CIA and Other Hudson Valley Restaurants

I will be up in New York's Hudson Valley for a couple of days at the end of June with my son.

I thought it would be fun to stop for lunch at one of the CIA restaurants -- Bocuse, d'Medici, or American Bounty. Does anyone have any experience-based recommendations among the three?

We were also going to trek up to the Crimson Sparrow, but wondered if anyone had any other thoughts on options a little further south. We are staying in Saugerties. I figure at that time of year any restaurant that really features local produce would be a good bet.

My favorite...Terrapin in Rhinebeck. http://www.terrapinrestaurant.com/?gclid=CLympY_M_MwCFVgnvQodSCYFHw
I don't know if Mint in Kingston is still open, but if it is I would check it out. I've always been a huge fan of Graziano's food.

Thanks, ecchef, will take a closer look at Terrapin.

By the way, the stop at the CIA is inspired by Michael Ruhlman's Making of a Chef, which I am reading now, so I'm inclined to drop into the campus even if there might be better restaurant options in the area.

ManofTaste said:

Thanks, ecchef, will take a closer look at Terrapin.

By the way, the stop at the CIA is inspired by Michael Ruhlman's Making of a Chef, which I am reading now, so I'm inclined to drop into the campus even if there might be better restaurant options in the area.

Click to expand...

Terrapin is pretty cool. In an old church, if I remember correctly. Rhineback itself is a nice small town, although I might like Kingston even better. Seen better days for sure, but the downtown is charming. We went for a small bite at "outdated", which wasn't half bad... For Vegan/Vegetarian [emoji23][emoji12]

Yup. The Rondout area was always the best place for bars & restaurants. There used to be a damn good pizza joint right off the Kingston exit on the Thruway. The place looked like a converted garage but the owner was right off the boat and knew his stuff.
FYI, New Paltz is ok, but give Newburg a wide berth. You don't want to go there.

I'm at school there now, working at one of the above restaurants. Here is what I would say, considering the circumstances, all the restaurants do a pretty good job of both front and back of house service. HERE ARE THE CIRCUMSTANCES: the entire kitchen and floor staff change every three weeks, there are no training days (there is normal service on the student's day 1) and the chefs and managers have no control over who works for them, and can not fire anyone. Basically its a worst case scenario that ends up working decently. Does everything run smoothly 24/7? Hell no! But its usually not bad either.
Weather you decide to eat at CIA or not, the campus is beautiful and a cool place to walk around

I did want to let folks know that I had a very nice meal at the American Bounty restaurant at the CIA. There were a couple of flaws -- an inexplicably long delay on dessert delivery and a duck breast that was overdone. But there were some really excellent dishes, including a papardelle with rabbit ragout, a long-braised beef short ribs dish, and a salad with pickled kumquats. It was also fun seeing the CIA campus.

We also ate at Miss Lucy's in Saugerties, which was delish!