Do you remember the first time you drove toward the Catskills or took a train? Is there anything more magical? Just beyond this incredible, if at times overwhelming, metallic metropolis, there are trees and rivers and rolling hills as far as the eye can see, which always amazes me no matter how often I get there.
The Catskills also offer an escape from the city’s overcrowded food scene. And as of 2020, a handful of truly special restaurants have opened around Hudson, Kingston, and Woodstock that are worth checking out the next time you’re there.
Deep Fried Bologna Sandwiches, Filipino Bites and Velvet Banquettes
On Presidents’ Day weekend, after a tip from a very helpful employee of Bluebird Wine and Spirits in Accord, NY, a group of friends and I walked in Ollie’s Pizzawhich opened in 2020, at nearby High Falls. After only a 10-minute wait (!), we drank ice-cold Negronis and ate meatballs with fluffy focaccia and an onion pie with shallots and chilli peppers on a nutty sesame seed crust.
After last night’s luck, we drove to Hudson, which could be called SoHo North at this point. And yet it’s home to the decidedly no-nonsense, unfancy Cafe Mutton, open since 2021, where we were promptly seated again. Chef and owner Shaina Loew-Banayan specializes in a kind of easy yet extremely delicious cafe food: a mayo-infused deep-fried bologna sandwich with locally grown meat; tender pancakes with rich maple syrup; and a soul-warming, congee-inspired porridge with chicken, scallions, and chili crisp that I’ve thought about every day since.
On our last full day we drove to Woodstock to visit Harana Market, which opened in 2021. It’s a small Asian market and deli with an incredible selection of made-to-order Filipino food. We enjoyed our orders by a fire pit that overlooked a grassy valley. With little to no cell reception, there was nothing left but to focus on the tortang talong, an aubergine omelette stuffed with garlic and herbs and drizzled with banana ketchup, and the creamy tofu sisig with sauteed mixed vegetables and garlic fried rice. If we had only gone on Friday we could have had the fish sauce twice fried chicken with garlic popcorn.
Maybe it was for the best, as we were aiming for a double dinner. The second meal was at Good night, an impeccably designed Southeast Asian restaurant that opened in November, outfitted with plush velvet benches, marble countertops and dazzling chandeliers. Amid all that millennial catnip, we dug into filet mignon carpaccio dressed in hot and sour mustard and lotus root, and a Vietnamese pork chop that resembled a deconstructed banh mi.
I’ll be back soon. The plan is to return to Cafe Mutton as well as my one true love – the tofu sisig at Harana Market – and visit Stissing Housethe Shaker-inspired restaurant of one of the chefs behind it King in Manhattan. It’s on the other side of the Hudson River, in Pine Plains, but I’d ford almost all waters for “stewed duck served with cornbread spiked with duck fat” and “pork shoulder braised overnight with cider and celeriac” as my colleague Priya Krishna described the menu. Will not you?
In other news…
In response to last week’s reader question about dining near Lincoln Center, Valeria V. wrote to endorse: the greek cuisine on Tenth Avenue, with a Greek wine selection she calls “unforgettable.” Leslie K. wrote that the West Village and Greenwich Village restaurants Jeffrey’s Grocery Store† Joseph Leonard† Fairfax and Jolene “are very sensitive to gluten-free issues and understand the safety for people with celiac disease.” If you have any questions or recommendations of your own, write to me at wheretoeat.. Thanks for reading, and have a nice week!
While dining at Mel’s in the former Del Posto space “can be a bit like going to a kid’s birthday party at a haunted house,” Pete Wells writes in his latest review, knowing exactly what to order — the Bibb salad, the New York strip, the fried clamshell and an ice cream sundae or two – makes the meal worthwhile.
Openings: Racines NY has become in TriBeCa Roomsa wine bar with a family tree and a home-cooked menu; Veronica returns Thursday under new management and with a modified but still Eastern European menu; travelers can now enjoy Chuko Ramen† bubbies† Essex Burger and other local restaurants in Delta Terminal C of La Guardia Airport; and more.
Mashama Baileyde Savannah, Ga., chef behind the Grey, won the Outstanding Chef award at this year’s James Beard Awards, and Owamni by the Sioux Chef in Minneapolis was named Best New Restaurant. Find out more about the Awards’ return after the break here.
Email us at wheretoeat.† Newsletters are archived here† Follow NYT Food on Twitter and NYT Cooking on Instagram† facebook† YouTube and Pinterest†
