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All in Food and Drink
While many brewers are crafting heavily hoppy, dank IPAs, Suarez is focusing on crisp, classic beers. Sample of the finest, freshest lager, pilsner, or kolsch at this Hudson brewery.
Here's a cheat sheet to all my blog posts on the shops, restaurants, farm stands, hotels, and AirBnB's mentioned in my Brooklyn Based piece, “Upstate escape: 3 off-the-beaten-path Catskills towns.” Photo by Beth Schneck.
Lime Kiln Farm feels like a little piece of the Italian countryside tucked into the Hudson Valley. The owners made cheese in Tuscany for over 20 years before moving to the Catskills town of Coxsackie.
So fragrant and almondy, so rich with the jammy sweetness of its fig filling. This cake is the perfect foil to a cup of coffee or tea, and I've been craving it ever since. YOU MUST TRY IT ASAP.
It's cheap, it's clean, it's kid-friendly, and it's so much better than a fast food chain. Plus, it's the only place you can buy their incredible Secret Sauce to slather onto grilled chicken, burgers, and dogs all summer long.
Crossroads Brewing Company's Catskill Taproom offers a new creek-side retreat from one of the area's long-loved brewers. Crossroads has operated its flagship brew pub out of Athens, NY since 2010, and their second location, opened in 2017, has a more modern and industrial feel.
The Cask and Rasher in Coxsackie has the home-away-from-home quality of a solid neighborhood sports bar, plus a really impressive beer selection and an pub food menu that beats our all favorite Brooklyn brew pubs, hands down.
What's the best bakery in the Catskills? Bonfiglio and Bread, in the quaint riverfront village of Athens, is definitely on our list.
If you're trying to wrap up your holiday shopping this weekend, everything you need is at Mansion + Reed.
For the entertainers who have it all, or for the guy on your list who doesn't seem to want or need anything, the Reed Street Bottle Shop in Coxsackie is here to help you finish up your shopping list.
For tea drinkers, knitters, chocolate lovers, and wintertime hikers, the homey shop at Heather Ridge Farm offers the gift of coziness. Treat yourself to brunch with their new chef, Robert Lugo, and wrap up your shopping while you're at it.
A sprinkle of high-quality sea salt makes everything taste better. It's a luxury item for serious home cooks, especially when it comes gorgeously packaged and infused with rhubarb, blueberry, licorice, or birch smoke.
During his tenure at Heather Ridge Farm, our favorite local chef, Rob Handel, created this delicious elixir. This "Patent" Root Beer Syrup is ready to mix with seltzer, stir into cocktails, spoon over ice cream, glaze roasted meat, or add depth to soups and stews.
The New York Restaurant in Catskill is known for refined versions of stick-to-your-ribs all-American classics and old-world Polish fare, like house-made pierogi, served with pitch-perfect sauerkraut, a rich bacon-onion chutney, and juicy kielbasa.
Where to buy a local, pasture-raised Thanksgiving turkeys in the Catskill Mountains.
The unsung hero of Hobart Book Village is a homey little country diner, serving up delicious food and tons of character. It's worth getting to Hobart in time for breakfast or lunch because you seriously don't want to miss this place.
HiLo in Catskill serves superlative coffee, pitch-perfect cocktails, and glorious snacks, and boasts a gallery and performance space featuring well-curated roster of artists and musicians.
City folks always flock to Hudson, Phoenecia, and the surrounding areas. But if you have access to a car and can sneak away for a couple of days, go to the hamlet of Oak Hill in the Great Northern Catskills.
The Jolly Cow Ice Cream makes the perfect rest stop when you're heading to the Catskills from NYC. It's 5 minutes off the Thruway, and kiddy cups/cones cost a mere $1.40, probably cheaper than whatever junk food you'd grab at gas station's convenience store.
