7 Backroad Eats Worth Breaking For

There's a particular pleasure in pulling off a road you don't know well and walking into a restaurant you've never been to. No reservation, no Google search, just a hunger to stop, eat something good, and move on feeling like you've discovered something real. 

Along with filling your belly, every time you pull over at a place like this, you're also helping keep it alive.

For three eateries in Craryville that’s extra important this summer as their section of Route 23 will be blocked by culvert replacement construction for most of the summer. The road is one of the primary east-west connectors between the Hudson Valley and the Berkshires, and currently three great spots to stop for a bite are stuck behind the construction with eastbound traffic needing to go around a detour and then backtrack to find them. Zinnia's Dinette, Random Harvest, and Tommy B's Slice Shop have lost through-traffic. These aren't restaurants with corporate backing or a second location to absorb the hit. They're small, owner-operated places and they survived on loyalty and word of mouth while the detour signs pointed everyone elsewhere. They're still there. Go find them.

The rest of this list below similarly highlights out-of-the-way restaurants worth swinging into on a whim. 

1. Zinnia's Dinette—1843 Route 23, Craryville, NY

Sometimes you don't know just how much you were missing something until you get it. That's the way regulars feel about Zinnia's Dinette in Craryville and its coastal fish stand menu. Owner Amy Lawton grew up in Rhode Island and brought her love of unpretentious seafood to what used to be the Dutch Treat. "I worked a bunch of wacky magic with the old owners and my life savings and by some miracle I was able to buy the building," Lawton says. "I just want to give people a big hug with the food." The fish-and-chips basket (cod entombed in a shell of potato chip-laced beer batter) is worth the trip. So is the fermented seaweed salad, Rhode Island-style calamari with pickled peppers and garlic butter, and the soft serve. Not to mention a massive selection of tinned fish from all over the world.

2. Random Harvest—1785 Route 23, Craryville, NY

Random Harvest is a worker-owned market, cafe, and community space sourcing from over 100 local producers. The shelves carry seasonal produce, pasture-raised meats, local cheeses, and pantry items, while the café serves sandwiches, salads, soups, and espresso drinks made with those same ingredients. Random Harvest has a mission centered on community mutual aid, giving free groceries to neighbors in need and supporting food distribution to 120 families in the Berkshires. The business sells produce and farm products using a consignment model. Farmers net 75 percent of their profits, in an effort to strengthen the local food economy. Unfortunately that mission is currently barricaded behind a wall of orange cones. 

3. Tommy B's Slice Shop —1817 Route 23, Craryville, NY

Established in 2022, Tommy B's has built a devoted following on what is becoming one of the region's most interesting food corridors. The shop does serious New York-style pizza with a creative edge making pies like a Sicilian with garlic and gorgonzola base, cremini and shiitake mushrooms, pickled jalapeños, and fresh dill on the finish; a Tavern pie with roasted garlic, three-cheese blend, bacon, red onion, ricotta, and Everything Bagel seasoning. From the vodka pie topped with pepperoni and hot honey to the beloved pepperoni rolls, Tommy’s is a local joint that pleasantly surprises passersby. 

4. The Neon Newt—30 Washington Street, Becket, MA

The former Becket General Store got a vibe shift in 2023 when it was reopened as the Neon Newt. Chef and owner Olivia Pattison spent 15 years baking bread and selling sandwiches at farmers’ markets on Martha's Vineyard before landing in the Berkshires. The menu rotates constantly with what's local and in season: housemade sourdough buns for the burgers, apple cider waffles with real maple syrup, inventive breakfast sandwiches made with New England-grown grain. The emphasis is on what ingredients are available locally, driving an interesting and ever-changing menu. The Newt is open Thursday and Friday 8am–2pm, Saturday and Sunday 8am–2pm, with Monday and Friday dinner service at 5pm. Check their Facebook page for the weekly blackboard menu.

5. Bluebird & Co.—137 Brodie Mountain Road, Hancock, MA

Bluebird & Co. sits just below the base of Jiminy Peak. Operated by Mezze Hospitality Group, the restaurant took over a longtime roadhouse tavern in 2023 and transformed it into a modern, cabin-casual space with a globally inspired menu. Chef Kyle Patch's cooking is eclectic but familiar, and the "Okie" onion-fried smashburger, pressed into a pile of diced onions until crisp and deeply caramelized, has already become a local favorite. The outdoor area with lawn games, a disc golf course, fire pits in winter, and occasional live music makes this as much a destination as a restaurant. Bluebird opens Thursday through Monday 5-9pm. 

6. G.W. Tavern—20 Bee Brook Road, Washington Depot, CT

Named after our first president in honor of his passage through this small town in the foothills of the Berkshire Mountains, the G.W. Tavern occupies a circa 1850 Colonial home.The age adds unimpeachable ambiance to a tavern offering summer dining on a flagstone patio overlooking the Shepaug River, and winter nights inside beside a floor-to-ceiling fieldstone fireplace surrounded by hand-painted murals of the old town and farms. The kitchen earns its distinction with a menu sourced from local farms that changes with the seasons: venison burgers on housemade buns, pork schnitzel from Meiller Farm, duck pappardelle, and a Tavern Burger built on local grass-fed beef. Open Thursday through Monday for lunch and dinner.

7. Golden Russet Cafe & Grocery—835 Fiddlers Bridge Road, Rhinebeck, NY

The building that became The Golden Russet has had different names and many owners over the past century, servicing country residents and back road travelers. Jenny and Craig Cavallo are former Brooklynites who took over the old Schultzville General Store in 2019. Since then they have built it into a beloved breakfast-and-lunch destination with ricotta toast, breakfast sandwiches made with produce from nearby Slow Fox Farm, apple cake from Montgomery Place Orchards fruit, and what they claim is the best selection of ciders in the Hudson Valley. It's the kind of place that has its own life, and the Cavallos are its current, very able, stewards.