It’s “It’s Only Tuesday!”—The Dishing’s weekly letter. The Dishing is a different kind of dining guide connecting people + places with industry intel + in-person events.

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Issue No. 68 - The Street Eats Issue
Hello, Dishing crew + a big welcome to all the new readers. Hope you’re all hungry—we have a lot of Tuesday food to dish. In the past week, I personally worked through sweet shredded kataif + cheesy boreg at the Armenian Festival in Troy, popped in on The Meat Stick Chick at Beats + Eats in downtown Albany, grabbed a gyro from The Greek House after the Troy farmers market + hit up the Opalka Beer Garden Pop Up on Friday for the opening night of Light & Transient Causes. Come out this Friday 9/18 for the final beer garden + grab a cold one. Save the date as our event arm, DISHING.STUDIO, is putting on an experiential tasting connected to the artists’ show on Friday, Nov. 13. [Details coming soon.] Scroll down to the end for cool upcoming food/film/art events too.

In more news, Victoria Sedefian, our amazing lead food + drink photographer, was the subject in this feature for Saratoga Living. Word spread fast that Tara Kitchen would close its Troy + Guilderland restaurants, leaving only the Schenectady location. It wasn’t news to us as we recently did a shoot at Tara Kitchen Tribeca for this week’s tastemaker interview with chef-restaurateur Aneesa Waheed. Waheed gave us the scoop on the closings, the expansion of Tara Kitchen downstate + moving her family to NYC.

Restaurants are in that post-summer slump between Labor Day + the holidays, so it helps to spread dinner ressies into midweek. Hey, are you free tomorrow? Meet us at 6:30pm at the Lucas Confectionery (Weds. 9/16) + combine your night out with a TINY Talk! Guest speaker + mushroom expert Avery Stempel has a 30-min lowdown on shrooms + therapeutic benefits for your mind. Tickets include your first tiny cocktail with a tiny bite, or order off the full Clark House menu. Reserve your spot!
(*Club members have a 10% ticket discount.)

Current + previously local Albany + Hudson chefs got lots of love this week: Welton’s Tiny Bakeshop (Charleston, SC)—owned by Zach + Hannah Welton, the married former chefs of The Kitchen Table in Albany (a rebrand of New World Bistro)—made the Food & Wine Best Chefs 2026 list. Their little daytime bake shop has recently expanded to include weekend evening hours with a small plates menu + natural wines. (Hop a flight from Albany for a weekend of good eats.) | From Chef Zak Pelaccio and partners, Leo’s in Santa Fe, NM, is among the 2026 New York Times 50 Best Restaurants list. Of course, Pelaccio and Jori Emde were the celebrated chef-owners of Fish & Game in Hudson before moving full-time to New Mexico + opening Corner Office in Taos + Leo’s in Santa Fe. | Finally, under Executive Chef Jonas Offenbach, Serre at The Maker Hotel in Hudson is featured in Time + Leisure as one of the Best 25 Hotel Restaurants in the world.

And…Chef Nick Ruscitto of Peck’s Arcade is falling for pizza; tastemaker Wilson Keenan of Bakery Suzanne is relocating to Charleston, SC, + seeking a full-time baker to run his Wilton-based bakery; Ufondo, a Nigerian restaurant from Chef Obinna Nwagboso, the former co-owner of Keobi on Lark Street, opened in Colonie Mall; and another featured tastemaker, Chef de Cuisine Pruitt Kerdchoochuen, is leaving Eliza in Kingston to focus on popups + her Banyen ice cream side quest. She has one final Thaiglish menu on tap this weekend from Friday, September 18 to 20. If you go to Eliza on Friday night, stop at Eng’s for the Eng’s x Moonburger collab with Moonburger’s hand-breaded chicken glazed in Eng’s famous General Tso’s sauce + hot chile mayo. IYKYK.

BIG INTEL | SMALL PRINT

🫒 The final Opalka Gallery Pop Up Beer Garden in Albany is on Fri. 9/18, 6 to 9 p.m
🫒 The Village of Coxsackie downtown block party with food/vendors is Fri 9/18, 5-8pm
🫒 Olive & Oregano—set to open in downtown Albany—will have a free menu tasting outside the MVP Arena on Sat. 9/19
🫒 Lark Street Tavern is hosting its 2026 Lark Out Loud Fest on 9/19
🫒 The Dishing will at Beats + Eats Monday at Clinton Market Collective in Albany on 9/21 with Cheebog Filipino + Pretty Pig Provisions as the hot pop up food vendors.
🫒 Pizzeria Mari (Troy) is hosting pizza with friends feat. First + Adams in Troy on 9/21. Preorder to avoid disappointment!
🫒 Capital Roots has its Autumn Evening fundraiser on 9/23 with 30 area chefs.
🫒 If you missed the last First + Adams x Jacob Alejandro, you can snag the last few 5pm seats to their 2nd pop up dinner collab on 9/24 here. And you could follow that with….
🫒 The Albany Troy Black Film Club is showing Eve’s Bayou at Kickback Studios in Troy at 7pm also on 9/24. Sliding scale of $5 to $10.
🫒 All Of Us Events is hosting Sundaze, A Summer’s End Disco at Gaffney’s on Sun. 9/27 at 4pm, feat. DJ Robbie Leslie of Studio 54! Tickets + details here.
🫒 The final Lil Deb’s Oasis (Hudson) “End of Life” guest chef series is Mon. 9/28, plus the block party finale on 10/4. More info here.
🫒 Tickets are on-sale for Fashion on the Farm in Ghent on 10/3 in support of the Palestine Heirloom Seed Library + featuring a collection by Neville Wisdom Design Studio.
🫒 Nick Africano. Mirador, Kingston, hosts his annual NYC Sherry Wine Fair on 10/4.
🫒 FUSION: The Anti-Gala Fundraiser for the Albany Barn artists-in-residence is on 10/16