At Cornerstone Restaurant in Pawling, N.Y., Chef Harris Mayer’s hyper-local, farm-to-table menu places area farms center stage. With over 20 farms named on ‘No Farms, No Food’ table-top cards, Cornerstone proves farmers are the real rockstars + Pawling is worth the drive. Plus, we think they may have the best Black Dirt onion rings ever.

Pinkerton’s Bakery (Kingston) in an iconic 1920s art deco gas station is home to the fantastic bread and pastries by James Beard Award-winning Angela Pinkerton, a former executive pastry chef of Eleven Madison Park. We love it enough to make a pilgrimage.

From the extreme $325 burger at Noah’s Italian to a new $75 Bloody Mary. Bar manager Olivia Savas manages to top an extreme Bloody Mary with brunch snacks for two.

As part of The Dishing’s new series connecting upstate + down, we talk with Executive Chef Jes Monroe, a North Creek native now running the Michelin Bib Gourmand Lower East Side wine bar, Ruffian.

The chef-led Johnson’s Barbecue fires up the Catskills with its new semi-permanent home + dive bar at The Boathouse in Tannersville. Industry contributor Dimity Jones is all in on the Kansas City ‘cue, chef-crafted sides + “lakeside, camp aesthetic that feels both retro boy scout lodge and local hangout.”

Meet Manuela Milan Vera, a 21-year old pastry chef from Uruguay who studied at the prestigious École Ducasse in France, and is the artist behind the desserts at Milas in Schenectady. Manuela (“Ella”) talks to us about creative risks, rock climbing + the power of saying yes.

At Noah’s Italian, bar manager Olivia Savas’ Scarpett nods to Italian roots + showcases Tuscan Piro Extra Virgin Olive Oil following a summer collab at Siro’s.

Tucked in the former World of Beer in Crossgates Mall, Emperor Garden joins a handful of Chinese restaurants we recommend with several dishes you won’t find elsewhere.

REVIEW: Sushi By Bou, a speakeasy-style micro-omakase chain known for 12-course chef menus + dining speed, has a new experience in its arsenal. A handful of its 22 locations from Atlanta to Albany have added a monthly Tuna Cutting Experience featuring a 250 lb Bluefin tuna + sliced for a hungry crowd. Susie Davidson Powell joined the guests scraping bones with spoons + drinking sake from its head.

TASTE: BREAKING BREAD — A Reuben-Inspired Cocktail for A Late Night Pickle Plate by Zach Wolfgramm + Tom Madarasz

Hospitality veteran Quang Tran talks service, Michelin stars, fatherhood + the good, bad + ugly of a career in the trenches.

Wine educator Dominique DeVito reminisces over summers in France for this week’s bottle crush + makes a case for a classically French Kir cocktail.

From the NeoVista Hospitality team comes the latest downtown Albany opening with their stylishly-designed all-day Bakery 66.

Sommelier Val Feldman, owner of Stable Gate Winery, Barn + Vineyard in Castleton, talks natural wine, fermentation, inclusivity + expanding her family’s four-generation business.

At Hamlet & Ghost, bartender Tim O’Connell was inspired by a local chef to use marjoram in a cocktail. The result? An herbaceous, summery martini.

A collaboration between Val Feldman of Stable Gate Winery in Castleton + Italian bartender Francesco Dionese, based in New York City, means the Capital Region is home to Dionese’s Bitter Aperitif wine, a remarkably good alt to Campari, and a sibling for their Dionese’s sweet vermouth. Made in New York, baby.

Freelance bartender Janesha “Jaja Levons” talks bartending in New York, international modeling, skateboarding, raising her son + why beauty is more than skin deep.

For Bastille Day, we have a roundup of where to eat upstate when you want to pretend you’re in France.