Dining in the Hudson Valley

We'll be in the Hudson Valley for a weekend in late April, staying near the CIA. We'll probably try one of the CIA's restaurants for one dinner but would love to try something local as well. Ideally, the restaurant would take advantage of the local product and feature it prominently.

Are their any LTHers with recommendations?

Many thanks!

I really like Terrapin Restaurant in Rhinebeck, which is about half an hour north of Hyde Park, where the CIA is located. I wasn't sure if they used any local products until I went to their web site and, indeed, it looks like they do!

http://www.terrapinrestaurant.com/

Rhinebeck is also a really cute town with an art film theater, a great cheese shop, and what I believe is the oldest inn in New York State, the Beekman Arms:

http://www.beekmandelamaterinn.com/

Ideally, the restaurant would take advantage of the local product and feature it prominently.

If that's what's you're into, a drive down to Blue Hill at Stone Barns is required no matter where you are in the Hudson Valley. It's in Pocantico Hills, near Tarrytown on a working farm. You can't get more local when most of the food on the plate comes from the hills and fields surrounding the restaurant (itself in a renovated stone cow barn).

It was Rockfeller's farm, now the Stone Barns Center for Food and Agriculture.

bluehillstonebarns.com

stonebarnscenter.org

The Stissing House in Pine Plains, New York, is a destination place in the Hudson Valley near Bard College. It bills itself as the oldest continuously operating restaurant in the country (since 1782). I ate there last year and had a wonderful meal--not fussy, but very high quality. The owners are French and operated a well-known country French restaurant in NYC for decades.

The Stissing House serves my brother Arthur's local natural grass-fed beef short ribs (from Prospect Hill Farm in Pine Plains) whenever they can get them.

Here's the link: http://www.stissinghouse.com/. Call to check about hours of opening. I believe they close for part of the winter.