Cafe Mutton

Cafe Mutton is a small neighbourhood restaurant on a corner of Columbia Street in Hudson, New York, run by the chef and owner Shaina Loew-Banayan. It serves breakfast and lunch from Wednesday to Sunday, with a meat-centred menu, and opens for dinner on Friday nights.

Before Cafe Mutton, Loew-Banayan was sous chef at Fish & Game and executive chef at the Bartlett House, and a period cooking in the Spanish countryside shaped a focus on local ingredients. The chef has said the aim is simply to cook food that feels personal and authentic, and the house description promises simple food, closely attended. The James Beard Foundation has named the restaurant a semifinalist for its awards. The same owner also runs Merkin, which pours wine and serves sandwiches and stew in an old garage down the street.

Nearly all the meat comes from a farm in nearby Valatie and the vegetables from a farm in Hudson. The name points to the lesser-known cuts the kitchen likes to use, though, as the chef admits, not much mutton is actually cooked there. Sausages, pâté and buckwheat scones are made in-house, and the menu changes with the seasons. Weekends bring crowds and a wait for a table, while weekdays are calmer.

Scrapple and eggs is the signature: a loaf of polenta with braised pork, fried in the pan and set beside two sunny-side eggs. A country pâté of pork and chicken liver goes into a sandwich with whole-grain mustard and cornichons, and a chicken and rice porridge comes with ginger, scallions and a poached egg. A savoury porridge of pig's head returns often, and toffee crackers are a favourite sweet. On Fridays the evening opens as a happy hour of drinks and small plates, followed by a single main dish that changes every week.