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Food

Billy Ledda's Italian Market Is Hudson's Hidden Gem

By Jamie Larson The unambiguously named Italian Market in Hudson just might be the posh little city’s best-kept secret. Unassuming at first glance, this humble market and deli is quietly home to some of the best food in the gastronomically cultured area. Billy Ledda moved to the Hudson Valley

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Food

Third Annual Sandwich Summit: A Rye Look Between The Bread

Photo: Danny Ghitis By Andrea Pyros “Is It Insane To Insist That There Is No Such Thing As Half An Open Faced Sandwich?" If that query strikes you as irrelevant, ridiculous or just plain nuts, you’re probably not a sandwich aficionado. But if you are, you might actually

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Food

In Chatham, Bimi’s Cheese Shop Opens Not A Moment Too Soon

By Pamela Dreyfus Smith Going from zero to open in three months isn’t much time to launch a new retail establishment. But for Bimi’s Cheese Shop in Chatham, which opened over Labor Day weekend, that construction period over the summer created an anticipation among passersby as they watched

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Community

Young Farmers Create Hudson's New Upstreet Farmers' Market

Dan McManus and Tess Parker, co-owners of Common Hands Farm, started the Upstreet Market. By Jamie Larson With wide smiles, good intentions and dirt under their fingernails, the next generation of Columbia County farmers just, casually, reinvented the farmers market— by moving from Saturday morning to Wednesday evenings and out

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Community

My Turn As a Tourist: A Day With Behold! New Lebanon

By Lisa Green Behold! New Lebanon is a living museum of contemporary rural American life. There are no ladies in bonnets spinning wool a la Sturbridge Village. These people are the real deal, willing to open their lives to share their skills and experience of rural living as a step

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Food

Grand Cru: A Place For Tasting Craft Beer And Artisanal Cheese

All photos courtesy of Grand Cru. By Andrea Pyros Rod Johnson often hears from people who claim not to like beer. His response? “You just haven’t had the right one!" Johnson, along with his wife Alicia Lenhart, is the owner of Grand Cru, a popular hybrid bar and

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Community

TEDxHudson To Bring Big Ideas – And Big Names — To Town

Photo by Amanda Marsalis. By Greg Cerio The revered chef Alice Waters [in photo, left] has much in common, perhaps surprisingly, with Theodore Roosevelt. For example, they enjoy some of the same regional cuisine. On October 8, 1914, the Boston Globe reported: “Col. Roosevelt likes the soup they make in

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Community

Taking the Muzzle Off: WAM Theatre Invites Change Makers

By Nichole Dupont No matter where we are in the world, the rapid-fire barrage of social media and hard news headlines finds us: Child marriage in Jordan, school girls kidnapped in Nigeria, U.S. women among nation’s poorest, no public laughter in Turkey. The stories range from horrifying to

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Community

Like a Rock: Robert Burke Warren at the Hudson Opera House

By Nichole Dupont He calls himself "Uncle Rock," but musician-songwriter-teacher Robert Burke Warren is soundly rooted in the role of father. This occupation, according to the Georgia native, has brought him full circle from his first band with then front-man RuPaul to penning ballads for Rosanne Cash, back

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Food

Market St. — Italian 'Fusion Without Confusion' In Rhinebeck

Photo by Matt Petricone for Roll Magazine. By Andrea Pyros You might think that after opening “30, 35" restaurants (he’s lost count), Chef Gianni Scappin wouldn’t bat an eye over launching a new eatery. When Rural Intelligence talked to the charming pro, he was deep in preparations

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Community

Pittsfield's Free Shakespeare In The Park Is To Be

By Lisa Green Ask Enrico Spada [right] why he wanted to start a free Shakespeare in the Park venture — in Pittsfield — and he’ll give you a couple of reasons: I saw it being done successfully in other cities. I wanted the opportunity to work on a play with local

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Community

The Clark Art Institute Gala: A Truly Grand Re-Opening

Lisa Green reports from Williamstown. On Saturday, June 28, the gala to celebrate the opening of the expanded Clark Art Institute was commensurate with the endeavor and investment that went into the creation of the magnificent new campus. More than 700 guests (and, it seemed, an almost equal number of

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