Le Bouchon A Hidden Gem Along The Hudson

 Cold Spring New York is one of those idyllic towns with beautiful views of the Hudson River and a thriving riverfront town. It's quaint and picturesque, being only an hour north of New York City.There are some good restaurants there including Le Bouchon,a phenomenal Alsatian French bistro with a lovely outdoor garden.

The quaintness alone can draw anyone into this eatery that even has spaetzles, baked into a chic mac and cheese and a dish of duck confit. The restaurant is located at 76 Main Street,at the corner of Main and Fair Streets. It's on the first floor of  a charming early 19th Century building with a cheery red interior and ample back garden complete with a fountain and brick patio.

Despite its' meagerness , the menu has a wide range of different Alsatian  and American inspired dishes along with craft beers and wines.

I started with their Alsatian onion soup which had a good amount of Gruyere cheese and flavorful onion broth. The onions were plentiful and melt in your mouth tender.

I had to have the charcuterie plate which was a generous mix of mortadella ,prosciutto, salame and an in house pate. This last was interesting. It kind of had a beefy liverwurst quality to it (I didn't ask what it was made from, however). There was also a generous helping of cornichons, those cute but tart little pickles and a small cup of mustard..

Of course I had to have dessert,knowing that French restaurants  always have the best choices. I chose their flaky apple tart with vanilla ice cream.

This was a wonderful confection of sliced apples baked in a choux pastry and served with different berries and vanilla ice cream. The apples and ice cream were perfect together (I suspect that Le Bouchon makes the ice cream ) and the pastry was just buttery and tender. C'est parfait, especially with the accompanying blueberries and blackberries.

Le Bouchon is worth the trip alone to beautiful, picturesque Cold Spring, New York. It is a quaint eatery serving Alsatian food with an American twist. Head up there this fall for a lovely dinner , reminiscent of Northeastern France.