The Greens, at the Copake Country Club, is one of our favorite restaurants in Columbia County. This is by no means “country club food”, but a serious restaurant with a serious chef using the best local ingredients, much of it organic. The atmosphere is sophisticated rustic, with beautiful views over the golf course to Copake Lake and the mountains beyond. A central glass-fronted fireplace provides warmth and a nice focal point to the room. Service here is polished and attentive.

We began our dinner last night with a special of French onion soup for Stanley and the shrimp and scallion tempura with Asian slaw and a soy reduction for me. The soup was as good as the best bistro would make it, while my tempura was an outstanding example, with 2 massive shrimp and 2 large scallions lightly battered and fried perfectly. For mains, he had the pork chop in a fig and port wine sauce, with mashed potatoes, red cabbage and brussels sprouts, while I had the roasted organic chicken with cumin and chili, served with chorizo, roasted peppers and spinach (and normally black beans, but I substituted coconut jasmine rice).  It was a huge portion of chicken, well-spiced and with a crisp skin. We chose a bottle of Malbec from the reasonable wine list. They also have a very good selection of beers on draught.

They have good desserts here, but we just didn’t have enough room.

Lunch is also very nice here, with simpler dishes but the same high-quality preparation and ingredients.