Category Archives: Restaurants

Red Onion, Woodstock NY

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Is it snooty to be distrustful of people’s tastes in food when they live in small towns? This might be the snobby New Yorker in me talking, but tell me that’s not what New York does to its inhabitants. We are spoiled with the most diverse array of cuisines and such a high concentration of food establishments that intense competition quickly weeds out inferior ones within a few months of opening.

That doesn’t mean I am not proven wrong every so often. Our excursions to Sweet Sue’s in Phoenicia and The Country Inn in Olivebridge both originated from a local’s recommendation. We found Red Onion online, and though we were wary about its fine dining reputation, we were quickly reassured by Brooklyn friends who had a house up there that we couldn’t go wrong with Red Onion. Good.


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Pokpok NY, Cobble Hill, Brooklyn

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Asian foodies are so demanding. When we first sat down at Pok Pok NY, our Japanese friend exclaimed, “Thank GOD there is no pad thai on the menu!” She said this because most New York Thai restaurants have identified themselves with the overused noodle dish which has become a staple as far as Thai cuisine is concerned – except that a good pad thai is absolutely rare in these parts. They normally come out dry, bland, and (sigh) Americanized.

So we welcomed the addition of Pok Pok NY into the neighborhood as authentic Asian restaurants were few and far between, plus we’ve grown tired of trying them only to be disappointed. Pok Pok was highly acclaimed, in fact we bumped into fellow food-obsessed friends who got in line with us that Sunday afternoon. Of course our group had to ruin that impression. Uggh, so demanding!

Papaya Pok Pok – Papaya, Lime and Chili Salad

We started with the papaya salad which was too hot that it was inedible. Continue reading →

Sweet Sue’s, Phoenicia, NY

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In 2005 we visited a cousin in upstate New York and became intrigued by the idea of a possible weekend house where the dog could run and we could flex some home improvement muscles and perhaps even landscape a yard. We first searched in Ulster County, in the towns surrounding Woodstock, with the help of a cooky real estate agent named Sharon whose canned responses and car conversation idiosyncrasies we still repeat to this day. During one of these Saturdays spent driving from one house to another, Sharon took us to Sweet Sue’s for lunch, raved about everything on the menu, and I had one of the most memorable meatloaf meals of my life. We vowed to go back, but somehow never got around to it. We bought a house in Sullivan county in late 2005, sold it by mid-2007, and only returned to Sweet Sue’s last weekend during our (blush) mini-honeymoon seven years later. Time flies.

Blue Monkeys - Buttermilk pancakes with blueberries and bananas

Blue Monkeys – Buttermilk pancakes with blueberries and bananas. (Sugar packet placed alongside for size comparison)

But WOW. We never even tried their pancakes before but have always known them to be good. Continue reading →

Country Inn, Olivebridge NY

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We arrived in the early evening at our weekend rental, and just like many upstate houses we’ve rented, it was in the middle of nowhere. We tried to take note of some restaurants along the way, but in reality we had settled for the idea of grabbing pizza for dinner and calling it a night. Lo and behold, the landlord’s house instructions mentioned their fortune in being close to the Country Inn, and gave directions on how to get there.

From the outside it was quite intimidating, causing us to do a quick scan of the parked trucks for shotguns sticking out and NRA stickers. “Let’s give this a shot, how bad can it be?” we agreed, and we parked. The bar section looked like a biker bar but the restaurant section looked decent. Along the walls they displayed their impressively wide selection of beers we were unfortunately not in the mood for that night. We ordered some food and were quite surprised.

We started with a squid and tomato salad which was delightful, followed by a brussels sprouts appetizer cooked in orange and balsamic. Both convinced us that we were not in a scary bar that only offered buffalo wings.

R ordered the fish special and was very pleased that the fish was not overly salted the way we’ve often found in even the best places. Served over wild rice, this was light and flavorful, and definitely a winner. Continue reading →

La Vara, Brooklyn

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Tapas in Brooklyn? I’m in! A feature in the New York Times? Score! We made our way to La Vara (no website yet? Yelp page here) four months after the restaurant opened. We were very, very excited. We had been planning this date for months!

La Vara Exterior

Did I tell you I like tapas? No? I might have mentioned it here, here, and here.  Tapas makes me happy, so understandably I was all over it when I learned that we could walk to this new place in the neighborhood. Continue reading →

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