Big Apple chefs are relocating north to make the area a dining destination.
(Bloomberg) — When it comes to New York City escapes, the Hamptons will always grab the headlines. But increasingly, hungry travelers are heading north, past the upward boundaries of Manhattan and the Bronx to the area loosely known as Upstate New York.
Don’t get too technical with the term: Some people will define it as anywhere north of Yonkers. For our purposes, it’s the expanse of countryside north of Manhattan that follows the boundaries of the Hudson River Valley. It lies north of Westchester and Rockland counties and south of the state’s capital, Albany, stretching east along the state border and west into the Catskill Mountains.
Stratospheric Hamptons real estate has priced out many New Yorkers. Instead, chefs such as Ryan Tate, who ran the kitchen at the notable Le Restaurant in TriBeCa, and restaurateur Taavo Somer, operator of perennially popular Freemans, have turned to small, charming towns like Hudson, Catskill, and Kingston, which offer more bang for the buck in the form of stunningly restored spaces and easy access to fresh and seasonal ingredients that are less expensive than they are in the Big Apple.
With the start of spring weather and all the glorious produce that goes with it, now is a good time to head north to eat. The 14 restaurants listed below are a two-to-three-hour drive from Manhattan (traffic notwithstanding) and offer some of the area’s most thoughtful and delicious cooking, helping to define a nascent culinary mecca. In addition to the ever-growing number of adorable new hotels such as Camptown, Wildflower Farms and Little Cat Lodge, notable properties slated to open include Soho Farmhouse and a Six Senses property.
West of the Hudson
Bovina Farm and Fermentory, Bovina Center
The dreamy, made-for-Instagram farmhouse in the western Catskills serves as both a restaurant and home to owners Elizabeth Starks and seventh-generation Catskill farmer Jacob Sackett. A year and a half ago, they kicked off the dining experience with a menu that changed every week and was offered most Saturday nights for $95. All the ingredients on the four- to five-course menu are plucked from area farms. The cooking reflects the area, which is rich in wild game: For instance, hare braised in garlicky sherry vinegar with celery root puree is a variation of a dish Sackett ate as a child. Beers—crisp lagers and oak-aged ales—are also home-brewed. The couple even built the farmhouse, along with much of its furniture, themselves.
The Restaurant at Inness, Accord
At 5 p.m., hotel guests and nearby residents start encircling the firepits adjacent to the restaurant to catch the sunset and sip spiced pineapple-mezcal cocktails. The idyllic modern farmhouse dining room, inspired by the area’s enduring Dutch colonial architecture, is the work of restaurant partner Taavo Somer, the Manhattan restaurateur behind the Lower East Side dining fixture Freemans. The menu focuses on Italian-Mediterranean cooking with dishes like house-made rigatoni flavored with chili flakes and bottarga, alongside braised short ribs over polenta.
Piaule, Catskill
This Catskill hotel, which opened in 2021, is bedecked in sleek, blond oak wood and set amid acres of wilderness. Executive chef Ryan Tate, of the now shuttered, Michelin-starred Le Restaurant in TriBeCa, came on board last spring. The all-day, sun-drenched restaurant overlooking the Catskill mountains in the property’s main house is influenced, Tate says, by the way “a person in the French countryside would eat.” That translates to rustic and hearty dishes like maple-glazed French toast and grilled squash on house-made focaccia during the day. The $115 three-course dinner tasting menu includes Japanese and European accents in dishes like beef tartare with aged soy and shiso, and roasted duck breast with fermented corn and foie gras.
Clay, Gardiner
Wildflower Farms, the lavish new property from luxury hotel brand Auberge Resorts Collection, is a destination getaway. Chef Rob Lawson (of Austin’s Uchi) uses the property’s six-acre farm to supply his seasonal New American restaurant: There’s fresh chicken eggs for the morning Benedict; broccoli rabe to accompany the grilled porterhouse (which serves two to three people and goes for $210); and fresh tomatoes for the Japanese milk bread. In support of all that’s local, sommelier Vanessa Price’s Empire State-focused wine list is stocked with reds, whites, rosés and ciders.
Goodies, Catskill
New York-style, kettle-boiled bagels feature at this takeout-focused breakfast and lunch spot in a wood-framed building on West Bridge Street. The upgraded sandwiches are made with local ingredients, including the components of the bacon, egg and cheese, here known as the Bagel Don Dada, and the Pastrami Mami, garnished with spicy mustard and dill pickles. The juicy grass-fed beef burgers are a highlight.
Casa Susanna, Catskill
This rustic Mexican dining spot opened in March at Camptown, a 50-room, Shaker style boutique hotel in the Catskills from the team that operates the popular Rivertown Lodge. Chef Efrén Hernández, who also cooks at Rivertown Tavern (below) highlights his Mexican heritage at this earth-toned, log cabin-esque space with dishes such as blood-sausage tamale and steelhead trout in a crispy tostada with epazote cream. His menu also includes dry-aged ribeye with bone marrow salsa and whole grilled mackerel al pastor that pair well with a bitter-orange margarita.
East of the Hudson
Troutbeck, Amenia
After years of cooking at pioneering Northern California restaurant Chez Panisse, chef Molly Levine—who cooked with her partner Alexandra Kaindl at the roving restaurant-in-an-Airstream, Westerly Canteen—now runs Troutbeck’s kitchen. The 1700s-era property is a popular destination for hiking and sports such as tennis that’s located about a five-minute drive west of the Connecticut border. The menu features seasonal dishes that give a nod to Italy’s small-plate aperitivo culture. There’s a particular focus on produce, with shaved celery root and kohlrabi crowned with boquerones (anchovies) and golden beets in a tahini crème fraîche. Larger plates include a confit chicken with an Italian fish sauce vinaigrette and ricotta gnocchi in brown butter with a hazelnut gremolata.
Cafe Mutton, Hudson
With its sparse and unfussy aesthetic, Café Mutton landed on noteworthy new-restaurant lists like Bon Appetit’s when it opened in Hudson two years ago. It’s the first restaurant for author and former Prune sous chef Shaina Loew-Banayan, who plates a short menu that emphasizes meat and offal. It’s “a tangled-up mess of nostalgia and gluttony,” says Loew-Banayan of her daily changing bill of fare, which could include stuffed chicken necks with polenta one day, and head cheese toast the next.
Kitty’s, Hudson
Former Eleven Madison Park pastry cook Robert Howay has made Kitty’s one of the best places to grab a bite in Hudson. The crimson-hued cottage, across from the town’s Amtrak train station opened two years ago during the pandemic. Last summer the adjacent, diner-inspired eatery opened its doors. During the day, customers line up for La Marzocco-pulled espresso-based drinks, excellent baked goods like the malted oat cinnamon bun, local eggs and produce, and squishy egg and cheese sandwiches laced with sauerkraut. At night, the space features inspired comfort food, such as lemon and miso-dressed broccoli Waldorf salad and pork schnitzel.
Gaskins, Germantown
After clocking time at New York City restaurants like The Modern and Marlow & Sons, husband-and-wife team Nick and Sarah Suarez decamped north, opening their cobalt-blue modern American tavern, Gaskins, in 2015. The duo revamped a century-old former grocery, maintaining an original brick wall and historical wood floors, adding banquettes and a marble bar for modernizing touches. Their family-friendly menu is deceptively simple: The grass-fed burger’s sesame seed bun is baked inhouse, and the buckwheat pappardelle, tossed with ’nduja, ricotta salata and spinach, is made fresh daily.
Stissing House, Pine Plains
The rather sleepy town of Pine Plains is home to one of upstate New York’s breakout hits. Owner and executive chef Clare de Boer of the beloved SoHo dining spot King runs the show at year-old Stissing House. The 250-year-old space is outfitted with antique furniture and wrought iron candle stands and boasts a massive, wood-fueled central hearth from which all dishes are fired. De Boer’s menu—from scallops with green garlic butter to rabbit and tarragon pie—is invariably rustic, homey and satisfying, served in a dining room that’s bathed in golden light.
Local 111, Philmont
This family-friendly spot—formerly a gas station—opened in 2006, but chef-caterer Josephine Proul didn’t take over food operations until two years later. With its retractable front garage door that, during warmer months, leads to a patio, this cozy, unfussy New American bistro dedicates a section of its menu to kids, with standards like a fried peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwich and macaroni and cheese. The roast chicken is studded with dried cherries and accented with tarragon butter, and there’s an old school-feeling, sweet-and-sour Asian pork belly served with shishito peppers.
Little Cat Lodge, Hillsdale
The Alpine-inspired Little Cat Lodge, which debuted last September near Catamount Mountain Resort on the Massachusetts border, is from the team behind Manhattan’s Black Seed Bagels, Noah Bernamoff and Matt Kliegman. The meat and cheese-rich menu evokes the kind of food you’d find at a European ski town: pork schnitzel, mushroom and crème fraîche-laced rigatoni and local flank steak blanketed in a rich raclette Mornay sauce. The space has a tavern-like feel, with its ’50s-era rustic wood walls and sturdy maple furniture.
Rivertown Tavern, Hudson
The combo boutique hotel and restaurant has a ground-floor tavern that’s become one of the area’s top dining spots. What makes the place stand out isn’t the region’s ubiquitous local ingredients; it’s the cooking of chef Efrén Hernández, formerly of New York City’s Mimi and Babs. He combines disparate culinary cultures in his cooking, from Italy and Japan to Mexico and California, where he grew up. His plates pair well with the small-producer focused European wine list. Cocktails lean more local and feature New York state distillers with an emphasis on bitters. Try Gossips of Rivertown (gin, grappa, white vermouth, bittersweet aperitivo) alongside house-made rye sourdough pasta.
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