great burger and eggs benedict, in Woodstock.
Had an ok meal at a lovely place called the Amsterdam in Rhinebeck, ( you will see a pattern emerge) eggs benedict and a croque madame . Best Croque so far in NY is La Bonne Soupe, 48 W 55th St, New York, NY 10019, and they do a pretty good chocolate mousse.

The most impressive Chocolate Mousse in NY has to be at Cafe Fiorello, 1900 Broadway, New York, NY 10023 at Lincoln Center.

Back to HV - a good meal, steak and a fabulous drink at Cucina, 109 Mill Hill Rd, Woodstock, NY 12498. Really a beautiful place - cloth napkins, salt bowls, good feeling, you can sit on the porch.

Also in Woodstock we had a pretty good meal at the Little Bear - Chinese - the thing we liked best was pork stuffed with scallion.

We do a LOT of bakeries.

A great croissant at The Lost Lamb, 31 Main St, Stockbridge, MA 01262, they also do sandwiches. And we popped into Piece Love and Chocolate, LLC, 805 Pearl St, Boulder, CO 80302 and brought home a really good s’more.
Yesterday we had lunch at Savona’s - Red Hook, 7249 S Broadway, Red Hook, NY 12571, it was fine. We shared a Caesar salad which I would not recommend and a carbonara which was fine and enough to feed 3. then onto Annabelle’s Village Bake Shop, 7501 N Broadway, Red Hook, NY 12571 for a really chocolate brownie.

Violet’s Bakery, 81 Partition St, Saugerties, NY 12477 is run by a happy baker and she makes a potato chip cookie which we didnt get to try but I urge anyone passing through to give it a try.

Dutch Ale House, 253 Main St, Saugerties, NY 12477 - wasn’t thrilled with the rib special but loved the onion soup and had a pretzel!!! the pretzel came with a few dips!!! this was a happy happy meal.

I also cook so we have checked out a few markets and have brought in fish and meat from the farmers markets, but nothing special enough to brag about.

Lastly I travel with these in a freezer - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Oa5g_3VXexQ . They are a take off on Levains and the best cookie I have ever had.

So that is a scattered update on all things food these days. Thanks again to everyone for their recommendations and companionship. I will definitely be joining in on the NY board when I get back in October.

I will keep posting as we work our way through.

Nite All…

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