Bring your kids, your dogs, your out-of-town visitors. Most importantly, bring your appetite, and be prepared to strike up conversations with picnic tablemates and fellow stump-stool sitters. Where? The Chatham Berry Farm, a family-owned and operated farm and farm store established in 1982 by Joseph Gilbert, which has in the past couple of years created an idyllic country compound on its grounds steps away from the market on Route 203. Here you can eat at Yummy Kitchen, drink at the farm’s Greenhouse Cidery, sit among the sunflowers and listen to music or find a spot in this spacious village to kick a ball around with your kid.

This arcadian world pops up on Thursday, Friday and Saturday evenings, and, reminiscent of the “if you build it they will come” scenario, cars start pulling in early. Follow the crowd into the compound and you’ll first encounter the Greenhouse Cidery, which specializes in small-batch hard ciders, plus a selection of New York State beers, wines, and spirits. Last weekend the taproom was serving up a strawberry vodka and tonic and blueberry mules, but there are plenty of non-alcoholic options as well. Long bar tables fill the rest of the tasting room, and on a hot, humid evening, the breeze coming in through the open wall was supremely pleasurable.

Across from the taproom, the actual greenhouse has been converted into a dining area, its long corridor lined with tangles of greenery climbing the open walls and pergolas. At the end of this gravel path lies Yummy Kitchen, an outpost of the YK food truck in Hudson. Influenced by Asian street food, its menu features flavors from China, Japan, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar, and Bangladesh. Dishes include a veggie rice bowl, crispy chicken wings, spicy peanut or Vietnamese style rice noodles, som tum (a Thai-style spice salad), a killer Panang curry, and a life-altering crispy eggplant. (I’d cut off my right arm to find out how they get that toothsome crust on the chunks of eggplant, but they probably wouldn’t tell me.) All are created with the freshest of ingredients and flavors that live up to the “yummy” in the kitchen’s name. Portions are large but everything is served in take-homeable containers. You’ll be glad for any leftovers.

Seating is at long-ish picnic tables surrounded by vines and leaves, and this is where the fun begins. You don’t have to share a table, and you don’t have to chat with the folks who might ask if they can grab the spot near you, but food this good will naturally inspire a trading of enthusiastic impressions. It’s situations like this that remind you that the world is small. The couple we sat down with happened to live on the same road that my husband’s family summer home was on. Lots to talk about there beyond the curry and eggplant, but the conversation did start with an appreciation of the kitchen’s output.

On a balmy evening, there’s no need to leave the blissful bubble right away. The Greenhouse Cidery schedules live music (check out the lineup of musical guests on the website), and hosts popups for dessert options Supreme Soft Serve, Rollin’ Sundaes ice cream, and Baker Addiction wheel in on alternate Fridays. Non-food activities include Bonsai Bar workshops, and on Thursday evenings through August 29, Roots Holistic Wellness leads an outdoor community yoga class (all levels welcome). The compound stays open into November, so when chilly weather arrives, the firepits ringed by fat tree stumps in the front yard will be appreciated. Heading out but loathe to leave, we plonked down on the stumps and made acquaintances with a group of regulars from the Albany area. Conversation revolved around the Mets, the New Lebanon Speedway, and, of course, the immediate surroundings.

“We come all the way down here a couple of times a summer,” said one from the group. “Whenever we have guests, we bring them here. There’s really nothing else like it.”

The Greenhouse Cidery ad Yummy Kitchen are open Thursday and Friday, 5-9 p.m., and Saturday noon-9 p.m.

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Written by
Lisa Green