Even on weekdays, when Beacon is quieter with fewer tourists, this Palestinian spot is consistently packed with families and friends sharing mezze. Join them for lunch, but be prepared to wait about 40 minutes for a prime table—it’s worth it to dive into plates of hand-rolled kibbe and halloumi. The moist and impossible-to-put-down kofta burger is exactly what you’ll need after walking 10,000 steps throughout Dia or climbing your way up the firetower.

The Roundhouse should be your Beacon dinner spot. This fine dining restaurant is located in a very nice hotel, and every table has a view of the nearby creek and waterfall, whether you’re seated inside next to the floor-to-ceiling windows or on the patio. Park yourself outside under the string lights on a cool evening for maximum tourist-and-dog-watching, and order plates of deviled eggs and housemade pasta for a lovely dinner.

After you made the relationship serious with a visit to Dia Beacon, celebrate at Hudson Valley Brewery’s clean, modern tasting room. They’re known for their sour IPAs—go with one of the fruit-forward sours that burst with vibrant color and taste, like the mixed berry or peach from their Silhouette series. If that’s not really your thing, try the Pillow Hat, a low ABV pale ale, or the Feel No Way lager.

Lil Deb’s Oasis is full of serious food and wine in a place that makes a point not to take itself too seriously. Pretty much everyone here is wearing a crop top, and wine descriptions read like cryptic Connections solutions (tasting notes include “tiny pants and “overdue apology”). Always order the whole fried fish—digging into the crisp, piping-hot flaky goodness with your bare hands before dipping it into the citrusy sauce is a sensual experience.

Cafe Mutton feels like it was made for a rapidly-disappearing version of Hudson—one that remains eccentric, affordable, and connected to the natural world around it. Things like sausages and buckwheat scones are made in house, with the kind of care and attention you couldn’t manage in the city without charging at least three times as much. The country pâté, served in sandwich form, is the kind of dish to go out of your way to eat, and the savory pig head porridge is the perfect way to warm up.

We recently took a last-minute train to Hudson for a weekend trip and had three of our five meals at Kitty’s, a daytime cafe and restaurant located right across from the train station. Kitty’s sells some very good rotisserie chicken plates, pastries, and one of the better breakfast sandwiches we’ve had in recent memory. Between the blanket of mild muenster cheese, smoky bacon, and a bun that’s been blasted with sesame seeds, this thing should have its own Hudson tourism ad on Amtrak.

Suarez was founded at a time when most breweries were packing in the hops, pushing the boundaries of ABV, and going big, big, big. When everyone zigged, they zagged, and created some of the most delicious, dialed-in pilsners, lagers, and ales using ingredients from local farms. Don’t be surprised to find wild fermented country beers with sumac, chamomile, thyme, and buckwheat. Their newly reopened tasting room is a simple space with shared long tables that invite strangers to meet each other and

The Aviary’s eclecticism satisfies just about every Hudson Valley restaurant trope. The space is a renovated 1800s textile mill with white marble and mismatched velvet armchairs, and the mostly Southeast Asian menu is filled with local ingredients from farms that are meticulously listed out on their website like a bibliography. Come for dinner and order some pan-seared scallops in a green peppercorn sauce and some tart calamansi pie after finishing off a day of shopping.

Jamaican spot Top Taste is where you’ll find the best and most affordable meal in Kingston. For $15, you’ll get a hefty plate of moist jerk chicken or rich oxtails, buttery plantains, brown lentil rice, and green slaw. They largely do takeout, but there are a few small tables inside if you want to watch some local news while digging into tender, spiced curried goat and sipping ginger beer.

The line at Rosie’s General can wind all the way around the block on weekends, but the wait is worth it. This little spot looks like a Pixar animator’s rendition of an antique shop-slash-general store, right down to the flawless natural light. Everything is baked in-house, and the bread is some of the best in the area, so you can’t go wrong with a sandwich.