Things to do / Travel Guide
Around northern New York you may see signs for pig roasts, barbecues, pancake breakfasts, and fish fries. Don't be shy - these local events are often fundraisers, open to outsiders, and the food is generally tasty and inexpensive. Otherwise, most of the food around northern New York is standard, American fare. With all of the fresh bodies of water, in addition to the fish farms, taking advantage of some seafood meals is a great idea. Check out the traditional shore dinners, a specialty of the Thousand Islands area. It's also best to confirm that a restaurant is open, as some only operate during their high tourist season.
Dining in the Central Adirondacks
On and around State Road 28 in Old Forge, visitors can find several restaurants serving basic American cuisine at moderate prices, including Big Moose Station in Eagle Bay (near Old Forge), as well as other restaurants and diners along State Road 30, some housed inside of hotels.
Dining in Lake Placid
The multitude of restaurants around Lake Placid serve everything from Mediterranean to Italian cuisine, from gourmet steaks to diner hamburgers, and from bar food to barbecue specials. Diners in the area can also vary from five-star, full-service dining, family-style restaurants, and down-home roadside eateries. Several restaurants can be found on and around State Road 86, others on Main Street in downtown Lake Placid, and still others clustered on Mirror Lake Drive. With so many eateries offering excellent waterfront views, the best time to take in the scenery (and the great food) is just before sunset.
Dining in Saranac Lake
The restaurant and food selection in Saranac Lake includes a healthy mix of choices, ranging from standard American food and family-style restaurants to Italian places, diners, delis, fast food joints, and homemade ice cream parlors.
Dining in Saratoga Springs
While in the Saratoga Springs area, you'll have a wide array of restaurant choices and price ranges at your fingertips. Favorite breakfast and lunch spots, such as bakeries and diners, are lined along Broadway in downtown, while tucked into Saratoga's side streets (including Phila, Caroline, Court, and Nelson) you'll find more upscale eateries. The food fare includes American, Italian, Mexican, French, and Indian cuisine, some places housing their own full bars as well.
Caffe Lena, recognized by many as “the oldest continuously operating coffeehouse in the United States,” is also a cultural center. It was opened in Saratoga in 1960 and has hosted early performances from such artists as Bob Dylan and Arlo Guthrie.
Dining in Lake George
Numerous restaurants around the Lake George area are set up in the log-cabin Adirondack style, featuring exposed beams and decorated with old photographs. Most serve Italian and American food, some tapping into fresh local seafood as well. Visitors can find clusters of restaurants along the main drags of Lake George Village and Bolton Landing.
Located in an old, 1824 mill right on Schroon Lake, which formerly produced tons of grain every day, the Grist Mill in Warrensburg is now an award-winning restaurant. They serve gourmet food reflective of seasonal vegetables, tasty meats, and fish, and natural grains such as those from the mill's past life.
Dining in the Champlain Valley
Around the Champlain Valley, visitors can find numerous casual restaurants and diners. In Ticonderoga, look on Montcalm Street or along State Road 9 North, and in Westport head to Pleasant Street or to the town marina near Washington Street. The Galley Restaurant and Bar on Washington offers casual dining with lovely views of Lake Champlain; they also feature live music on weekends, and jazz on their deck Wednesdays from mid-July until August.
Dining in the Thousand Islands
While in the Thousand Islands, don't miss their local specialty: the shore dinner. Usually included in guided fishing trips, the meal is made up of freshly caught fish (including muskie, perch, walleye, and pike) cooked over an open fire, fatback sandwiches, salad topped with -what else? - Thousand Island dressing, and potatoes, corn, even French toast with maple syrup. Shore dinners are not exclusive to fishing trips, they are also prepared during community festivals and fundraisers.
Plenty of restaurants are clustered in both Alexandria Bay and Clayton, as well as between and along the outskirts of these city-centers in the Thousand Islands. Riverside Drive in Clayton is dotted with several eateries, including the old-fashioned restaurant housed in the Thousand Islands Inn, where bottles of “Original Thousand Islands Salad Dressing” are sold, and where the dressing was purportedly created by Sophia LaLonde in the early 20th century.
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