First impression: 3 weeks after opening, we take a peak at the decor, cocktails + plates at Itameshi, a Japanese-Italian fusion concept inside Industrie apartment building in the Warehouse District, Albany.

Raissa Doumbia + Mathieu Niamke of The Seasoning House have brought their African cuisine from the Côte d’Ivoire to Troy.

From Siberian Chef Vlad Larvin, Taiga is a taste of the wild boreal mountain forests from his hometown Altai region. From Russian botanical teas to blinis with smoked salmon and roe, it’s a seasonal feast often with dramatic presentations. In the back, a surprising addition of a small store with his botanical skincare line and imported hand-sewn silk pajamas and clothes.

Hotel Lilien — a cool 1890’s boutique hotel, perfect for lounging if you’re upstate for a weekend; perfect for cocktails and light dinner in the living room of the hotel bar. Play pool, put some music on the juke box or show up for DJ Sir Shorty on a Saturday night.

From the award-winning chefs behind Contra + WildAir in NYC, an upscale, upstate dining retreat complete with chef’s gardens, boulder wrapped fire-pit, their signature creative small plates + impeccable cocktails. (Don’t miss their eclectic flavored ice cream.)

Suwun Thai Home Cooking is the new home of Brooklyn Thai restaurant Ghang Thai Kitchen in the former Cuckoo’s Nest in Albany’s Pine Hills. Upscale but warmly welcome, the menu reads as a best hits of Thai classics with Thai-inspired cocktails in flavors from tamarind to coconut-ginger.

Via Cassia is a fun, bustling Italian restaurant on lower Warren Street with a focus on simple, Mediterranean flavors, Hudson Valley farm ingredients, and a Californian twist.