Offbeat Eats

In late September, I ended up having my third trip to the Adirondack region, this time with Carol and the dogs accompanying me, which really opened up a lot of options when it came to dining since we didn’t have to race anywhere to take care of the doggos. My previous trips had focused primarily on breakfast joints, local watering holes, and smaller dinner spots, and this time, we decided it was a good excuse to go with our hosts Liz and Wesley to one of the better high-end dining options in Saratoga Springs, Hamlet & Ghost.

My third weekend in Saratoga Springs was supposed to be dedicated to helping re-supply the Northville-Placid Trail thru-hikers at their halfway point, but multiple complications ended up with everyone on the trip leaving the trail that week, so my schedule instead shifted to getting up a bit early on Saturday, having breakfast in Saratoga Springs, and heading up to Lake George to transfer some of the leftover gear from the trip. I’d already experienced Country Corner Café the previous weekend, so I decided to check out the other breakfast diner near my friends’ condo: Shirley’s Diner.

When I was staying with my friends in Saratoga Springs, I had asked them for local restaurant recommendations, and while most of their recommendations where either on Broadway or Putnam Street downtown, they mentioned that one place in particular was worth checking out due to it’s proximity: Eddie F’s Lobster Roll & Seafood House. Located in a residential neighborhood on Saratoga Springs’ west side, it was less than 100 feet from where I was staying, ideal for ducking out during a quick lunch (since I was working remotely).

Like my previous review of Big Apple Diner, driving between Saratoga Springs and New Hampshire four different times in September also had me passing by another entry on my perennial “I should check that place out” list. In this case, it was a place in Hudson Falls on US-4 as you are heading from Fort Ann into Glens Falls/Queensbury, Sally’s Hen House.

As I mentioned back in my review of Frazer’s Place, 2024 has ended up being one of those years that’s given me a lot of opportunities to finally visit some of those places I’ve driven by dozens of times and thought to myself “I should stop there.” One of these is the Big Apple Diner, located on Route-4 just over the border from Vermont (across from the former infamous Finius T. Flubberbuster’s Roadhouse). Pretty much every trip of ours to the Adirondack’s has driven past the Big Apple Diner, and coming back from one of my weekend trips in the Adirondacks, I finally managed to stop by and check it out.

I love it when you pass by cozy little cafés and can immediately tell that the place is popular with the locals and has its set of “regulars”. That was the case with a small little cafe located just about two short blocks from my friends’ condo in Saratoga Springs: the Country Corner Café.

After completing a day of working remote in Saratoga Springs, I took off to explore the downtown area while waiting for my hosts to arrive. After having a really enjoyable pint at Whitman Brewing, I wandered along Broadway doing some liht window shopping and looking at both cocktail and dinner menus. One place that drew my eye was a relative newcomer to Saratoga Springs, Rhea. Seeing folks enjoying bowls of ramen and some nicely-composed cocktails, I decided it would be on my short list for dinner, and when my hosts arrived, they agreed. So we headed back to Rhea and managed to score three seats at the bar, despite the relatively busy Friday evening.