A full service laundromat combined with a doughnut shop might not seem like a must-visit at first, but one look at the menu might change some minds. With more than a dozen flavors like blueberry, chocolate, bacon, and cinnamon, these freshly fried donuts are almost a bigger draw than the laundromat itself. Campers in particular will find this the ultimate destination: Wash and dry a load of clothes after a few days in the woods and gorge on some doughnuts while they spin.

Paris meets the North Country in this cozy Saranac Lake bistro. Recently reopened after the pandemic, the cafe still serves homey, shareable French classics like baked camembert, charcuterie and cheese boards, and spreads like salmon rillettes and olive tapenade to complement a wine menu focused on French classics. Live music is sometimes available. Currently only open evenings, but pre-pandemic it was open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

This newer addition to Saranac Lake is the perfect place to stock up for an afternoon spent lounging on a boat, canoe, or just lakeside. The chalkboard menu changes often, but the sandwiches garner rave reviews. Recent offerings included beef on weck (roast beef with horseradish sauce on a kimmelweck roll) and roast turkey (turkey, lettuce, tomato, onion, bacon jam, cheddar, and mayo on sourdough). Salads and bowls as well as beer and sodas are available for the perfect build-your-own picnic.

The mimosa menu can be enjoyed with views of Lake Placid. The rostis — piles of roasted potatoes topped with ingredients like bacon and Swiss cheese, apple, sausage, and brie, or corned beef and cheddar — are also popular here. There’s a whole menu of Benedicts as well, and kids (and kids at heart) will love the Palace Pancakes, buttermilk pancakes topped with chocolate caramel popcorn and assorted movie candy — part of the proceeds benefit the independent theater across the street.

Located in the heart of Lake Placid, the historic Mirror Lake Inn offers a variety of dining options. The wood-paneled bar and surrounding cozy lobby is perfect for a glass of wine and small plates, while those looking for a more formal dinner head to the View, the inn’s upscale restaurant. Right across the street is the Cottage, where locals and tourists alike gather on the shore of Mirror Lake to enjoy pub grub, craft beers, and sunset cocktails.

Lake Placid’s go-to for craft cocktails and innovative small plates is unlike any other restaurant in town. Dishes are meant to be shared and the menu changes frequently; recent offerings include a smoked chicken leg with chorizo rice, a kale caesar with crispy chicken skins, and a roasted asparagus dish that comes with spinach, preserved lemon, brown butter, horseradish, and Little Dickens cheese. One dish that never leaves the menu? The fried Brussels sprouts. The cocktails are the best in town and change as often as the menu, and the draft list is heavy on Northeast brews.

Locally and regionally sourced ingredients are transformed into international flavors at Salt of the Earth, with menu options like Ethiopian spicy shrimp, creamy curried corn-and-potato soup, and a grilled heritage pork chop served with a rice salad thats spiced with Kashimiri chili, dried papaya, red bell pepper, bamboo shoots, ginger, and served with a black tea coconut sauce.

One of the North Country’s premiere breweries now operates a family-friendly taphouse on the outskirts of Lake Placid. Brick oven personal pizzas and sandwiches are always on offer, and recent dinner entrees include dishes such as the Chop It Like Its Hot (a tomahawk pork chop with cornbread, braised fennel, and an ale redeye gravy) and fried chicken and grits (a fried chicken breast with creamy cheddar and pork belly grits, pickled apples, and maple chicken jus). The perennial favorite Pretzel Bites appetizer features locally baked pretzel bites served warm with a beer cheese sauce or maple mustard. Wash it all down with one of Big Slide’s many brews.

A restaurant from the folks behind the Dartbrook Lodge and Dartbrook Rustic Goods, Forty Six (a nod to the region’s 46 high peaks), serves lunch and dinner in a rustic setting along Route 73. Lunch includes sandwiches like the smoked brisket (Swiss cheese, red wine braised onions, and dijjonaise on grilled rye) and the Just Climbed A Mountain burger (local beef, Vermont cheddar, lettuce, tomato, and onion on a brioche bun), while the dinner menu features roasted Atlantic salmon, braised chicken and olives, a vegan spicy tofu sushi, and more. The seasonally changing menu is rounded out by a small selection of appetizers and desserts.

Donnelly’s has been popular with locals and vacationers alike since 1953 with its super-creamy soft serve. Lines form at the window — there’s no indoor seating — for orders of whatever flavor is being made that day in the shop’s original 1950s soft-serve machine. The menu of flavors changes weekly, but on any given week, expect vanilla and chocolate as well as swirl, fruit flavors (blueberry and strawberry made recent appearances), and “Surprise Saturdays,” where the flavor is a limited special.