Where to Eat
This is where we drop the intel. New openings. Reviews. Round ups.
Girls’ Night? Where to find $10 martinis? Wine bars upstate? There’s a spot—or 5—we know.
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.
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.
EXCLUSIVE: As The Larkin HiFi closes, a veteran Albany bar team get ready to take the reins.
For Bastille Day, we have a roundup of where to eat upstate when you want to pretend you’re in France.
Where to Find Filipino Food Upstate. We track down Filipino pop ups, a food truck in Glens Falls, a James Beard nominated spot, a kamayan feast + a few (rare) brick-and-mortar eateries.
INTEL: Chef Colin Miner is back in Glens Falls with a new modern menu at soon-to-open Katy’s Wine + Whiskey Bar. We got the early scoop on his small plates menu.
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.
INTEL: As Panza’s celebrates its 88th year + the arrival of Elliott Vogel as their new Executive Chef, his first spring menu honors the restaurant’s Italian history, while his foraged, seasonal plates take center stage.
Award-winning Deep Fried Beers latest creation isn’t a beer. It’s a bagel. We talk to head brewer, Johnny Osborne, about his Deep Fried “Beergals.”
INTEL: Pinhook Bourbon’s Next Saratoga Blend Is Coming This Summer. The Dishing was invited behind the scenes as industry professionals determined the blend.
UPDATE: Linger over a Long Lunch or lazy wines in a garage now officially named Merkin. Cafe Mutton’s chef-owner Shaina Loew-Banayan dishes the details on their new addition + its bushy backstory.
As Bar Director Andrew Patterson departs Schenectady for Brooklyn, Collin Myers steps in at Milas.
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: Curious Elixirs, booze-free, ready-to-drink adaptogenic cocktails crafted by bartenders and made in the Hudson Valley, was one of the first on the market. We asked founder John “J.W.” Wiseman what’s changed in a decade.
INTEL: What happens when 9 Saratoga bartenders help to create a unique Pinhook Kentucky bourbon whiskey? You get a true Spa City blend. And it’s coming to Saratoga soon.
The Dishing’s Holiday Gift Guide 2025 is here! Feel festive, feed your friends, shop local. We’ve got you covered!
Inspired by a wine bar in Troy, Schenectady finally has a natural wine bar of its own. We dish the early intel with owner Tina Riggi.
BOTTLE CRUSH — We ask the experts: Does it turkey? Four wines to get you through Thanksgiving 2025.
Where to eat: 3 spots to know in Poughkeepsie. Downtown investment, the custom-built Eastdale Village + a riverfront revival are reshaping Poughkeepsie for casual dining.
3 spots you need to know in Rosendale: Bistrot Le Chat Barbu, Well Nice Wine Bar + Montauk Catch Club.
INTEL: Saud Khan, owner of Pakistani chai + coffee houses, Kaafi by Chaiguy, in NYC, returns to Glens Falls to re-open Alif Cafe 2.0 with his parents helping to run the show.
Hospitality veteran Quang Tran talks service, Michelin stars, fatherhood + the good, bad + ugly of a career in the trenches.
Sommelier Val Feldman, owner of Stable Gate Winery, Barn + Vineyard in Castleton, talks natural wine, fermentation, inclusivity + expanding her family’s four-generation business.
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.
Executive Chef Mike Mastrantuono of 15 Church in Saratoga talks hunting, leadership, new owners, unbeatable ingredients + his favorite gangster chef.
Executive Chef Jonas Offenbach of Serre at The Maker Hotel on collecting vintage cookbooks, building a team upstate + why Serre feels deeply personal.
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.