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

Chef Richard Lyman is on the move. Departing from his CdC role at The Roosevelt Room in Troy, the young chef is following his dream and joining La Padrona, a Michelin Guide-recommended restaurant in Boston, M.A. We talk to him about the move + his commitment to the craft.

Nineties coffee culture is back + all the cool kids want to hang. We hit up Kha & Mel’s Coffee + Tea Room (Delaware neighborhood, Albany), Jacob Alejandro (downtown Troy) + Station Six (Center Square, Albany) with a nod to the O.G. Little Peck’s expanded weekend nighttime hours.

Join Capital Roots for the first Good Food Fest at the Capital Roots’ Good Food Market. Enter the pickle competition or cast your vote for the ‘Best in Brine’ pickle competition sponsored by The Dishing x Whiskey Pickle.

Head over to the Whiskey Pickle for an after-party where the winning pickle brine will star in a pickle cocktail!

You want tacos. We’ve got tacos. This is THE TACO HIT LIST.

The opening of The Verandah in Troy’s Little Italy is a fusion of Jamaican island cooking and Italian Likkle Tings.

Intel: All Change Around Albany + Troy.
— Editor Susie Davidson Powell dishes out the latest industry news in March.

Is art best served in a bar? In Hudson, Troy and Schenectady, these 4 bar owners are drawing a crowd.

Emry’s Garden is still tropical inside, but their 2025 winter cocktail menu got the holiday mood memo with a Banana Bread Old Fashioned, candy cane espresso martini + a ginger hot toddy.

Winter’s here, now what? We have 7 cozy wine bars where you can hunker down.

Now serving First + Adams’ signature honey pie for all your comfort vibes.

Brent Hunter, bartender + owner of 353 in Troy, talks hospitality, ice as an ingredient + custom building his bar from scratch.

Leaning into fall apple picking, Brent Hunter’s Apple Bottoms Up is clearly an apple crisp in a glass at 353 in Troy.

Bless up with inner luv for our favorite Jamaican spots

We paired Dominican Exec. Chef Riany Mena of Toro Cantina (+ Menu By Mena) with DJ/music producer Rome Thrasher and asked: If this dish were a track, what would it sound like?

Pretty Pig Provisions talks about his roving pop ups, coffee-cured bacon + Polish ferments.

We paired Executive Chef Éfrén Hernández of Casa Susanna with DJ/music producer DJ Wave and asked: If this dish were a track, what would it sound like?

Where to go for (really good) tacos

The Seasoning House talks Cote d’Ivorian flavors, cocktail culture, upstate diversity + their move to Troy.

We paired Executive Chef Noah Frese of Siro’s with DJ/music producer Jungle Punk and asked: If this dish were a track, what would it sound like?