Solo dining is more popular than ever with Gen Z leading the way. Dining critic Susie Davidson argues it’s the highest form of self care.

Sweet corn, butter, dill pickle, tomato-peach-habanero? Has soft serve reached peak savory this fall?

Move over butter-dipped soft serve. We asked 3 restaurants to pair Olio Piro as their soft serve topping of summer ‘26.

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.

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.

Summer race season 2026. Piro x Siro’s, the perfect finish.
A culinary collaboration + brand activation by Dishing.Studio.

INTEL: Anton Kinloch goes back to his rum roots as he reworks Lone Wolf, the upscale 3-year old Kingston cocktail bar, in the image of his original New Paltz tiki bar, Fuschia Tiki.

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.

INTEL: The Dishing caught up with Andrew Patterson, former bar director of Milas in Schenectady, as he takes on a new bar director role at Sweet Polly in Park Slope, Brooklyn.

INTEL: Saud Khan, a 518 local + content creator known as Chaiguy on Tiktok, opened two Pakistani chai + coffeehouses in NYC after closing Alif Cafe in Glens Falls to move downstate. Now, he’s back with Alif Cafe 2.0. which soft-opened this week. We have the early intel.

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.

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

INTEL A new sibling for Milas + a new addition for Ziemann Hospitality with the planned opening of Bar Calvin in Stuyvesant Plaza. Coming June 2027.

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