Stories
Meet the movers, shakers + badass makers. These are the creatives making culinary news. And their stories of a pour or plate.
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Meet the movers, shakers + badass makers. These are the creatives making culinary news. And their stories of a pour or plate.
Sonia Castellani, bar director of Hamlet & Ghost in Saratoga Springs, talks about growing up in France, the importance of culinary flavors + the women who inspired her career.
Is art best served in a bar? In Hudson, Troy and Schenectady, these 3 bar owners are drawing a crowd.
At Hamlet & Ghost, the team leans on kitchen ingredients to coax flavors out of cocktails. Bar Director Sonia Castellani’s hot pink Ube Milk Punch is a clear case of less is more.
Haema Hospitality announces their first brick-and-mortar in a spring move to Hudson. They’re taking over the former Bar Bene wine bar on Warren Street and building owner, Marie Wong, is thrilled.
In Kinderhook, Isola is equal parts wine bar + community hub with Hillary Zio’s curated focus on boutique, coastal European wines.
Hillary Zio, sommelier and owner of Isola Wine Bar in Kinderhook talks about her love of teaching, women in wine, and designing a balanced life on her own terms.
Spring Fever? All Change in Saratoga: 7 Chefs On The Move.
Diamond Life: Abby Puca + Sean Meagher talk cut, clarity, balance + why you should care about the ice in your glass.
INTEL: Little City Luncheonette is open on New Scotland Ave in Albany with comfort specials, breakfast cocktails + two familiar young chefs. We dropped in for stacked pancakes, breakfast cocktails + matzo ball soup to get the early dish.
Cheesecake Machismo’s Lynn Beaumont + Bam Lynch talk about 23 years of cheesecake innovation, tattoos, global community + being an Albany icon.
Open 7 a.m. to 3 p.m., but breakfast cocktails + happy hour is a real thing at the brand new Little City Luncheonette in Albany, N.Y.
Bartender, trainer + wellness coach Trinel McDermott (June Farms/McGeary’s) shows us how to craft a bittersweet Lady Marmalade cocktail for The Dishing’s Zero-Proof series.
Restaurants, cafés and bars took a stand for workers and communities, supporting Minnesota and resisting I.C.E. with the Jan. 30, 2026 general strike.
In Albany’s Warehouse District, Itameshi’s Bar Director Will Hoschek is inspired by rock samphire for a mermaid-inspired Vesper of the sea.
Will Hoschek, bar director of Itameshi in Albany’s Warehouse District, talks hot cocktails, kosho, ferments + why he came back to the industry he loves.
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.
Bartender, trainer + wellness coach Trinel McDermott (June Farms/McGeary’s) uses Monday Gin + Sentia Red to craft a N/A No-Groni for The Dishing’s Bartender Series.
Sub-zero temps, snow, ice bars! From Lake George to Saratoga Springs, February is the month to bundle up for hot toddies, fire + ice.
INTEL: Welcome to The Hi-Note in Saratoga Springs. Canned beer, a Fernet club, wood-clad walls + ‘80s basement vibes are all in place at The Hi-Note.
Nigerian Chef Tayo Ola of the bi-coastal Ebi-Ayo Supper Club is the culinary inspiration for Albany-based Nigerian fashion designer, Mo Rabiu. Chef Tayo brought his supper club from L.A. to NYC and he talks with The Dishing about growing up in America through food and sharing culinary identities through seats at his table.
Little Goat (Rhinebeck) serves up polished farmhouse and community appeal with an all-day bakery, Mediterranean-inspired menu + the martini service of our dreams.
Zach Wolfgramm (Kindred, Saratoga) crafts his Second Hand Smoke for The Dishing’s ZERO PROOF cocktail series.
Will Hoschek (Itameshi, Albany) fires up a non-alc cocktail using kosho, a salt-fermented yuzu and green chile paste, for The Dishing’s ZERO PROOF cocktail series.
Brian Plutchok, creator of Pizza by Plu, talks pizza drops, pasta, DJ-ing + why some people can’t handle The Rules.
WHERE TO EAT—Below Ground at the Empire State Plaza.
Anton Kinloch (Lone Wolf, Kingston) serves us what we want in a non-alc Dirty “Martini” for The Dishing’s ZERO PROOF cocktail series.
In Hillsdale, Hilltown Hot Pies lives up to the hype with dough to die for + crushable wines. 🍕
Kat Dunn (Padrona, Hudson) brings the heat in ‘Smoke Signals,’ her spicy, Lapsang Souchong tea dupe of a boozier original for The Dishing’s ZERO PROOF cocktail series.
We ask 7 bartenders if zero-proof cocktails are here to stay. They’re all in.
Double Chicken, Please? At Hy’s Fried in South Egrement, Mass., we talked with owner Jack Luber about his family fried chicken recipe, vinyl-only DJ sets and why Hy’s might soon be a fried chicken empire.