If you want a quick food-related getaway this fall, either for the day, an overnight or long weekend, destinations within an easy drive offer such experiences as an on-the-farm dinner in Vermont, an apple festival in central Connecticut that annually attracts more than 100,000 people over two weekends and the chance to rub shoulders with culinary celebrities at the New York City Wine & Food Festival. Here are nine choices.
Festivals
Scheduled for the first two weekends in October, the Southington Apple Harvest Festival in central Connecticut, now in its 56th year, annually attracts more than 100,000 visitors. (John Atashian/Courtesy Southington Apple Harvest Festival )
Oct. 3-5 and 10-12: Southington Apple Harvest Festival, Town Green, Southington, Conn. 860-276-1966 and southington.org/AHF. Now in its 56th year, the free apple festival is about a two-hour drive from Albany. In addition to all things apple, the two weekends offer an arts and crafts show, activities for kids, carnival rides and games, team obstacle courses, eating contests for apple pies and fritters, a vehicle road rally, runs/walks for different distances and age groups, fireworks and a stronger emphasis this year on entertainment, including abundant live music and two dance performances.
Oct. 12: Harvard Square Oktoberfest, Harvard Square, Cambridge, Mass. 617-491-3434 and harvardsquare.com. One of the Boston area’s biggest festivals, this 46th annual event boasts multiple stages for music and other live entertainment, a global array of food and multiple beer gardens in addition to sidewalk vendors for arts, crafts and vintage goods. The capstone event is the HONK! Parade, described as an “irreverent, family-friendly annual tradition where musicians and spectators reclaim the streets for horns, bikes and feet.” Last year’s HONK! had 15 bands and 30 community groups. Oktoberfest attendance is said to exceed 100,000.
Celebrity chef and restaurateur Daniel Boulud, seen at last year’s New York City Wine & Food Festival, returns to the annual event next month. (Danierl Zuchnik/Getty Images)
Oct. 15-19: Food Network New York City Wine & Food Festival, The Seaport, lower Manhattan. nycwff.org. This is the 17th year for a fundraising event that so far has raised almost $15 million for causes that “shape the future of food, events and community,” according to organizers. Among this year’s beneficiaries are the James Beard Foundation and the Event Zero Foundation. More than 50 events are scheduled over five days, with more than 300 luminaries from the food, restaurant, wine and spirits worlds. Tickets range from about $95 to $400, varying by event and ticket package.
Farms
Bovina Farm & Fermentory, 2951 County Road 5, Bovina Center. bovinafarmfermentory.com. The farm was founded five years ago by the husband-and-wife team of Jacob Sackett and Elizabeth Stark, who raise the produce, mind the livestock and host once-weekly dinners on Saturday nights through the end of November. The property encompasses the couple’s handbuilt house, barn and other buildings that include four units for overnight stays. For the dinners, according to promotional material, “We welcome you into our dining room to dine by candlelight at long communal tables. Four courses will be prepared with ingredients from our gardens & larder and our neighboring farms, each course accompanied by our house beer pairings.” $100 per person for dinner and beer pairings, $85 for the meal only. An Oct. 5 Field Day includes a hunt, butchery demonstration, cooking class and dinner with house beers. $400 for the day, $120 for the meal only.
Shelburne Farms in Shelburne, Vt., is an education nonprofit that offers classes; farm, garden and house tours; children’s activities; overnight stays in its inn and cabins; and on-the-farm breakfast and dinner daily through October. (Courtesy Shelburne Farms)
Shelburne Farms, 1611 Harbor Road Shelburne, Vt. 802-985-8686 and shelburnefarms.org. Located a little less than three hours north of Albany, Shelburne Farms is a working farm and not-for-profit organization that offers classes and other educational experiences; farm, garden and house tours; children’s activities; overnight stays in its inn and cabins; and on-the-farm breakfast and dinner daily through late October. Meals focus on farm-raised and -made fruit, vegetables, meat and Shelburne’s celebrated cheddar cheese, available in eight varieties. Recent dinner menus have included Mexican-spiced grilled corn on the cob, Shelburne mac-n-cheese, farm carrots with pickled banana peppers and coriander yogurt, summer-squash risotto and Shelburne pork with heirloom bean salad. Dinner entrees average $35.
Monthly on-the-farm dinners are seasonal favorites at Taliaferro Farms Second Generation in New Paltz. (Courtesy Taliaferro Farms Second Generation)
Taliaferro Farms Second Generation, 187 Plains Road, New Paltz. 845-399-8483 and taliaferrofarmssecondgeneration.com. Inspired by her father, who began organic farming of fruits and vegetables almost 30 years ago, Delaney Taliaferro expanded the family business to include CSAs, memberships, overnight stays and monthly outdoor meals at a long communal table in a high tunnel greenhouse. The three-hour evenings start with an appetizer spread and local hard cider, followed by a farm tour, four-course dinner with all-local produce and meat, the family’s house wine and dessert. $125 per person.
Destination dining
COAST at Ocean House in Watch Hill, R.I., brags about its ocean views, but Taylor Swift’s nearby home is also visible. (Courtesy COAST at Ocean House)
COAST at Ocean House, 1 Bluff Ave., Watch Hill, Rhode Island. 401-584-7000 and oceanhouseri.com. The original building for this seaside resort, located 40 miles down the shore from Newport, was built in 1868 and replaced with a new version that opened in 2004. CNN Traveler called COAST, Ocean House’s fine-dining restaurant, “one of the best waterfront eateries in the world … (offering) the quintessential New England experience: the freshest flavors of the Rhode Island coast and vast, uninterrupted vistas of the Atlantic Ocean.” With a “resort elegant” dress code and no children younger than 8, COAST serves a five-course, $145 tasting menu, and the 12,000-bottle wine cellar represents more than 2,000 labels.
The Cookery, 39 Chestnut St., Dobbs Ferry. 914-305-2336 and thecookeryrestaurant.com. A two-hour drive or train ride south will bring you to an Italian-influenced gastropub that proclaims, “We cook great food and have fun doing it.” (The parent company, which also owns a pizzeria and mobile pizza oven for catering, is called Eat Serious Have Fun.) The menu, described as having few boundaries, changes daily and lately has included clam-and-bone marrow stuffed clams, duck-liver cannelloni with pistachio and smoked-cabbage marmellata, piccata-style veal cheeks and lamb Bolognese over radiatore pasta. Bring friends for suckling-pig dinner with appetizer, three family-style sides, dessert and a whole suckling pig chef-carved at the table for $105 per person.
Noble Cellar, 304 E. Onondaga St., Syracuse. 315-303-2003 and noble-cellar.com. Considered one of the best restaurants in central New York, Noble Cellar opened in early 2024 in a former church. In its award for Noble Cellar earlier this year, DiRoNA, or Distinguished Restaurants of North America, wrote that it “offers a refined and intimate dining experience that caters to those with a discerning palate.” It also has an “exceptional wine list, thoughtfully curated to complement the restaurant’s cuisine, (featuring) … a mix of renowned labels and hidden gems from both local wineries and international producers.” Start with mushrooms and rabbit confit on toast or Korean-spiced pork belly before moving on to rainbow trout with heirloom purple-eyed peas or short-rib sugo over gnocchi. Entrees range from $35 to $69.
