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Site of Historic Catskill Mountain House with View over New York Landscape, near Tannersville, New York, USA
A view from Catskill Mountain House
Photo by: Matthew Lovette/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

Everywhere to Eat and Drink in the Western Catskills

Plenty of can’t-miss dining options are located just a little more than an hour or two away from New York City

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A view from Catskill Mountain House
| Photo by: Matthew Lovette/Education Images/Universal Images Group via Getty Images

The Catskill Mountains’s Borscht Belt glory days are long gone, but its Brooklyn Belt days are just beginning. The pandemic has accelerated an embrace of upstate living from the former city-dwelling crowd, with its cheaper housing, pastoral spaces, and domestic tranquility. That trendiness has flourished in a local “hickster” movement which has permeated beyond the artisanal Hudson Valley and into the scruffy Western Catskills — Delaware and Sullivan counties, along the Delaware River at the elbow of New York’s border. With menus both ambitious and playful, the area has gone from once being the puckish anti-Hamptons to now blossoming into delightful counter-Hamptons territory.

Now that trout fishing season is in full swing and summer is here, bold new arrivals have combined with establishment favorites to coalesce into a community of culinary craftsmanship.

The latest CDC guidance for vaccinated diners during the COVID-19 outbreak is here; dining out still carries risks for unvaccinated diners and workers. Please be aware of changing local rules, and check individual restaurant websites for any additional restrictions such as mask requirements. Find a local vaccination site here.

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Eater maps are curated by editors and aim to reflect a diversity of neighborhoods, cuisines, and prices. Learn more about our editorial process.

Brushland Eating House

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This no-signage bistro has made a pandemic pivot to “pod dining,” which is basically booking the whole restaurant for, say, a 30th birthday party or a family reunion. But there have also been incredible one-off feasts, including an epic Nowruz spread from chef Sohail Zandi that batted 1,000 (and mostly home runs at that).

a spread of dishes
A feast from Brushland Eating House
Christian Harder Photography / Brushland Eating House [Official]

Russell's General Store

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This spot would stand out even if it weren’t one of just two stores in tiny Bovina. The banh mi sandwiches and bacon-egg-and-cheese biscuits are as strong as its coffee. An array of egg sandwiches are crowd pleasers, but even its simple PBJ delivers.

Unclebrother

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This scenester project is from New York gallerist Gavin Brown and influential Argentine-born Thai artist Rikrit Tiravanija, whose installations often include shared meals. The pair, who have weekend homes in the area, bought a derelict car dealership and turned it into a space for art and food, with a gimmicky draw of free curry. The multi-course meals are absurdly cheap: Thai salad with grapefruit, vegetable green curry, a sausage & potato turnover, Thai tacos three ways (chicken, fish, and pork) and buñuelos all for $25, or a salad, deep-fried Brussels sprouts, vegetable green curry, mac ‘no’ cheese, a country-fried steak with mashed potatoes, and chocolate cake with berry compote all for $20. The catch: it’s only open during the summer.

Northern Farmhouse Pasta

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Billing itself as “New York’s first pasta shop to use 100% NY wheat!!!” the playfulness of those three exclamation points really permeate the menu and the atmosphere. There’s an ever-changing array of seasonal and experimental ravioli, as well as several ramen varieties.. A14-ounce veal chop and the cast-iron Tuscan chicken parm (a sauteed chopped chicken in a rustic sauce with spinach) are other standouts.

The Junction

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For fans of Kenoza Hall and the DeBruce who may want something more mellow, try the Junction, where chef Evan Chesney is an alum of both hotspots. It’s run by Aaron Blakely and Misty Hackworth, a husband-and-wife team (she’s a veteran of Brooklyn Brewery and he’s from Employees Only). Cocktails like Walking On Sunshine (vodka, Aperol, grapefruit and lime) pair surprisingly well with smoked trout and fried Saltines. Or a grain bowl containing everything from beets to dried cherries.

The DeBruce

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The restaurant is part of a renovated 1880s hotel, also called The DeBruce, that is among the last of the grand hotels of the Catskills’ glory days. Dishes like its Peconic escargot with potato risotto and a three-year aged Comté stand out on a menu that also includes venison tartare, celery root with ramps and elderberry capers, and trout in a beurre cancalaise with trout roe. Breakfast highlights include a lamb belly and chanterelle congee, soft-scrambled eggs with uni and whipped cream, and a rhubarb galette.

A dining room in the Catskills
The DeBruce dining room
Lawrence Braun / The DeBruce [Official]

The Walk In

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Self-described as a home for “biscuit porn,” the Walk In delivers on that salacious promise with hits like the curry chicky sandwich with surprise cranberries and celery or the Frenchie with prosciutto, Comté, apple butter, and dijon. The biscuits of the week can dazzle, but true locals know you can’t go wrong with a classic sausage and egg biscuit and a cup of coffee.

Neversink General Store

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True story: A chef quit Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Jojo to run his own restaurant out of a rural gas station. It creates an almost comical clash to see pre-made coq au vin on shelves next to discount Bud Light, but chef Jaime Stankevicius’s eggplant parm, shepherds’ pie, breakfast and lunch sandwiches, and try-it-to-believe-it jars of vodka sauce speak for themselves.

New Munson Diner

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It doesn’t get more transplant than this: an entire Manhattan diner — briefly famous for being the “bizarro” diner in Seinfeld — got picked up and carried over to Liberty, a proper town among hamlets. So many New Yorkers already know the expansive menu, and familiarity goes a long way toward a great friends-with-Benedicts brunch.

Rough Cut Brewing Co.

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This roadside brewery bills itself as “comfort food for uncomfortable times,” with deals like a Monday night special of $22 for two pints of beer and one of three burgers: their classic Oscar (bacon cheeseburger), a “Wellington” cooked inside puff pastry, or “Flying” option with shredded Buffalo chicken on top. Many of those pints are dessert beers, including a Belgian tripel with orange blossom honey notes or an Imperial milk stout with heavy notes of chocolate and raspberry.

Pickled Owl

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The fried chicken here from Snowdance Farm — found in a lunchtime sandwich or a dinner dish with mac & cheese, a biscuit, and seasonal pickled vegetables — might be the state’s best fried chicken north of The Bronx. Balance it out with apple cider vinegar-fried Brussels sprouts or seasonal deviled eggs.

La Salumina

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While ostensibly this is a charcuterie shop run by husband-and-wife team Eleanor Friedman and Gianpiero Pepe, it feels a lot more like hanging out in their kitchen at home before a dinner party. Customers won’tleave without having tried plenty of samples from the gregarious Pepe, a native of Lioni, in Italy’s Avellino province

Kenoza Hall

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This hotel and restaurant works the special occasion vibes with an extensive raw bar and caviar service. Although the vibe is Big Date Night, its menu is perfect for sharing among a group, including tournedos rossini with foie gras and sauce financier or duck à l’orange with salsify puree and sauce bigarade, which is made from bitter oranges. Groups also make it so much easier to have all three desserts: chocolate mousse, crème brûlée, and the crêpe soufflé.

Cochecton Fire Station

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The former fire station (hence the name) is now a restaurant that cheekily divides its menu into two main sections: $6 and Not $6. The $6 options include a s’mores with chocolate graham crackers or a gooey mac and cheese (there’s a $10 mortadella “hot dog mac” option, too). The pricier items include a $16 roasted cheese plate and a $24 shrimp and pineapple dish. Its substantial cocktail program includes the Tip-A-Canoe (vodka, cinnamon, grapefruit, lemon) and the Ornery Old Fashioned (bourbon, bitters, oleo saccharum, sfumato). For homesick city dwellers, there are $3 egg creams.

The Dale

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The most popular pie at this grown-up pizzeria — where the motto is “Just eat the f*** pizza!” — is a mozzarella and gorgonzola number covered in thinly sliced potatoes and truffle oil. Others include smoked duck, wild mushroom, or Esposito sausage and peppers varieties. The sleeper hit is the smoked trout salad.

pizza with cheese and topping
The Dale offers a number of pizzas worth considering
Victoria Janashvili / The Dale [Official]

The Laundrette

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What is it with Catskills pizzerias and their incredible salads? Here, at a chillax-y location overlooking the Delaware River, it’s the Thai salad with crispy pork. The pies themselves are both exciting and familiar, the way audiences gravitate to nascent Hollywood A-listers: pepperoni and olives, bacon cheeseburger, or chorizo and egg.

Brushland Eating House

This no-signage bistro has made a pandemic pivot to “pod dining,” which is basically booking the whole restaurant for, say, a 30th birthday party or a family reunion. But there have also been incredible one-off feasts, including an epic Nowruz spread from chef Sohail Zandi that batted 1,000 (and mostly home runs at that).

a spread of dishes
A feast from Brushland Eating House
Christian Harder Photography / Brushland Eating House [Official]

Russell's General Store

This spot would stand out even if it weren’t one of just two stores in tiny Bovina. The banh mi sandwiches and bacon-egg-and-cheese biscuits are as strong as its coffee. An array of egg sandwiches are crowd pleasers, but even its simple PBJ delivers.

Unclebrother

This scenester project is from New York gallerist Gavin Brown and influential Argentine-born Thai artist Rikrit Tiravanija, whose installations often include shared meals. The pair, who have weekend homes in the area, bought a derelict car dealership and turned it into a space for art and food, with a gimmicky draw of free curry. The multi-course meals are absurdly cheap: Thai salad with grapefruit, vegetable green curry, a sausage & potato turnover, Thai tacos three ways (chicken, fish, and pork) and buñuelos all for $25, or a salad, deep-fried Brussels sprouts, vegetable green curry, mac ‘no’ cheese, a country-fried steak with mashed potatoes, and chocolate cake with berry compote all for $20. The catch: it’s only open during the summer.

Northern Farmhouse Pasta

Billing itself as “New York’s first pasta shop to use 100% NY wheat!!!” the playfulness of those three exclamation points really permeate the menu and the atmosphere. There’s an ever-changing array of seasonal and experimental ravioli, as well as several ramen varieties.. A14-ounce veal chop and the cast-iron Tuscan chicken parm (a sauteed chopped chicken in a rustic sauce with spinach) are other standouts.

The Junction

For fans of Kenoza Hall and the DeBruce who may want something more mellow, try the Junction, where chef Evan Chesney is an alum of both hotspots. It’s run by Aaron Blakely and Misty Hackworth, a husband-and-wife team (she’s a veteran of Brooklyn Brewery and he’s from Employees Only). Cocktails like Walking On Sunshine (vodka, Aperol, grapefruit and lime) pair surprisingly well with smoked trout and fried Saltines. Or a grain bowl containing everything from beets to dried cherries.

The DeBruce

The restaurant is part of a renovated 1880s hotel, also called The DeBruce, that is among the last of the grand hotels of the Catskills’ glory days. Dishes like its Peconic escargot with potato risotto and a three-year aged Comté stand out on a menu that also includes venison tartare, celery root with ramps and elderberry capers, and trout in a beurre cancalaise with trout roe. Breakfast highlights include a lamb belly and chanterelle congee, soft-scrambled eggs with uni and whipped cream, and a rhubarb galette.

A dining room in the Catskills
The DeBruce dining room
Lawrence Braun / The DeBruce [Official]

The Walk In

Self-described as a home for “biscuit porn,” the Walk In delivers on that salacious promise with hits like the curry chicky sandwich with surprise cranberries and celery or the Frenchie with prosciutto, Comté, apple butter, and dijon. The biscuits of the week can dazzle, but true locals know you can’t go wrong with a classic sausage and egg biscuit and a cup of coffee.

Neversink General Store

True story: A chef quit Jean-Georges Vongerichten’s Jojo to run his own restaurant out of a rural gas station. It creates an almost comical clash to see pre-made coq au vin on shelves next to discount Bud Light, but chef Jaime Stankevicius’s eggplant parm, shepherds’ pie, breakfast and lunch sandwiches, and try-it-to-believe-it jars of vodka sauce speak for themselves.

New Munson Diner

It doesn’t get more transplant than this: an entire Manhattan diner — briefly famous for being the “bizarro” diner in Seinfeld — got picked up and carried over to Liberty, a proper town among hamlets. So many New Yorkers already know the expansive menu, and familiarity goes a long way toward a great friends-with-Benedicts brunch.

Rough Cut Brewing Co.

This roadside brewery bills itself as “comfort food for uncomfortable times,” with deals like a Monday night special of $22 for two pints of beer and one of three burgers: their classic Oscar (bacon cheeseburger), a “Wellington” cooked inside puff pastry, or “Flying” option with shredded Buffalo chicken on top. Many of those pints are dessert beers, including a Belgian tripel with orange blossom honey notes or an Imperial milk stout with heavy notes of chocolate and raspberry.

Pickled Owl

The fried chicken here from Snowdance Farm — found in a lunchtime sandwich or a dinner dish with mac & cheese, a biscuit, and seasonal pickled vegetables — might be the state’s best fried chicken north of The Bronx. Balance it out with apple cider vinegar-fried Brussels sprouts or seasonal deviled eggs.

La Salumina

While ostensibly this is a charcuterie shop run by husband-and-wife team Eleanor Friedman and Gianpiero Pepe, it feels a lot more like hanging out in their kitchen at home before a dinner party. Customers won’tleave without having tried plenty of samples from the gregarious Pepe, a native of Lioni, in Italy’s Avellino province

Kenoza Hall

This hotel and restaurant works the special occasion vibes with an extensive raw bar and caviar service. Although the vibe is Big Date Night, its menu is perfect for sharing among a group, including tournedos rossini with foie gras and sauce financier or duck à l’orange with salsify puree and sauce bigarade, which is made from bitter oranges. Groups also make it so much easier to have all three desserts: chocolate mousse, crème brûlée, and the crêpe soufflé.

Cochecton Fire Station

The former fire station (hence the name) is now a restaurant that cheekily divides its menu into two main sections: $6 and Not $6. The $6 options include a s’mores with chocolate graham crackers or a gooey mac and cheese (there’s a $10 mortadella “hot dog mac” option, too). The pricier items include a $16 roasted cheese plate and a $24 shrimp and pineapple dish. Its substantial cocktail program includes the Tip-A-Canoe (vodka, cinnamon, grapefruit, lemon) and the Ornery Old Fashioned (bourbon, bitters, oleo saccharum, sfumato). For homesick city dwellers, there are $3 egg creams.

The Dale

The most popular pie at this grown-up pizzeria — where the motto is “Just eat the f*** pizza!” — is a mozzarella and gorgonzola number covered in thinly sliced potatoes and truffle oil. Others include smoked duck, wild mushroom, or Esposito sausage and peppers varieties. The sleeper hit is the smoked trout salad.

pizza with cheese and topping
The Dale offers a number of pizzas worth considering
Victoria Janashvili / The Dale [Official]

Related Maps

The Laundrette

What is it with Catskills pizzerias and their incredible salads? Here, at a chillax-y location overlooking the Delaware River, it’s the Thai salad with crispy pork. The pies themselves are both exciting and familiar, the way audiences gravitate to nascent Hollywood A-listers: pepperoni and olives, bacon cheeseburger, or chorizo and egg.

Related Maps