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

The Saturday Night Special

Leave it to Matthew Rubiner to turn eating a prosaic grilled cheese sandwich into an event. A few weeks ago, Rubiner decided to start keeping Rubi's cafe in Great Barrington open until midnight on Saturday nights (it closes at 4 PM the rest of the week) and feature

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Food

Liquor for Locavores: The Berkshires Own Booze

You might assume (as I did) that Berkshire Mountain Distillers is a boutique brand dreamed up by a green-minded, martini-drinking MBA as as a thesis project. It has a smart slogan ("Think Globally • Drink Locally") a product line whose evocative names have regional resonance ("Ice Glen Vodka,

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Food

Swiss Hutte

There’s something literally fantastic about the Swiss Hutte, a half-timber 19th-century farmhouse that’s been in continuous operation as an inn for over fifty years. Tucked in a hidden valley amid gardens at the foot of Catamount ski slope, it feels half-a-world and at least half-a-lifetime away. The menu

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Food

Tasting: Apple Blossoms, a Walk and Some Wine

On Friday and Saturday, Furnace Brook Winery at Hilltop Orchards introduces its eagerly awaited Dry Riesling at the 6th Annual Apple Blossom Bash. In 2007, their Johannisberg Riesling won the Gold Metal at the Big E Northeast Wine Competition (having copped the silver just the year before), so hopes for

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Food

The Fishman Cometh: Matt Rubiner's March to the Sea

During the go-go Reagan years, even dropouts had clearly defined goals and strategies for achieving them. Only 28 when, as an MIT research director and a prospective PhD candidate, Matt Rubiner decided to bail on academia, he took comfort in the knowledge that he was still young enough to retool.

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Food

Beyond Chopped Liver: Gigi's Chicken Liver Pâté

The other day I took a drive out to Gigi's Market at Greig Farm, which is tucked away half a mile off Route 9 in Red Hook. For lunch, I ordered the Bianca Skizza, a flatbread "pizza" that's an intoxicating combination of figs, Coach

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Food

Is this Spa Cuisine? Canyon Ranch's Secret Sauce

I recently went to have dinner with my mother who was at Canyon Ranch for a few days, and I learned one of the the dirty little secrets of the famous spa in Lenox: You're allowed to eat as much as you want! I saw the man at

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Food

Sweet William's Orange Marmalade Linzer Cookies

Jason Young of Sweet William's Bakery in Falls Village, whose cookies are sold at his tiny shop and stores like Guido's and the Co-op, would never part with the recipe for his signature ginger cookies. But anyone who knows Jason knows he is generous, so he

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Food

Ca'Mea Ristorante

Often, going to a restaurant in our area can seem like landing in the middle of Waiting for Guffman--amateurs acting their hearts out badly. Polished, well-managed Ca'Mea Ristorante is just the opposite. Two Warren Street storefronts attractively combined, plus, in season, an enormous garden, it also has a

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Food

Grassfed in Ghent: An Extended Two-Family Affair

The first defining moment for Dan Gibson occurred when his daughter Christine finally walked through the door of their house in Katonah, NY on September 13, 2001, still covered with ash from the catastrophe that had destroyed her NYU dormitory on the corner of Water and Wall Streets two days

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Food

La Puerta Azul

If you're one of those people who disdain dining in strip malls, La Puerta Azul (less than a mile from the Taconic Parkway's Route 44/Millbrook exit) will radically change your outlook. The colorful, professionally decorated interior with its locally-wrought iron chandeliers is so exuberant that

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Food

Bistro Zinc

You've gotta love a high-end Berkshires restaurant that keeps the bar open 'til 1 a.m. Not that one would ever avail herself of the privilege. But it strikes a blow for a brand of fun that's thin on the ground around here. Berkshire-eans tend

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