Ok so what does the Hudson Valley have in common with like all of McDonalds Restaurants? Is it something more than the many locations where you can get your Big-Mac and your Egg McMuffin? Well, yes, sort of. Two of the top three Chef's that work in the McDonalds Test Kitchen or Innovation Kitchen graduated from the Culinary Institute of America. One of them even worked in a local Rhinebeck restaurant (The Terrapin) while they were going to school in Hyde Park. Chef Chad Schafer, Culinary Institute of America, (CIA) Hyde Park Chef Caroline Morris, Johnson & Wales University, Rhode Island. J&W is an awesome and well respected Culinary school and "arch" rivals to the CIA.