The getaways issue

Best of the Hamptons & North Fork, Hudson Valley, Catskills, Litchfield County, Berkshires, Vermont, Maine, Jersey Shore, Nantucket, MORE

Aug 23, 2024

FOUND is deeply interested in getaway destinations within driving distance of New York City. That means the Hamptons and North Fork, Hudson Valley, the Catskills, Litchfield County, the Jersey Shore, the Berkshires, Vermont, Nantucket, and Maine. What do the regulars eat and drink, where should you stay and shop, and, to take this to its logical end — what about buying a second home of one’s own there?

Beyond the world of weekend escapes, FOUND closely tracks airports, particularly NYC-area airports, and the need-to-know intel that can make or break a trip. From time to time, special correspondents file reports from destinations like the French Riviera and barely touched edges of the Sonoma coast, because there are some experiences that transcend this mortal plane and beg to be shared.

Welcome to FOUND Getaways. As we stow your bag, make yourself comfortable.

GETAWAYS • The Nines

Restaurants, Hudson Valley

Feast & Floret (Hudson), Italian-inspired from Fish & Game team
Cafe Mutton (Hudson), understated, Beard-nominated neighborhood spot
Lil’ Deb’s Oasis (Hudson), tropical comfort food and bright colors
Gaskins (Germantown), bustling oasis of a bar, grown-up dining room
Stissing House (Pine Plains), 241-year-old space revamped and run by King chef
Clare de Boer
Champêtre (Pine Plains), serious French with NYC and Provence pedigree
Westerly Canteen (Wassaic, above), inspired seasonal fare from an Airstream
North Star (Copake), new contemporary American with stellar outdoor space
Le Petit Bistro (Rhinebeck), French-inspired with a great bar

GETAWAYS • Maine Report

Acadian glory

Islesford Dock Restaurant & Gallery is accessible only by boat, unless you happen to live on Maine’s Little Cranberry Island, which only a couple hundred people do. This past August, we shared the 20-minute ride from Northeast Harbor (via Cadillac water taxi) with one of those residents, Elaine, who had missed an earlier ferry and needed a lift home.

She returned the favor when we docked by taking us on a quick tour of the island on her golf cart, parked just up the road. The kids hung off the back as she pointed out her friends’ houses, mostly modest affairs with windows pointing towards the sea.

Back at the restaurant with some time to spare before our reservation, we sipped drinks on the dock, our elbows on the wooden rail pointed west toward the mountains of Acadia. Multi-generational parties came and went — regulars, mostly. Eventually, the sky and harbor blended into a color we’d never seen before, and the Mainers and interlopers all took turns trading phones and posing.

When the show ended, we sat inside at a table beside one of the walls of windows framing the bright dining room. There’s a sturdy bar in the center, wood beams and white clapboard walls throughout. Art lines the passageway to the gallery in the back, where local works are for sale.

What’s the Maine slogan — the way life should be?

The menu is a mix of Downeast vacation comfort and farm-to-table ambition (there’s a greenhouse behind the restaurant and a fisherman’s co-op next door). A season later, the particulars of the dishes have mostly faded into the glow of that sunset and the buzz of the room. But the food just needed to be hot to clinch the meal of the summer, and it was much more than that. The desserts, particularly, are still rendering in color: five spoons at once in a chocolate trifle and a too-hot-to-touch berry crumble.

On its website, the restaurant warns that it’s not responsible for your ride home or finding lodging in the event you’re stranded. Honestly, it would’ve been fine. Elaine told us to stop by; she was carrying a bag of groceries from the mainland. The sun would be up in nine hours. –Josh Albertson, 12/01/23

→ Islesford Dock Restaurant & Gallery (Little Cranberry Island) • 1 Main St., Islesford, ME • Open mid-June through late-September.

See also Nines:
Maine Restaurants, Beyond Portland
Restaurants, Portland

GETAWAYS • Friday Routine

Kingston is so, so back

SARI BOTTON • writer/editor/publisher • Botton, Ink. (Oldster, Memoir Land, and Adventures in *Journalism*)
Neighborhood you live in: midtown Kingston, NY

It’s Friday afternoon, how are you rolling into the weekend?
Running three newsletters, two of which are magazines, by the end of each week I’m fried. Once I’ve scheduled my Monday posts for Oldster and Memoir Land, most Fridays around 5pm my husband Brian and I will walk a few blocks across Kingston to West Kill Taproom for a drink or two (I don’t drink alcohol, but they have a nice selection of N/A beers, Casamara Club sodas, and other alternatives). Also, snacks via their collaboration with Kingston Bread + Bar, and various food pop-ups. Mostly we go there to randomly run into friends and acquaintances, which often leads to dinner plans on the fly, or going to hear music together at Tubby’s down the block.

I love a third place where you can casually cross paths with people and socialize without having to make plans ahead of time. Before the pandemic, there were a number of those we’d regularly frequent — Boitson’s, Outdated, Elephant, BSP Nightclub, The Beverly, Lis Bar, The Anchor, Duo Bistro, Redwood, Two Ravens, Lunch Nightly — and now they’re gone. Of all our regular old haunts, only Stockade Tavern and Rough Draft Bar & Books (above, with author Chloe Caldwell) remain.

Kingston is such a small city (population 24K), that losing so many beloved places at once really hurt. Ironically this was happening at a time when people from Manhattan and Brooklyn were buying up all the houses here after just a video tour, paying well above asking price with cash, and worsening an already pretty severe housing crisis. I kept thinking Kingston and the whole area had been terribly overhyped, and wondering what all those newcomers were doing on evenings and weekends, given our many empty restaurants, bars, and storefronts. But in the past year, especially in the midtown area where I live, some great new places have cropped up, and it feels like Kingston is truly coming back.

Where are you dining this weekend?
I’m excited to try Mirador, an “Andalucian-inspired” wine and tapas bar that recently opened on Broadway, which friends rave about. Recently we tried two new restaurants in Kingston that we loved: Chleo in uptown, where we shared some delicious, inventive small plates and I enjoyed a verjus and soda; and Eliza, a few blocks from our house in midtown.

For lunch on Saturdays I like to hit Calcutta Kitchens, an excellent recent addition not just for eating in, but for picking up frozen prepared meals, their simmering sauces and spices, and some other South Asian groceries and kitchenware. Calcutta Kitchens doesn’t yet regularly serve dinner, but on a recent Saturday might they made an exception as part of a book event for friend and recent transplant Jai Chakrabarti’s wonderful new story collection, A Small Sacrifice for an Enormous Happiness.

How about a little leisure or culture?
One recent Friday night at Westkill, a friend we bumped into told us there were still tickets for Al Olender’s fantastic Alentine’s show at the Old Dutch Church — the sanctuary of which doubles as a great music venue. We snagged two of the last tickets and were glad we did. We love living in walking distance to Tubby’s, and the Ulster County Performing Arts Center (UPAC), where we’ve had the pleasure of seeing Patti Smith and Elvis Costello perform, and one time, “Orchestral Tull,” Jethro Tull frontman Ian Anderson with an orchestra. It was… an experience.

Any weekend getaways?
When we need a little change of scenery but don’t have time for a big getaway, sometimes we’ll take a brief staycation right here in Kingston, at The Forsyth or Church des Artistes. Maybe one night we’ll try staying at The Kinsley, where we’ve enjoyed dinner at the restaurant a few times. I also really love taking a 45-minute ride northwest to spend a weekend at Spruceton Inn, which I first enjoyed when I was granted one of their week-long artist residencies in 2017.

Once in a while we’ll take a little road trip to Saratoga and stay at The Gideon Putnam, a historic inn with a spa and mineral baths. Or we’ll drive four hours to Montreal and find a room in either the Plateau-Mont-Royal neighborhood or Old Montreal.

What was your last great vacation?
We suck at planning real vacations. In late February when Brian suddenly had a week off between jobs, we took advantage of a mid-winter mid-week special at Mirbeau Inn & Spa, 20 minutes from home, in Rhinebeck. It was a nice little escape without the hassle of any significant planning. 03/15/24

GETAWAYS • The Nines

Haute provisioning, Hamptons

Sonny’s Village Prime Meat Shop (East Quogue), meats and Italian grocery
Hen of the Woods (Southampton), gourmet pantry items and unique Asian ingredients
Fairview Farm at Mecox (Bridgehampton), for challah
Cavaniola's Gourmet (Sag Harbor & Amagansett), best-in-class cheeses
Loaves & Fishes Foodstore (Sagaponack), unrivaled (in price!) prepared foods
Villa Italian Specialties (East Hampton), for homemade mozz
Mitad del Mundo Express (East Hampton), for Spanish and Latin cooking needs
Stuart’s Seafood Market (Amagansett), local catch; see also, Amagansett Seafood Store
Herb’s Market (Montauk), for fried chicken

As for farmstands, three essentials: Pike Farms (Sagaponack), Lisa and Bill’s (Wainscott), and Balsam Farm (Amagansett).

See also Nines:
Summer Weekend, Hamptons
Restaurants, Hamptons

GETAWAYS • Friday Routine

Rosé all day

JOEY WÖLFFER • co-owner • Wölffer Estate Vineyard
Neighborhood you live in: North Haven

It’s Friday afternoon, how are you rolling into the weekend?
Fridays in the Hamptons vary for me from season to season. In the winter, it’s family dinner and mostly chill Fridays. In the summer, it’s pure insanity. In my role, I’m often out and about representing the Wölffer brand, but also, like to be present at The Wine Stand in Sagaponack, as a lot of our New York City-based clientele show up there on Fridays.

Where are you drinking or dining this weekend?
I’m a mom, and my weeks are very busy, but I love to make time for the kids. The Wine Stand is a perfect spot for kids to play and parents to have a drink after a long week. We try to meet a group of friends with kids, and then usually swing oﬀ to an event or dinner. Two of my favorite Hampton restaurants are Sen in Sag Harbor, for sushi, and Elaia Estiatorio in Bridgehampton, for delicious Greek food.

Another spot I love Is Duryea’s in Montauk. There are very few locations where you feel like you are truly on vacation, and Duryea’s is one of them. I love getting an Aperol spritz at Tutto Il Giorno in Sag Harbor —their spaghetti a la vongolé is one of my favorites. As I live in North Haven (close to the Shelter Island ferry) I also frequent Léon 1909 on Shelter Island, where the food is impeccable.

How about a little leisure or culture?
The Hamptons is rooted in creativity. Some of the greatest writers and artists have lived and created out east. I’m a proud board member of the Parrish Art Museum and take my kids almost every weekend. The Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor puts on some incredible shows. We love a good date night at the Sag Harbor Cinema. My girls and I are big horseback riders and look forward to the Hampton Classic every summer to compete and spectate. This year, my eldest and I are sneaking oﬀ from the rest of the family to go to the Summer Olympics in Paris to watch show jumping.

Any weekend getaways?
We love Upstate, particularly the Rhinebeck and Woodstock areas. We’re lucky that they’re a part of our summer competition tour for riding. The girls love swimming in the streams, and the food and creative outlets are also fantastic. For lodging, The Woodstock Inn on the Millstream is an old school B&B on a lovely stream. I also love Woodstock Way Hotel. And for local dining, restaurants: Cucina and Silvia.

What was your last great vacation?
We just got back from Amsterdam. It was a perfect trip for a family with youngish kids. We were able to balance sightseeing with delicious food (check out Fiaschetteria Pistoia and Café de Klepel), shopping, and strolling the streets. The Dutch are some of the nicest people. Some of our top activities were Keukenhof (for tulip season), the Anne Frank House, the Van Gogh Museum, the Moco Museum, and the canal tours. I love traveling with my kids, discovering the world over and over again through their naiveté and curiosity. 05/17/24

GETAWAYS • Vermont

Ski it if you can

As the air turns cooler and the winds off the East River sharper, the mind turns to winter getaways. In New England, there’s no better choice for me than the Mad River Valley — specifically the postcard-perfect town of Warren, VT. There, a short drive from the bases of Sugarbush and Mad River Glen, sits the platonic ideal of a Vermont country hotel: The Pitcher Inn.

On my first visit in the early aughts, I stayed in Mountain, a room with rustic ceiling beams and vintage wooden snowshoes on the walls. Each of the hotel’s rooms is themed and decorated differently, a design idea that could go far awry in the hands of a bad designer, but plays as extreme charm here. In subsequent stays, I’ve enjoyed Ski (birch branches, wooden skis, a roaring fireplace) and Trout (fish reliefs carved in wood, a collection of canoe paddles). There are eight more rooms to explore, plus a brand new, private three-bedroom house.

The inn’s restaurant is casual but elegant and worth a visit (a local friend tells us there’s a new chef this season working magic). The region’s can’t-miss, though, is the original American Flatbread, which serves incredible pizza in an atmospheric barn in Waitsfield, about 10 minutes up the road from the Pitcher. To make it work, pop by around around 4:30p to put your name in, then return later to stand around the bonfire and claim your spot in front of the roaring oven. It’s the best après-ski this side of the single chair. –Lockhart Steele, 10/13/23

→ The Pitcher Inn (Warren, VT) • 275 Main St. • Rates from $530 to $1155.
→ American Flatbread (Waitsfield, VT) • 46 Lareau Rd. • Thurs.-Sun., 4-9p.

See also Nines:
Late Fall Weekend, Vermont

THE NINES • Getaways

Summer weekend, Shelter Island & North Fork

Sunset Beach (Shelter Island), Andre Balazs ode to South of France, $674
The Chequit (Shelter Island), classic old-school hotel, $1590
The Pridwin Hotel (Shelter Island), recently renovated on Crescent Beach, $930
Hotel Moraine (Greenport), recently refreshed, overlooking the Sound, $780
Silver Sands Motel (Greenport), updated rooms and bungalows with great vibe, $525
The Menhaden (Greenport), updated in-town boutique hotel, $575
Sound View (Greenport), seaside minimalism w/private beach, $775
North Fork Table & Inn (Southold), 4 boutique rooms + John Fraser restaurant, $1050 (intel here)
The Shoals (Southold), 20 suites + 20 boat slips, $625

All rooms king, July weekend, 1 night (minimum stays often required).

See also Nines:
Restaurants, North Fork & Shelter Island