Offbeat Eats

Last Spring, as we were doing one of our preparatory trips to Lake George for Ohana, we stopped in for dinner at Common Roots Brewery in South Glen Falls (our review here). At that visit, I had noticed that Common Roots (whose brewery building itself is relatively new) had been on quite the building spree. Across the parking lot from their main brewery, Common Roots also runs their Bierhall & Barrel House Private Event Center, which in the mornings also operates as Common Roots Café for breakfast. The space is quite nice, albeit extremely cavernous when not being used for events. Since I was passing through South Glens Falls in early September on my way to the Adirondacks, I decided it was a great opportunity to stop in for coffee and breakfast.

I’ve previously noted in my Lake George area reviews that there are almost uncountably many places to get breakfast in Lake George, but the quality is hit and miss, the prices are tourist-level, and sometimes it’s just nice to get a fresh view. Luckily, the Glens Falls area, about 15 minutes south of Lake George, is a lot quieter than Lake George, but it’s got a lot going for it. A nice, fairly vibrant downtown. Two breweries. A decent art musuem. And a good number of cheap, affordable restaurants. One that we had been driving by a lot in the last few years, just down the street from Common Roots, is the Peppermill Family Restaurant.

As I’ve mentioned in few of my upstate New York reviews, ever year I help operate the annual Ohana Luau at the Lake charity fundraising Tiki event. In addition to attending the event, we help with event logistics, and that means that at least twice a year we end up traveling to Lake George multiple time (usually once to stage everything, and then attend the event itself), and staying in the greater Lake George area several nights each June. Since we’re now in our 7th year of doing this, we’ve started to explore the area a bit more, and we’re starting to pick up a few favorites. One of these is about 15 minutes down the road in South Glens Falls, Common Roots.