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Published: April 20th 2014
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Hudson Valley
Leaves changing around the bridge The Hudson Valley/ Weschester County area is a stones throw from our house. A beautiful area in all 4 seasons (think changing leaves, frozen river, blooming flowers and hot sunny summer days). There is always something/ somewhere to explore. We are far from having discovered/seeing everything, but this just adds a little bit to what we have already done/ seen in this area (see previous blogs for more).
A perennial favorite of ours in the area is Lefteris Gyro in Tarrytown. When we need a Greek fix Lefteris is our spot. On the main street in Tarrytown you always get greeted by the friendly Greek owner (he always thanks you for coming in). It's great to sit outside and people watch while devouring a Greek salad (we love the Greek salad here - it's just different) and lamb/chicken kebab. Always worth the 45 minute drive for us. Afterwards take a walk down the street to the little shops/ art galleries and grab some ice cream or coffee to finish it all off. Also just down the street Chiboust Bakery & Bistro is perfect for a late morning brunch or lunch place. We had some wine and mimosas, ordered a pizza
Hudson Valley
That time of the year with prosciutto, honey roasted pears, Gorgonzola, and a balsamic glaze, and a french dip steak sandwich with Gorgonzola. All in all a very nice meal at a very reasonable price.
For more good food try Fig & Olive in Scarsdale (yes a chain, but one of the few we will actually like). We started off with the carrot soup (really good) and fig salad (pretty flat and bland), had the shrimp fettichini (good) and truffle risotto (extremely rich but good) for main courses and finished off with the pot de creme (very good) and desert crostini (good). At the end of the day a pretty good meal.
Moving just a little north to Port Chester there is a couple other pretty good places for food. One of our favorites has been Bar Taco. Really good tacos (very cheap), a good setting with some awesome outside seating and good drinks. We usually get the large or small tray (consisting of a bunch or different tacos and some sides with a bowl of good guacamole). Also in town is a Mario Batali restaurant - Tarry Lodge. We went once for my birthday and had very high expectations given our experience
at Del Posto in the city. We started with the Fettunta and Foie Gras and moved on to the venison and pork belly w/ brown sugar (really good). We finished with the tiramisu and semi-fredo. It was an ok experience. I think our expectations was just way too high and usually when your expectations are that high you end up with disappointment. We would definitely recommend Tarry Lodge though - it probably just was not our night.
This area is absolutely gorgeous during the fall season when leaves change all over the place. FOLIAGE AT WEST POINT is especially spectacular. The area is very hilly and right next to the mighty Hudson river. Stop at the right look-out points over the Hudson and you'll have a scene rivaling any Vermont foliage. Our philosophy is to just drive and drive and find things. You find some really awesome scenes (especially when the leaves change) doing this. At some point we were on a road just winding along the river and the entire road was covered in overhanging branches with millions of little leaves changing from green to red orange to yellow to brown. Just a spectacle of colors.
This
area is also very well known for it's mansions - the VANDERBILT MANSION IN HYDE PARK is one such mansion. Considered one of the "smaller" mansions in the area it's always fascinating hearing the stories, the history, the gossip behind these. Definitely worth a visit since it is situated right on the Hudson river with some spectacular views. Right around the corner is the Eveready Diner. This has been featured in the show Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and is a local legend. The banana pancakes were good and the mac and cheese also comes highly recommended.
A fairly new addition to the restaurant scene is Fortina in Armonk. An extremely popular place with an awesome vibe. We went with some friends and got some freebies on the house (always a good thing that I guess tends to skew the rating). But honestly the freebies has nothing to do with our opinion. The drinks were fun and new (a little on the expensive side) and an wide variety of beers on tap or in bottle form. We started with appetizers - fried meatballs w/ tomato ragu and parmesan cheese (really good). We also tried the burrata w/ fettunta, butternut squash
and brown butter (really good and creamy) and wood-fired polpo (octopus) with shaved brussel sprouts, caesar dressing and almonds (pretty good). For our meals we just ordered some pizzas - the classic margherita w/ tomato, basil and mozarella and the Luigi Bianco w/ burrata, robiolona, parmesan and black truffle oil. The pizzas are personal size so you can consider them on the more expensive side given that some of them are $20+. But the quality was excellent - thick chewy crust on the outside and nice and thin in the middle. The Luigi Bianco was an excellent pizza that we would highly recommend. To finish it all off we got some deserts on the house - tiramisu in a glass and the ciocalata densa - ammaretti cookie with olive oil and sea salt (both were really good), A very popular place that we would highly recommend.
That is it for this blog. A shorter one, but definitely see our other blogs on this area for more information. Nothing to cross-off the list AGAIN so still only 212 down and 5,569 to go.
Til next time from a leafy Hudson Valley
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Home and Away
Bob Carlsen
I lived in Nyack, across from Tarrytown, for 3 years...
I loved the area, so thanks for the memories.