The RuraList: 5 Places To Eat In Hudson

If you're feeling colorful...

Lil’ Deb’s Oasis, 747 Columbia Street
This tropical-themed restaurant has been making waves in Hudson since its opening in 2015. Chef/owners Hannah Black and Carla Perez-Gallardo self-identify as tropical comfort maximalists, an intense sensibility that permeates the decor as much as it does the flavorful pan-Latinx menu. Walking into the salmon-toned restaurant amidst the flicker and buzz of neon signs, customers are met with shimmering blue tiles, plant patterned floors, and fake flowers. To enter the art installation/restaurant hybrid is to dive headfirst into a brilliant aquarium of tropical kitsch. Aside from the daily-changing whole fried fish special, there is nothing fishy about the food. It gracefully manages to be both saturated with flavor and exquisitely balanced, exotic and familiar—a feat which recently earned them a coveted James Beard Award nomination in 2019. The menu is fluid and evolving yet consistently delicious, with influences from Ecuador, Argentina, the Caribbean, and the southern US brought to tasty fruition using local ingredients. A full bar offers colorful mixed drinks, meads and mezcals.

Café Mutton 

If you're in the mood for a meat-centric meal...

Café Mutton, 757 Columbia Street
One of the newer places in town, Cafe Mutton is a quaint breakfast and lunch joint  known for its meat-centric menu, developed by Shaina Loew-Banayan, the restaurant’s chef/owner. Look for novel spins on traditional menu items like eggs and sandwiches  that showcase the Hudson Valley’s abundant meats and produce. “We don’t cook a lot of mutton here, but it’s this idea of these things that are not the first choice, and how we bring them back into everybody’s cycle of eating,” explains Loew-Banayan.” The resulting menu is short but filled with delicacies. “Scrapple and eggs” is one of them—two sunny-side eggs served alongside scrapple, a loaf made with polenta and braised pork that’s pan fried. The country paté sandwich is another popular choice, featuring pork and chicken liver paté, whole-grain mustard, and cornichons on country white bread from Bartlett House in Ghent. If you’re in search of a gluten-free option, try the chicken and rice porridge featuring ginger, scallions, a poached egg, and optional chilli crisps. Buckwheat scones  and toffee crackers are popular sweets. While breakfast and lunch Wednesday through Sunday are the main focus, Café Mutton is open for dinner on Friday nights.

If you're a culinary connoisseur...

Swoon Kitchenbar, 340 Warren Street
Owners Jeff Gimmel and his wife, pastry chef Nina Bachinsky Gimmel, were among the trailblazers of Hudson’s culinary resurgence when they opened in Swoon Kitchenbar, a casual brasserie, in 2004. Gimmel, a former top toque at Michael, and Bachinsky-Gimmel, once a pastry chef at the Union Square Café, met while studying cheese making at The Old Chatham Sheepherding Co. All that training shows in the work: three cheese plates to choose from, all served with crostini and chutney; oysters on the half shell and Main mussels; an entreé of pan-seared local duck leg confit with apricot mostarda, beech mushroom, baby turnip and Swiss chard. And for the culinarily cautious, there’s always the skirt steak with potato puree, grilled onion and red wine steak sauce. The menu changes daily, with a full bar service to go with it (one cocktail to try: the Slippery Slope, with gin, aperol, lillet blanc, lemon, and soda). 

If you want to feel part of the inimitable Hudson scene...

Backbar, 347 Warren Street
Tucked behind 3FortySeven gallery and opening onto a large hidden courtyard through big garage doors, Backbar is an urban oasis decked out in a curated hodgepodge. Star chef Zak Pelaccio was firing on all cylinders when he created an overachieving menu of south-Asian cuisine in a casual atmosphere.The drinks are just as well thought out and delicious. There are a number of dishes excellent for picking at between sips or sentences. Try an order of chicken wings in fish sauce glaze or the beef satay skewers with a sesame dipping sauce. For slightly more substantial dishes, there’s smoked pork ribs with a signature spice rub and fish sauce glaze, or crystal shrimp (steamed or fried). Signature drinks include the Kiss It Bitter, with mezcal, Campari, grapefruit liqueur and lime; and the All Gucci, with vodka, guava, grapefruit, and “floated with Campari and bubbles.”  You'll find a comfortable mix of tourists and natives in the courtyard, which gives off a feel of something happening, something unique and unmistakably Hudson.

Kitty's Market Cafe. Photo credit: Sabrina Eberhard

If you want to get in and out in a hurry, or it's a takeout night...

Kitty’s Market Café, 60 South Front Street            
Do you require some snacks for the train? Provisions for your Airbnb? Planning a picnic? Kitty’s Café/Market is a one-stop-shop by the Hudson train station and has everything you need, including wine. Set on the corner of S Front and Cross streets directly across from the train station, Kitty’s is the answer to all commuters’ and local residents’ prayers: Breakfast sandwiches, yogurt parfaits, hot lunch dishes, fruit cups, coffee, and a market with pantry staples from pasta, milk, and olive oil to fresh fruits and veggies from area farms. Served till noon, the breakfast menu stars an egg-and-cheese on a sesame seed bun. A side of housemade sauerkraut is free, and you can add bacon for $2. You can also get a fruit cup or a parfait. Past noon, chicken is the star of the show. Get a whole bird by itself, a quarter or a half chicken with sides, just the sides, or all of it all together for $10 to $34. But sometimes you're in the market for an espresso or fresh-pressed juice, and Kitty’s has that, too.