The Connected Table

The Mountain Brauhaus has been run by the Ruoff family since its doors first opened in 1955. The menu is solid German-American fare plus creative seasonal dishes with ingredients sourced from local Hudson Valley farms. Nice beer, wine and cocktail list by Mark Ruoff.

The restaurant is located on the corner of Routes 299 & 44/55 with a view of the Gardiner 'Gunks.

We were ao happy to stop in for lunch with our family. Stunning day here in Gardiner, our former hometown. Feeling nostalgic.

Recommended by a hotel concierge in Athens' Psiri neighborhoof for "very fresh fish, generous portions, good service and an inexpensive meal" we strolled over to Atlantikos our first night in Athens.

And then we returned for our last night!

Oven cooked anchovies, sea bass with vegetables, tender giant seared calamari with lemon and also lightly fried baby calamari. Many salads, all huge, and the best housemade teramoslata we tasted in Greece.

Just down the alley is Polis Hamman, recognized for different treatments yo soothe weary travelers. Next visit we will go.

We are in the Northern Peloponnese visiting wineries for a few days. First stop: Rouvalis Wines. Theodora Rouvali droves us up into the mountains to vineyards at 1200 meters, both terraces and slopes, overlooking the Gulf of Corinth.

Stunning scenery and breezes under the hot sun. Then a tasting of more than a dozen Rouvalis wines, followed by a lunch overlooking the Gulf.

Favorite wines: Single vineyard Roditis (a widely planted white native grape variety) and single vineyard Tsignello, a gorgeous dru red that is better known as Mavrodaphne (more commonly used in this area for the sweet wine known as Mavrodaphne of Patras.)

"Heroic viticulture" refers to specific wineries with vineyards in isolated locations, usually at least 600 meters elevation, native grapes.

Rouvalis's U.S. importer is VOS Selections

A great day of discovery and making new wine friends.