The Fall Table: New Dishes, Harvest Dinners, and Cider Donuts

Restaurant menus are turning over with the crops, and squash, apples, and the last of the most luscious tomatoes are gracing specials board. Below is a working list of some of what's new, what's seasonal, and where to find the best cider donuts.

New on the Menu, and Worth the Drive

Harvest Smokehouse, at Golden Harvest Farms in Valatie, is almost too obvious of a first entry here. Chef Andrew Chase is smoking meats over surplus applewood pulled straight from the farm's own orchards, then finishes them with barbecue sauces made from the farm's apple juice, cider, and vinegar. It's in many ways the progenitor of a new New York-style barbeque and it’s situated beside the busy farmstand, which is stocked this time of year. The grounds are already overflowing with pumpkins. And don’t forget that Harvest Spirits is just out back too if you need help getting in the spirit of the season. 

In Litchfield County, Arethusa al tavolo in Bantam, built directly on Arethusa Farm's own dairy under chef Dan Magill, keeps squash blossoms on its menu right now—tempura-filled, with basil ricotta and pepperonata ($26)—The menu is changing as we speak but this staple won’t last long. 

Over in Dutchess County, Stissing House in Pine Plains—the 1782 tavern that turned last November's Pie Fest into a cultural moment, with Martha Stewart and a dozen other judges tasting 33 amateur entries—hasn't announced a second annual Pie Fest for this year unfortunately.

What the kitchen has instead is a current menu making a case fir your next autumn road trip: stewed summer squash with Ardith Mae goat cheese ($25) to start, then wood-roasted Snowdance chicken with potatoes and cress ($41), Sugar Hill Farm pork sausage with stewed peppers and tomatoes ($49), Atlantic halibut with white beans and mushrooms ($47), and more—Most everything is cooked on the tavern's hearth, and is dreamt up by chef Clare de Boer.

Gedney Kitchen in New Marlborough takes the seasonal turn too the kitchen's menu updates weekly, so the grilled striped bass with shaved baby zucchini, heirloom carrots and carrot top salsa verde, may not be on the menu when you go but something similarly creatively autumnal likely will be, All from the mind of the restaurant’s own celebrity chef Michele Ragussis.

Over in Philmont, Local 111, chef-owner Josephine Proul's farm-to-table restaurant in the heart of Columbia County, doesn't hide its seasonal affinity. Last week's menu ran a dish called, simply, Autumn Lettuces ($19)—tomatoes, aged cheddar, sunflower seeds, cilantro, radish. A squash-and-fennel pasta with crispy artichokes ($31) sits right below it, and a pork belly with poblano and sticky cherries ($26) is preparing us for colder days to come.

None of these menus will look exactly the same by the time you go. Every kitchen on this list changes its offerings often. These chefs are paying attention to what's ripe right now and cooking accordingly. The menus might change but the spirit remains. 

Harvest Dinners and One-Off Events

Berkshire Botanical Garden's Farm-to-Table Lunch Series, led by chef and educator Tracy Hayhurst, runs on September 20 with a session on preserving—fermentation and water-bath canning, timed exactly to peak harvest.

On September 27, from 3 to 5pm, Fodder: Stories from the Fields 2026 brings farmers from across the region onto a stage at Greenagers' April Hill in South Egremont to tell the honest, sometimes funny, sometimes brutal stories of what farming in the Northeast actually involves. It's presented by Berkshire Agricultural Ventures, Berkshire Grown, Bridge, Farmsteads for Farmers, and Greenagers, with local writer and former Moth StorySLAM winner Sheela Clary emceeing a lineup that includes Mary and Beatrice Berle and Elizabeth Keen, and others. Greenagers wants us all to remember that the food we celebrate at harvest has to be harvested. 

And Hudson Valley Restaurant Week returns for its fall edition November 2 through 16, spanning ten counties and well over a hundred restaurants offering prix-fixe menus at four price points, from $24.95 lunches up to $44.95 dinners.

Cider Donuts and Apples

In the Berkshires, Hilltop Orchards in Richmond is making cider donuts fresh daily at the Apple Barn and Country Bake Shop, often in front of a crowd waiting for them. Bartlett's Orchard, also in Richmond, and Taft Farms in Great Barrington both show up regularly on local "best of" lists, and Whitney's Farm Market in Cheshire and Jaeschke's Orchard in Adams round out the county's core donut circuit.

Columbia County's has Love Apple Farm in Ghent, where the donuts come out of the bakery fresh every morning alongside apple turnovers, crisps, and pies. Golden Harvest Farms in Valatie has been making its version since 1988, milling the cider for its donuts on-site with a press that's been in continuous use since the 1960s. 

In Litchfield County, there’s a lot of love out there for Averill Farm in Washington Depot—a tenth-generation family operation with donuts, 21 varieties of pick-your-own apples and a view of the Litchfield Hills that’s to die for.