Reviews + Recs

In Kinderhook, Isola is equal parts wine bar + community hub with Hillary Zio’s curated focus on boutique, coastal European wines.

In Rhinebeck, the C. Cassis tasting room is worth a visit anytime, but you should plan ahead and reserve your seat for their occasional Pretend Restaurant.

Little Goat (Rhinebeck) serves up polished farmhouse and community appeal with an all-day bakery, Mediterranean-inspired menu + the martini service of our dreams.

WHERE TO EAT—Below Ground at the Empire State Plaza.

In Hillsdale, Hilltown Hot Pies lives up to the hype with dough to die for + crushable wines. 🍕

A month after opening, we take a peek at the decor, cocktails + plates of Ambos, an Argentinian-inspired restaurant with Hudson Valley inclinations, inside the 70,000-square foot Hudson handbag factory reimagined as The Pocketbook Hudson Hotel + Baths.

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

In its prime Broadway location in Saratoga Springs, Egyptian-Lebanese flavors are the star at Sara’s Kitchen where friends can linger over mezze, shawarma and Lebanese wine.

Where to eat in Kinderhook: 3 spots to know — The Aviary, Isola Wine Bar + Saisonnier

3 spots you need to know in Rosendale: Bistrot Le Chat Barbu, Well Nice Wine Bar + Montauk Catch Club.

Taking over the vintage 1960s bar, L’Roca Restaurant + Lounge is bringing Dominican flavor to the storied Elbo Room.

In business for over 90 years, Ralph’s Italian American is a cozy, old-school tavern for club sandwiches, Italian favorites and late night dining.

Stylish, friendly, unrushed and exceptionally fresh. We rate Saratoga’s Omakase Sushi & Grill as worth a trip.

Cleome, in the Empire Theatre building, is serving up sleek contemporary style and Southern comfort food

Albany Ale & Oyster serves up all-day dining with retro flair, friendly service, craft beer + comfort food that sticks. (And $1 oysters on Sundays!)

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.

Quechua Peruvian serves up classic regional dishes and the coastal plates of Lima’s Japanese-Peruvian Nikkei cuisine in a former Italian restaurant near the Arsenal in Watervliet.

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.

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.

Casita at Mass MoCA is a love letter to the tiny villages of Mexico with regional dishes, house-made tortillas and moles, and excellent cocktails and mezcals sourced during visits to producers.

Tuscan Bakery is not Italian but Turkish. Go for fresh made bread, Turkish böreği, kol börek, sweet pastries and imported Turkish delight. Stay for Turkish coffee, breakfast, menemen, or tea.

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.

Saba Cafe & Hookah Lounge is on the 2nd floor up a steep flight of stairs above the Saba al Yemen (formerly Sheba al Yemen) on Central Ave. With a cafe menu of coffees, pastries and smoothies it is family friendly by day, and a hookah lounge with monthly events during the evening.

Daisuki is a Tokyo-style record bar Tucked inside a former walk-in ATM vestibule on 2nd Street in Troy with just 14 seats, Japanese highballs, sake overpours + eclectic snacks.

This unassuming strip mall taqueria behind a gun range in Green Island is a riot of color and flavor from the menu boards on the wall to the broad menu spanning chilaquiles, tacos arabe, carne asada, ceviches and tacos de cachete (beef cheek).

The vibrant Umana Yana embraces global cuisines with Afro-Caribbean dishes and the area’s only Ethiopian stews and injera bread. Serves global wines and wine-based or non-alcoholic cocktails with optional CBD shots.

Mystic Momo’s colorful, pleated Nepalese dumplings are dished up in a former bank + OTB overlooking historic Townsend Park in Albany.

Cafe Euphoria in Troy, NY is an inclusive, worker-owned + operated cafe/restaurant with a thrift store and co-working space. It serves breakfast and lunch with a dinner menu on weekends.