For my recent birthday, we were looking for something a little more special than the places on our usual list. Nothing super high-end, which we have come to appreciate less and less over the years, but a place with atmosphere, top-quality food, great wine, and really good service. We had only been to Maialino once, several years ago, and had enjoyed it, so I thought this would be the perfect occasion to experience it again. It did not disappoint.

Note that prices are more reasonable than they appear on the menu as there is no tipping, so the service is built into the price.

I started with tripe in tomato sauce, while Stanley had the crispy suckling pig face. I love tripe, but the pig face, with its wonderful crisp skin and rich meat, takes the prize. For the main course we shared the whole roasted rabbit. I was expecting a whole rabbit, and wondering how they would get all the parts to come out right, as when I cook a rabbit I make the different parts in different ways. As it turns out, they brought out a plate of parts, including thin strips of leg meat with skin, the loin, which had been pan-roasted as I would have done, liver and kidneys lightly sauteed, and the best part, sausage made from the leg meat and broccoli rabe, something I could never have duplicated at home. Served on a bed of Swiss chard, it was truly a wonderful dish. We also ordered a side of mushrooms, which was heavenly.

Last year I posted a comparison of Hanjan and Oiji:

Hanjan vs. Oiji – A Tale of Two Koreas

Then I received a Blackboard Eats deal recently for Do Hwa, so I was delighted to be able to compare another Korean place, particularly as it’s right in our neighborhood.  We had actually been to Do Hwa a few years ago, and though the food was good, we never felt compelled to return. Maybe we just didn’t try the best dishes. Having been there twice in the last month, I have to say this is really, really good, and quite reasonable even at full price.

I like that the menu is large, and the generous portions make it great for sharing. Among the appetizers, the seafood pancake and the pork ribs are exceptional. A nice assortment of side dishes and kimchi are served with main courses. We’ve had both the barbecued beef and barbecued pork, served with lettuces leaves to roll it up in, the fried chicken in a light, fluffy batter with jalapeno sauce, and the spicy sauteed squid. We loved every one of these.

I would go so far as to say I prefer Do Hwa over Oigi, though the styles are a bit different. We will definitely be making this a regular stop.

http://www.dohwanyc.com/

Columbia County is full of historic treasures, gorgeous scenery and quaint villages. In addition to the city of Hudson, there are many places of interest. Here are some ideas:

Olana

No trip to Hudson would be complete without a visit to Olana, home of the renowned 19th Century landscape painter Frederic Church. The house is open for tours from May 15 through October. The grounds can be visisted any time.

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Cedar Grove

The Thomas Cole, home just across the river in Catskill, while in no way as spectacular as Olana, is also worth a visit. Cole was an early 19th Century painter, and Frederic Church was a student of his. The house is open from May through October.

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Lindenwald

The home of Martin Van Buren, the eighth president of the United States, is in Kinderhook, about 15 miles North of Hudson. The restored house is open from mid-May through October. The nearby village of Kinderhook is filled with historic homes, most in pristine condition, definitely worth driving through.

https://www.nps.gov/nr/travel/presidents/van_buren_lindenwald.html

Also in Kinderhook is the Jack Shainman gallery, housed in a former school. It is currently featuring an exhibit of works by several contemporary artists, and is open Saturdays from 11 to 5.

http://www.jackshainman.com/school/

If you find yourself in Kinderhook at dinner time (or lunch Tuesday to Friday), consider the Carolina House:

The charming log building with its wooden booths and fireplaces is worth a stop for creative cooking based on Southern traditions, with Southwestern and Caribbean accents.

http://carolinahouserestaurant.com/

Clermont

Built in 1782 in Germantown, on the Hudson River about 10 miles South of Hudson, Clermont was the home of the Livingston family. It is open from mid-April through December.

http://nysparks.com/historic-sites/16/details.aspx

Art Omi – The Fields Sculpture Park

The Omi International Arts Center in Ghent, about 15 miles Northeast of Hudson, has a 60-acre sculpture park containing more than 80 sculptures. The visitors’ center includes an indoor gallery and a cafe. The sculpture park is open year-round.

http://www.omiartscenter.org/

Museum of Firefighting – Hudson

The FASNY Museum of Firefighting houses the world’s largest collection of firefighting artifacts. Open all year.

FASNY Museum of Firefighting

Rodgers Book Barn – Hillsdale

http://www.rodgersbookbarn.com/

The Book Barn is a very special place with a huge selection of high-quality used books at great prices. You could spend hours browsing and buying here. Here is a blog post that describes it very well:

The Book Barn — a magical place for real books

Crossroads Food Shop – Hillsdale

Crossroads is a great place to have breakfast or lunch. Great food from local producers, very reasonable. You order and pay at the counter and the food is brought to your table. Open Wednesday through Sunday.

http://www.crossroadsfoodshop.com/

More to come! I will be posting more sightseeing, driving tours, restaurants, etc. shortly.  Stay tuned.

Click on the image below to view, and enlarge as needed:

My post from last year:

Baby lambs – in sweaters!

This year they were born in warmer weather, as is more often the case, so no sweaters this time.

If you have a car, you can drive to Hudson from Manhattan in about 2 hours (as much as 3 in rush hour).  For us, the way to get to Columbia County is by train. We keep our car at the Hudson Amtrak station and only have to drive less than ten minutes to our house. Trains to Hudson leave Penn Station almost every hour, and the trip takes roughly two hours. Fares can be as low as $31 and can vary both by the date and time you travel and whether you qualify for the different types of discounts offered. It is usually best to reserve well in advance if you are traveling on Friday and Sunday, but if you reserve at a higher price, it is a good idea to check back several times as it gets closer to your travel day to see if the fare has been reduced. This often happens, particularly for return trains on Sunday. If I need to leave Sunday morning, I often wait until Saturday to book, as the fare invariably goes down.  The venerable, but well-maintained, station in Hudson is the third busiest Amtrak stop in New York.

How do you get around once you arrive in Hudson? Depending on where you stay and what you are planning to do, you may not need to rent a car, and there are taxi services available that will pick you up at the station. Here are a few:

http://www.yellowpages.com/hudson-ny/mip/hudson-city-taxi-509459717?lid=509459717

http://www.yellowpages.com/nationwide/mip/riverview-taxi-16703568?lid=16703568

http://www.yellowpages.com/hudson-ny/mip/hudson-city-transport-505256923?lid=505256923

http://www.yellowpages.com/hudson-ny/mip/howards-taxi-467035212?lid=467035212

If you plan to explore the surrounding area and want to rent a car, Enterprise Rent-a-Car will pick you up at the station and take you to the local rental location.

https://www.enterprise.com/en/car-rental/locations/gpbr.us-ny-hudson.24hs.html

Some ideas for places to stay in Hudson:

Country Squire B & B, 251 Allen St.

http://www.countrysquireny.com/

Hudson B & B

http://hudsonbandb.com/about/index.html

Croff House

คาสิโนออนไลน์ พิชิตเกมค่ายดัง เว็บตรง เล่นง่ายได้เงินจริง โบนัสเพียบ

The Barlow

http://thebarlowhotel.com/

Rivertown Lodge

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These are but a few examples of the many places to stay. Here is a longer list:

http://ilovehudson.us/accommodation/#.VxqXYEf3iFo

Last weekend, having lunch in the garden at Ca Mea, one of our favorite places in Hudson,  we overheard a discussion some first time visitors to Hudson were having with people at the next table.  They had arrived by train on Friday night and walked up from the station to the new and trendy Rivertown Lodge on upper Warren Street.  They then went to dinner at a new restaurant down by the station, and were lunching on a gorgeous Spring Saturday across from us.  They were thrilled by what they had discovered in just their first day.

The next installment will focus on sightseeing and restaurants.

Considering the tremendous interest my travel posts have been getting, I thought it would be a good idea to write about Columbia County and surrounding areas, where we have a country house, for those who may be thinking about visiting this beautiful part of the world. This is the first of what will be a series of posts. The next installments will cover how to get there, where to stay, things to see and do, more of our favorite restaurants, etc.

Our 1832 eyebrow house in Claverack (field of clover in Dutch), which we named            “Clover Lodge”

We are usually here every other weekend, and I often have to cut it short to get back to the city for open houses or showings. This Sunday I had no appointments, so I was able to have a full, relaxing weekend in the country.

Arriving Friday afternoon, we set off to buy food for the dinner party we planned for Saturday. In the evening, we headed into Hudson for a simple dinner at Wunderbar, a casual restaurant serving American comfort food with some Austrian specialties, and a large selection of beers on tap. I had the Wiener schnitzel (made with pork), and Stanley had a steak special with a delicious sauce. I used a Groupon, so with 2 beers the total cost was only $40 including tax and tip.

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After dinner, I began preparing Saturday’s dinner (we would be having four friends over), making the marinade for the chicken. Here is a link to the recipe for Jerk chicken:

http://www.saveur.com/article/Recipes/jamaican-jerk-chicken

Note that Scotch Bonnet peppers are the same as Habanero peppers, readily available in supermarkets. I used this recipe for the marinade but instead of a fricassee, I used an easier method, roasting, and used thighs instead of a whole chicken. Also, I doubled the amount of marinade to accommodate 12 thighs. Make deep slits in the chicken before marinating, and when ready to cook, put the thighs in a pan, skin side up, with the marinade under and on top. Roast at 400F for about 45 minutes, then broil for 5 minutes to crisp the skin.

Saturday morning I prepared the fish soup that would be the appetizer. Recipe follows:

Fish soup, for six

2 cups leek, chopped fine
1/4 cup onion, chopped fine
5 tbsp. butter
1 1/2 tbsp. curry powder
1/4 cup flour
1 cup clam juice
3 cups milk
3 cups chicken broth
Salt and pepper to taste
3 or 4 dashes hot pepper sauce or several sprinklings of cayenne, to taste
1 lb. cod or monkfish, diced
½ cup sour cream, plus more for garnish
½ cup chopped flat parsley

Melt butter and add leek and onion, cook for about 8-10 minutes over medium-high heat, until wilted and lightly browned. Add curry and cook briefly. Add flour and cook about 3 minutes. Meanwhile, heat the liquids just to boiling. Remove leek mixture from heat and gradually stir in the hot liquid.

Add salt and pepper. Return to heat and bring to a boil. Simmer for 20 to 30 minutes, until thickened enough to coat a spoon. Add the pepper sauce or cayenne.

You may stop at this point and let the soup sit until close to serving. Refrigerate overnight if needed.

Return soup to a boil and reduce heat to low, add fish, and cook for 5 to 10 minutes. Add sour cream and stir to blend.

Spoon into bowls, add a spoonful of sour cream to each, sprinkle with parsley and a bit of curry powder.

Meanwhile, Stanley prepared a gratin of potato and celery root, using this recipe:

http://www.bigoven.com/recipe/celery-root-gratin-with-saffron-and-gruyere-cheese/1696

Here is how it looks before baking. You can prepare it ahead, refrigerate, and return to room temperature when ready to bake.

Time for lunch, again in Hudson. Ca’ Mea is a lovely Italian restaurant. I had a panino with prosciutto, mozzarella and basil pesto (only $9, with a green salad). Stanley had calamari with tomato sauce and olives, an appetizer that is generous enough to be a fine lunch with a few slices of their excellent bread. They have a nice beer selection, so I had a Moretti La Rossa, Stanley a Dark Horse Boffo Brown Ale.

http://www.camearestaurant.com/

After lunch, we strolled up Warren Street, stopping at Olde Hudson to pick up creme fraiche.

Then we took a drive to Chatham, where the scenery is particularly beautiful, before heading home to continue dinner preparation.

Back at home,  I made a ginger cake, which is extremely easy and wonderful.

We served it topped with sweetened whipped cream and crystallized ginger.

This is the recipe:

http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/fresh-ginger-cake-103238

Stanley made the other side dish, petits pois a la Francaise:

http://www.food.com/recipe/petits-pois-la-fran-aise-french-style-peas-297872

Jerk chicken thighs with gratin and petits pois

Next, guests arrived, cocktails by the fire…

and a candlelit dinner…

Good food, good wine, and good company. A most enjoyable evening.

Sunday began with reading the Times, then a light brunch of eggs and bacon. In the afternoon we took a ride to Great Barrington, where we picked up a butterflied leg of lamb for dinner at Guido’s, a wonderful gourmet food store that is worth the half-hour drive. We took a scenic route home, and began preparing dinner.

Here is a link to the recipe I used for the lamb:

http://onedadskitchen.com/tag/butterflied-leg-of-lamb-with-coriander-cumin-and-mustard-seeds/

I used ground coriander and mustard because that’s what I had on hand, and instead of 2 strips of lemon peel, I used the peel of a whole lemon. You can use any amount of meat without changing the rest of the recipe, in my case 3 pounds. It was enough to serve 2 and have leftovers for 2 more meals.

Update: Joy has CLOSED. The sign says it will reopen with a different concept. Unfortunate. Stay tuned for more info.

We’ve been searching for a really good burger joint in the Village since BLT Burger closed several years ago, a place where you can get a great burger with a choice of toppings for $10 or less, really good onion rings, and a nice selection of beers. Reviews of Joy have been somewhat mixed, so we were a bit wary, having been disappointed by a number of others, but we finally gave it a try and were delighted. The selection of toppings and sauces is mind-boggling. I kept it fairly simple to emphasize the flavor of the meat, choosing cheddar and garlic mayo and adding some ketchup at the table. The 8-ounce Maxi was perfectly medium-rare as ordered, and had the right texture and beefy flavor. The onion rings were superior to any we’ve had since BLT. This will definitely be a regular stop for us.

They have an East Harlem location as well.

http://joyburgerwestvillage.com/

We’ve been to Botequim twice now, prompted to try it by a Blackboards Eats offer. Situated in the basement of the Hyatt Union Square, it’s chef/owner Marco Moreira’s (Tocqueville, 15 East) foray into a modern interpretation of his native cuisine.

Every dish we tried was interesting and delicious. Starters included grilled shrimp with a tasty fennel salad, grilled sausage, coconut soup with curried squash and prawn, and pasteizinhos de carne (fried meat-filled dumplings).  Main courses were feijoada, moqueca of striped bass and prawn, suckling pig, and skirt steak. For dessert we had the coconut cake. We really appreciated that they have a selection of Brazilian craft beers. The Guanabara Imperial Stout was superb.

It’s hard to find good Brazilian food in Manhattan. Botequim fills the gap admirably.

http://botequimny.com/

Having greatly enjoyed the food at Gardenia, we decided to try one of its sister restaurants, Ofrenda, on Seventh Avenue just above Sheridan Square. The excellent food is not the usual assortment of enchiladas and Tex-Mex standards. This is more authentic Mexican with a modern touch.

We started with a shared appetizer of queso fundido with huitlacoche. This was a huge portion, served with fresh soft corn tortillas and a piquant salsa verde, and the flavor was intricate and delicious. For the main course, I had a whole trout with epazote, jalapeno, tomato and onion, served with sides of rice with tomato and an avocado salad. Stanley had a massive pork shank with black beans and potatoes. The portions are very large and could be shared. We were stuffed and couldn’t even consider dessert. We drank margaritas, prickly pear cactus for him and cucumber for me. I would highly recommend them.

The space is a bit cramped, and it can get very loud, but it has a warm feeling that is very pleasant. Service is efficient. Prices are on the high side of moderate, but the quality and quantity justify them.

http://ofrendanyc.com/