Even on weekdays, when Beacon is quieter with fewer tourists, this Palestinian spot is consistently packed with families and friends sharing mezze. Join them for lunch, but be prepared to wait about 40 minutes for a prime table—it’s worth it to dive into plates of hand-rolled kibbe and halloumi. The moist and impossible-to-put-down kofta burger is exactly what you’ll need after walking 10,000 steps throughout Dia or climbing your way up the firetower.

The Roundhouse should be your Beacon dinner spot. This fine dining restaurant is located in a very nice hotel, and every table has a view of the nearby creek and waterfall, whether you’re seated inside next to the floor-to-ceiling windows or on the patio. Park yourself outside under the string lights on a cool evening for maximum tourist-and-dog-watching, and order plates of deviled eggs and housemade pasta for a lovely dinner.

After you made the relationship serious with a visit to Dia Beacon, celebrate at Hudson Valley Brewery’s clean, modern tasting room. They’re known for their sour IPAs—go with one of the fruit-forward sours that burst with vibrant color and taste, like the mixed berry or peach from their Silhouette series. If that’s not really your thing, try the Pillow Hat, a low ABV pale ale, or the Feel No Way lager.

Lil Deb’s Oasis is full of serious food and wine in a place that makes a point not to take itself too seriously. Pretty much everyone here is wearing a crop top, and wine descriptions read like cryptic Connections solutions (tasting notes include “tiny pants and “overdue apology”). Always order the whole fried fish—digging into the crisp, piping-hot flaky goodness with your bare hands before dipping it into the citrusy sauce is a sensual experience.

Cafe Mutton feels like it was made for a rapidly-disappearing version of Hudson—one that remains eccentric, affordable, and connected to the natural world around it. Things like sausages and buckwheat scones are made in house, with the kind of care and attention you couldn’t manage in the city without charging at least three times as much. The country pâté, served in sandwich form, is the kind of dish to go out of your way to eat, and the savory pig head porridge is the perfect way to warm up.

We recently took a last-minute train to Hudson for a weekend trip and had three of our five meals at Kitty’s, a daytime cafe and restaurant located right across from the train station. Kitty’s sells some very good rotisserie chicken plates, pastries, and one of the better breakfast sandwiches we’ve had in recent memory. Between the blanket of mild muenster cheese, smoky bacon, and a bun that’s been blasted with sesame seeds, this thing should have its own Hudson tourism ad on Amtrak.

Suarez was founded at a time when most breweries were packing in the hops, pushing the boundaries of ABV, and going big, big, big. When everyone zigged, they zagged, and created some of the most delicious, dialed-in pilsners, lagers, and ales using ingredients from local farms. Don’t be surprised to find wild fermented country beers with sumac, chamomile, thyme, and buckwheat. Their newly reopened tasting room is a simple space with shared long tables that invite strangers to meet each other and

The Aviary’s eclecticism satisfies just about every Hudson Valley restaurant trope. The space is a renovated 1800s textile mill with white marble and mismatched velvet armchairs, and the mostly Southeast Asian menu is filled with local ingredients from farms that are meticulously listed out on their website like a bibliography. Come for dinner and order some pan-seared scallops in a green peppercorn sauce and some tart calamansi pie after finishing off a day of shopping.

Jamaican spot Top Taste is where you’ll find the best and most affordable meal in Kingston. For $15, you’ll get a hefty plate of moist jerk chicken or rich oxtails, buttery plantains, brown lentil rice, and green slaw. They largely do takeout, but there are a few small tables inside if you want to watch some local news while digging into tender, spiced curried goat and sipping ginger beer.

The line at Rosie’s General can wind all the way around the block on weekends, but the wait is worth it. This little spot looks like a Pixar animator’s rendition of an antique shop-slash-general store, right down to the flawless natural light. Everything is baked in-house, and the bread is some of the best in the area, so you can’t go wrong with a sandwich.

This cafe in Kingston will make you consider moving Upstate just so you can live out your Hudson Valley meet-cute fantasies with a barista that cuts their own firewood. The coffee here is excellent, and their cozy dining room two doors down is a great place to park yourself with a laptop and a breakfast plate full of steelhead trout, folded eggs, sourdough toast, and crème fraîche. It’s also good for lunch, which is when you should get whatever seasonal salad or bowl is available.

Does the world (and New York) need another wood-fired pizza and natural wine spot? Probably not, but we’re still glad that Lola exists. While pies topped with robiola and black fig drizzle are the main attraction, try at least one of the non-pizza options, like their housemade rigatoni alla vodka or calamari with tiny spears of fried zucchini. Get a little bit of everything, plus a bottle of barbera to celebrate successfully surviving a run-in with a former classmate.

Kingston is exploding with new restaurants, bars, and event spaces—it’s walkable city life, right next to the mountains. Kingston Standard, located in an old transmission shop, has been a stalwart welcoming spot in Midtown for people who love fresh, crispy beers paired with some of the best pizza in town. The food and beer ordering situation is casual: hop up to the counter to see what’s fresh that day, then find a seat outside at one of the picnic tables wrapped around the building.

Pine Plains isn’t the most magical hamlet in the Hudson Valley, but Stissing House might be the region’s most magical restaurant. There are multiple fireplaces and countless candlesticks scattered throughout this building, which was once an 18th-century tavern complete with beds for travelers. You’ll likely walk by a mountain of butter on your way to your Little House On The Prairie-chic farm table, and it’s hard to avoid feelings of romance splitting a rabbit and tarragon pie by candlelight.

Much like the Gilded-Age mansions along the Hudson River, this restaurant is all about decadence. Dishes like the seafood towers and crispy duck confit are lavish enough to justify the space surrounding it, making it a great spot for a celebratory dinner or a really special date night. Their cocktail menu also has some of the most innovative drinks in this otherwise quiet town, like a tequila mezcal milk punch with pickled blueberries.

Gigi is all about Mediterranean dishes made with as many locally-produced items as possible. The Skizza flatbread pizzas are a favorite, especially the garden option with peppers, zucchini, and pesto that really showcases nearby farms. The sit-down restaurant has a ton of vegan, vegetarian, and gluten-free dishes, and the sunny sidewalk patio makes for a great lunch or dinner stop in town.

Cinnamon is your best option in Rhinebeck for dishes like lamb shank rogan josh, tandoori shrimp kebabs, and goat cheese naan that you can get from their buffet option or order a la carte. Their menu highlights dishes from regions throughout India, like South Indian dosas or fish curry from Goan. They’ve got individual tables, but there’s a large one meant for communal meals, so it’s ideal for bigger groups or large parties.

If we lived in Saugerties, the people working at Miss Lucy’s would probably know our first names, our dogs’ middle names, and the fact that we’re not at all ashamed of the fact that we like dipping our fries in mayo. You can’t go wrong with anything on the comfort food-leaning American menu, which has things like a kale caesar and steak frites, and whenever you come, try their Bloody Mary.

This studio-sized fancy market stocks local, artisanal grocery items, and serves coffee, sandwiches, salads, and sides. It’s an ideal place to pick up something for the road when passing through Saugerties, or to get supplies for a picnic, but if you need to stretch your legs, they have indoor and outdoor seating, too.

Tivoli General is a store where you can buy handfuls of heirloom tomatoes, a four-pack of craft beer, and jars of fancy chili crisp. They also make a variety of sandwiches on housemade focaccia that smell so good you’ll float towards the display case like a cartoon animal sniffing for pie. You should get a dolma sandwich with grape leaves, red pepper cream, and sundried tomatoes if they have it, but their classic options like Italian ham and turkey will be a welcome addition to any picnic.

Jaeger Haus tends to get overlooked because it’s not on Tivoli’s main drag, but you should make it a priority to stop here for a German lunch or dinner. The schnitzel is wonderfully crisp and juicy, and you’ll find yourself ordering a side of spaetzel or other carbs to wipe up all the delicious sauces on your plate. If you’re having a hard time deciding on what to get, order the sausage platter—it comes with three different types of sausages, warm potato salad, and lots of spicy mustard.

This Tivoli brewery’s floor-to-ceiling glass windows overlooking 31 acres of farmland and cross-thatched timber roof will make you stop and think: Wait, is beer … fancy? Lasting Joy does solid, homegrown beers with New York ingredients, like their fantastic Czech pilsner, hazy IPA, and for the somewhat adventurous, the English Beet stout (they use real beet juice for an earthy take on the London Pub stout). Bring the family, and order food from the food trucks outside, which rotate weekly.