Old Chatham Country Store & Café

Since 2002, Old Chatham Country Store & Café has served as a beacon, drawing hungry pilgrims from near and far to an otherwise obscure crossroad in Northern Columbia County. What gets locals through the door may be urgent need of a bottle of milk, a loaf of bread, pr the morning paper, but what keeps them (and those who travel to get there) lingering by the hour at tables surrounding a wood-burning stove are the cappuccinos, egg and other hot sandwiches (lump crabmeat with remoulade, $13.99), cold sandwiches (ham and Four Fat Fowl, a local soft-ripening cheese, with slices of green apple, $10.99), cinnamon-scented French toast (1, 2 or 3 slices, $2.75, $5.25, $7.50, respectively), hardy soups ($4.50 cup, $5, bowl), and substantial salads ($9.99 - $12.99)—comfort food with a gloss of sophistication. Jane Roy Browne of the Boston Globe has called the cafe “an affluent slice of country life." But, in fact, CIA-trained owner Brian Albert has done one better than that: He's created a menu and a milieu that are as agreeable to the hippy with a hammer as they are to the master of the hounds. Old Chatham Country Store and Cafe  639 Albany Turnpike, Old Chatham, NY (518) 794-6227 Open 7 days a week. Breakfast 7 - 11 a.m., Lunch 11 a.m. - 3 p.m. Sunday Dinner To Go, pickup 3-4 p.m. (order by Wednesday prior)