Last week, we celebrated Christmas. This week, I cashed in on a Valentine B gifted me in February for a night at the drive-in!
Drive-ins aren’t exactly rampant in New York City, and they also don’t open to the public until March. We had to wait a little while until I was done with school and could spend a summer evening either in upstate New York or New Jersey.
We decided to make a day of it, and drove 60 miles away to Warwick, NY in the Hudson Valley.
Beautiful views!
We first went to Warwick Valley Winery & Distillery, a lucky find from Google. It was hopping! There’s a café and live music available before 5, and the tastings end at 6.
Tastings were $5/ 6, so we settled in at the bar and enjoyed the experience with our eccentric server.
We loved everything! The pinot gris (one of my all-time favorites), harvest moon (a white blend) and black dirt red were all delicious. Their pear cider (60% apple, 40% pear; to be designated a “cider” the beverage contain more than 50% apple) was gluten-free andcontained no added sugars. It was absolutely delicious! I’ve seen their brand, Doc’s, all around the city, so I will surely be picking some up. Rumor has it their pumpkin cider is fabulous!
Awkward photo alert…
After the tasting, we strolled around the grounds.
Pear trees for days!
We drove ten minutes away to the Iron Forge Inn, a beautiful restaurant in a sprawling cottage. There are three dining options: bar menu, fine dining, or patio seating, which offers both menus. It still light, warm, and lovely out, so we sat outside. And bonus: there’s an outdoor fireplace!
The menus both had vegetarian, pescatarian and meat options. We decided to split two appetizers and an entrée, including a mixed organic field green salad with candied walnuts, gorgonzola, and red wine vinaigrette; and cast iron seared scallops with cucumber noodles, ginger dressing and mustard seeds. This time last year I was vegan… but I sure do love scallops!
Our entrée was another hit: pan-roasted trout with swiss chard risotto, carrot emulsion, wild greens, and spinach and garlic purée.
B ordered a German chocolate pie with polenta crust for dessert. It happened to be gluten-free- I had a bite; it was quite good- but I had my eyes set on another sweet treat…
Ice cream! Bellvale Farms Creamery was only two minutes away. My favorite flavor ended up being something I never would have thought to order for myself, but B suggested it since it didn’t have any cookie or brownie pieces and was still loaded with goodies. The great white way with white chocolate ice cream with dark chocolate chunks and raspberry swirl was so interesting and flavorful!
By the time we got to the drive-in, I turned to B and said, “I’ve already had such a full and perfect day that I wouldn’t even be upset if we couldn’t see a movie!”
We didn’t anticipate a chilly night, so at first, we opened up the sat with our legs covered by B’s car mat. I’m sure we got some funny looks!
We finally turned the car around and sat front-first with the windows up, which ended up being both comfortable and warm. Because the first movie didn’t start until 8:30 and we had a 1.5 hour drive home, we’d planned to only see The Wolverine. But at the end of the movie, we were still wide awake and in a spooky mood so we stayed and watched The Conjuring, too! I was scared (in a good way) through the whole movie, and squeezed B’s hand almost the entire time. Both features were pretty good, and it was a fun way to watch them!
Have you been to a drive-in?
