Food

Discover the best food, farms, and dining in the Hudson Valley, Berkshires, and Litchfield Hills. Rural Intelligence shares local restaurant reviews, seasonal recipes, and stories celebrating regional flavor.

Food

Best 2009 Calendar: The Hunky Farmers of Columbia County

A posh New York City caterer, Great Performances, is selling a calendar the profits from which benefit two worthy causes neither of which is headquartered in our region. And we care about this because…? Well, for starters, the photographs that illustrate Down to Earth 2009 are of the farms and

By Editor

Food

Fa-la-la-la Flavor: Berkshire Mountain Bakery's Holiday Bread

Over two decades, Berkshire Mountain Bakery has built its reputation on hand-crafted sourdough and whole grain breads. So it's somewhat surprising to find founder Richard Bourdon rhapsodizing about his Old World Holiday Bread studded with rum-soaked dried fruits. "I think it's a stollen," says

By Editor

Food

Dan's Diary: Thanks for Shopping Locally

Since August when we wrote about one-month-old Haven, it has become the most happening spot in Lenox. Owner Shelly Williams has created what feels very much like the town's highly-caffeinated social center. This Saturday, to encourage and thank folks for shopping locally, Williams will be giving out a

By Editor

Food

Paige's Picks: Gifts for the Foodies on Your List

I suspect that non-cooks wonder what in the world to give those of us who are culinarily-obsessed. Cookbook? New gadget? Basket of delicacies? These are all good ideas—but how do you take them from "good" to "impossibly clever"? For me, simpler is better, and, as

By Editor

Food

Let It Be Lasagna

It all started with the last tomato from my garden. A few weeks before Thanksgiving, right before that spell of bitter cold, I was (belatedly) cleaning up the so-called potager behind my back porch. This was my only stab at a garden this year, and though it mostly looked like

By Editor

Food

Thanksgiving, Part III: At the Governor's Mansion in Albany

Early last summer, picking up my weekly farm share from Hawthorne Valley Farm's CSA, I was amused to see an entry for "Governor's Mansion" on the pick-up list. I was naturally curious and eventually discovered that Noah Sheetz, the executive chef for the Executive

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Food

The Wine 'Snob' Next Door

David Kamp, a contributing editor at Vanity Fair and author of The United States of Arugula, will be signing his latest book, The Wine Snob's Dictionary at Little Gates & Co in Millerton on Saturday, November 29, from 2 to 5 PM. It's the fourth in

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Food

Thanksgiving, Part II: Talking Turkey with the Professor of Wine

When you hear Michael Albin of Hudson Wine Merchants expound on wine, his alter egos—writer, musician, former English professor—are all in evidence. His descriptions of his various offerings, their strengths and potential pitfalls, are impassioned and detailed, and his greatest delight seems to be in finding the perfect

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Food

Old Inn on the Green

"Romantic Masterpiece Theatre ambiance"

By Lisa Green

Food

Southfield Store

Made-daily baked goods and gelato, takeaway lunch options, and weekly Oaxacan dinner menu

By Lisa Green

Food

Thanksgiving: Give Thanks for Top-Notch Take-Out

Anybody planning on serving raw celery next Thursday? Didn't think so. The ante has gone up since the simple times portrayed at left. Today's Thanksgiving dinner is a much more ambitious enterprise, which is why it begs for at least partial takeout. Cooking a turkey is

By Editor

Food

A Vodka That's Local to the Core

First, you grow the apples. Then you turn them into cider. Then you take a lot of cider—five gallons more or less—add yeast, put it into a shine-y copper contraption that looks like something out of Willie Wonka, let it ferment, and after a few days of bubble,

By Editor