Stissing House

At Stissing House, you’ll walk by a mountain of butter under a glass cloche when you pass by the open kitchen. It functionally doesn’t really do much, but it’ll set the tone for the evening as you’re making your way through the 18th-century tavern in Pine Plains. The food at this American restaurant isn’t exactly breaking new ground, but details like the dozens of Ebenezer Scrooge-esque candlesticks on every flat surface and multiple fireplaces will make you slow down and remember that you’re not in the Big City anymore. It’s a great place to bring a date, or pretend you’re yearning for the freedom to marry for love in a romance novel. 

photo credit: David A Lee

photo credit: David A. Lee

photo credit: David A. Lee

Once you sit at your Little House on the Prairie farm table and take in the framed historical doodles and exposed wood beams, the dishes will transport you to a different era. The comforting tavern food is cooked perfectly, and it’s hard to avoid feelings of love (platonic or otherwise) when you’re splitting a rabbit and tarragon pie with someone in the candlelight. The menu is slightly similar to its NYC sibling King (see: their simple, plump roasted chicken), but it’s still worth braving the Taconic on a Friday to eat dinner here. Even if that’s only to spend a few hours watching the lights slowly dim with the sunset and discuss with your date whether you’d do well in a society without cell phones.

Food Rundown

Bread & Butter

A plate of simple brown bread and butter is the first thing you’ll get here. The bread itself is soft with an air of sourdough tang—save a few chunks for soaking up the various fatty sauces you’ll want to lap up from your plate like a barn cat. They’re very generous with the cloud-soft butter here, and it’s fun to watch servers scoop schmears of it from a butter mountain that looks like an abstract foam sculpture you’d see at MoMa.

photo credit: David A Lee

Scallops With Green Garlic Butter

These dreamy scallops are bright and tender, and taste like wearing a white cable knit sweater by the sea. The green garlic butter is rich without overpowering the scallops themselves, and slurping it out of the shell is decadent and necessary.

photo credit: David A Lee

Roast Chicken With Rosemary Potatoes

Too often, roast chicken is plagued with sad, soggy skin or dry meat, but it’s cooked perfectly here. The crisp skin glistens with savory jus and is topped with curly, crunchy greens to help contrast all of the richness on the plate. The rosemary potatoes and moist meat are well seasoned and make this simple dish feel special without overcomplicating it.

Pie For Two

If it weren’t obvious enough that this place is a Date Night spot, there’s usually a sharable meat pie that rotates with the seasonal menu. On a cold winter night we’ve had a rabbit and tarragon pot pie topped with flaky pastry, but we’ve also seen a brothy fish pie. The flaky pastry gets a nice dusting of tiny pyramids of salt, and it’s super satisfying to take the first thwack with your spoon against it before you split it with your emergency contact, or even just the bestie who’s outlasted your decade-long situationship. This is tavern food at its absolute best, and we wouldn’t be surprised if the broth just happened to be the cure for, well, anything.

Coconut Cake

There is a 1:1 ratio of cake to airy whipped coconut cream in this dessert. Which frankly, defies the laws of physics. That might sound like way too much whipped cream, but by the end of the first bite, you’ll wish they piled on more. Tiny flecks of toasted coconut dust add a tiny bit of texture to the fluffy whipped cream, and the coconut flavor here is subtle and complex as opposed to smelling like a bottle of sunscreen.