7 Hudson Valley modern classic diners to try
The farm-to-table treatment of classic diner food suits the moment
Kathleen Willcox
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Modern diners across the Hudson Valley like Dixon Roadside in Woodstock serve the locally sourced, elevated nostalgia foods Americans crave.Dixon Roadside
The pandemic made Grandma chic cuisine cool again.
From-scratch banana bread, heirloom beans, cookies, sourdough everything, pasta, pickles and jam dominated the culinary landscape, but with a twist. The Zeitgeist now demands not just heaving dishes of creamy comfort, but recipes made from locally grown, seasonal and sustainably produced ingredients.
In other words, fewer cinched waists and sous vide fuss, more stretch pants and patty melts as long as they’re made from grass-fed local beef and artisanal farmstead cheese on house-made bread.
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A few years back, Rosendale was bookended both geographically and ideologically by 32 Lunch, no-nonsense blue-collar diner, on one end, and Rosendale Cafe, vegan, hippie cafe with brown rice and a weekly salsa night, on the other. Now, 32 Lunch’s successor is trying to span the gap with fresh-made American diner classics that appeal to everyone. Local stone mason Gerard Swarthout spent countless lunches sitting at the counter at 32 Lunch, watching the steady trickle of customers, the town drama, the political debates, and anecdote-swapping. “It was 20 years of market research,” he says. “This place was not so fancy, but you could still get a good egg sandwich. I knew what a gold mine it could be.”