Eating is serious business in the Hudson Valley. The region’s eateries focus on serving fresh, seasonal, and diverse farm-to-table offerings year-round. A dining experience in the Hudson Valley gives you a taste of the region itself—what fruits and vegetables are in season and what artisanal products are made in the area. From modern gastropubs to old-world cafes, Hudson Valley restaurants include a wide variety of culinary styles, applying innovative techniques to the local palette. Here are some exciting new additions to the regional food scene.
Inness | Accord
Since being acquired by New York City tastemaker, restaurateur, and hotelier Taavo Somer, the former Rondout Golf Club in Accord has been reborn as Inness, a high-end hospitality destination with 40 guest rooms, a restaurant, farm shop, two swimming pools, tennis courts, and yes, a nine-hole golf course. Golfing isn’t for everyone, but the farm-to-table fare at the links-adjacent Inness is sure to draw a steady crowd. With an emphasis on local sourcing and seasonality, the restaurant at Inness focuses largely on wood-fired dishes prepared on outdoor smokers and grills and served a chic, modern environment, amidst blonde wood, vintage rugs, and blazing fireplaces. With western-facing windows, you get a view of the greens and the sunset behind the Catskill Mountains while you sip your craft cocktails or eat your meal. Inness’s dinner menu includes picks like the Denver steak served with new potatoes, charred turnips, and taleggio ($46) or the Berkshire pork chop served with braised greens and celery root ($42). On weekends, brunch is served from 11am to 3pm and features dishes both sweet and savory, like French toast served with honey butter, maple syrup, and sesame ($17) or a smoked white fish salad, pickles, hard-boiled egg, and toast ($16).
Morningbird | Kinderhook
A black-painted wooden facade frames the entrance to a Indo-Dutch cafe in a stately 19th-century factory building in Kinderhook. Inside, the aptly named Morningbird awaits; visitors will find imaginative seasonal pastries (like a squash and gouda turnover with scallions and sambal, notes of cumin, coriander, and mustard); coffee from Gotham Roasters and Coffee Project NY; lunch items and a selection of handcrafted items from BIPOC and women-identifying makers like Allison Samuels and Alice W. Chai. The menu highlights products from neighboring Hudson Valley farms and casual and comforting Southeast Asian dishes for lunch, like sauteed shrimp and glass noodles ($18) or hearty dinner offerings like grilled Hudson Valley pork shoulder ($21).
Primo Waterfront | Newburgh
Primo Waterfront brings coastal Italian cuisine to Newburgh’s waterfront, in the former location of Cena 2000. For this project, restaurateur Jesse Camac of Heritage Food & Drink teamed up with one of his chefs, Frank Camey, and Ralph Bello, formerly of Il Barilotto, to design a seafood-centric menu that uses local produce and meats. In addition to Bello’s homemade pastas, Primo will offer a crudo and raw bar, developed in collaboration with John Daly, a kitchen alum of Michelin-starred Manhattan establishment Masa. Daly’s Japanese techniques combine with Bello’s Italian flavors and result in dishes like Montauk fluke with pistachio, ponzu, chives, and olive oil. Another dish on offer will be yellowtail with strawberry, basil, and pink peppercorn, alongside raw bar classics like oysters and king crabs. Designed to showcase the spectacular views of the Hudson from every seat in the house, Primo gives the feeling of a coastal getaway with walls of windows, indoor and outdoor bars, and a patio that seats up to 170 people.
Tanma Ramen Tavern | Kingston
With papered-over windows and minimal signage, Tanma Ramen in Kingston is serving up serious speakeasy vibes alongside handmade gyoza and steaming bowls of ramen. Like at Tanma’s predecessor Gomen Kudasai in New Paltz, Youko Yamamoto is preparing everything from scratch. Kick your meal off with pan-fried pork gyoza, served in a sizzling cast iron pan. The avocado sashimi is deceivingly simple and delightful, drizzled with lemon juice and dipped in wasabi soy sauce ($8). For ramen, Yamamoto keeps it simple with just two options (both $15): miso, which uses a broth made of chicken and pork bone, served with sliced pork belly; and shio, with a vegan broth made from kombu, shitake, and other vegetables. Both are served with mung bean sprouts, chopped scallion, bamboo shoots, cashews, and wakame seaweed. If you’ve loaded up on apps, opt for the baby bar size of either for just $10.
Darlings | Tillson
Just like there are flyover states, there are what could be called drive-through towns. The hamlet of Tillson in Ulster County is one. Tillson is mostly a residential community, a place you pass through on your way to somewhere else—especially since its one watering hole, the Postage Inn, closed in 2021. But after more than three decades, the building is getting a facelift and a new identity. It will reopen in late May as Darlings, a bar and restaurant serving Southern food and craft cocktails. The venture is the latest hospitality undertaking from the owners of Huckleberry in New Paltz, Julie Dabbs and Billy Simkiss and Leah Allen and Mike O’Neil, who own six bars including New York City-based Skylark, Lowlands, and the Adirondack between them. These two couples are joined by a third—Madi Taylor and Luke Peters, who have worked front-of-house at Huckleberry since its opening in 2015.
Stissing House | Pine Plains
The Stissing House, an 18th-century landmark in Pine Plains, has operated as a bar/restaurant/inn since it was an overnight spot for Revolutionary War hero the Marquis de Lafayette. Most recently it was run as a French restaurant for 15 years by Michel and Patricia Jean until 2020. In mid-March, chef Clare de Boer reopened it, keeping the historic name. The revived eatery is the first solo restaurant project for de Boer, an alum of London’s River Cafe (along with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall, April Bloomfield, and Jamie Oliver, among other revered chefs) who opened the Michelin-starred King in the West Village with fellow Brit Jess Shadbolt and Annie Shi in 2017. The menu is elevated tavern food that’s sturdy and understated—and mostly wood-fired. Dishes includes fin de la Baie oysters from New Brunswyck ($3.50), a Caesar salad ($17), beet and caper soup ($15), wood-roasted chicken with lemon and wedge potatoes ($29), seafood chowder with a giant saltine ($31), and sticky toffee sundae ($13) for dessert.
Momo Valley | Beacon
J. Lama, a native of Nepal, has been slowly upscaling her dumpling business since 2018. First, she ran a pop-up, then a stall in the Hudson Valley Food Hall in Beacon. In January, Lama opened her own brick-and-mortar location at the east end of the city. For the uninitiated, a momo is a traditional dumpling found primarily in the cuisines of Nepal and Tibet. Momo Valley offers four varieties—chicken, beef, spinach and cheese, and a vegan vegetable medley—(all 6 for $12). All the food is made on premises by Lama and her parents, and the menu includes entrees as well. The Himalayan Chicken Bowl is creamy, chunky chicken and garlicky broccoli served with jasmine or brown rice ($14). The Thukpa Bowl is house-made grass-fed beef bone broth with egg noodle, topped with seared chicken strips and garnished with scallion and cilantro ($16).
Cafe Mutton | Hudson
Though it’s only been open a year, Cafe Mutton has quickly established itself as a neighborhood fixture in Hudson under the ownership of Fish & Game and Bartlett House alum Shaina Loew-Banayan. On the corner of 8th and Columbia, this quaint breakfast and lunch joint is known for its meat-centric menu. The menu showcases the Hudson Valley’s abundant produce and meats, routinely making use of secondary cuts to create things like the now-famous in-house sausage, pate, and bologna. The resulting menu is short but filled with delicacies. Scrapple and eggs ($12.50) is one of them—two sunny-side eggs are served alongside scrapple, a loaf made with polenta and braised pork that’s pan fried, and a choice of potatoes, toast, or greens. The country pate sandwich ($12.50) is another popular choice, featuring housemade pork and chicken liver pate, whole grain mustard, and cornichons on country white bread from Bartlett House. On Friday nights, Cafe Mutton stays open late for a chill happy hour and candle-lit dinner service.
