RiverMarket Bar and Kitchen

Winter in New York City is brutal. It may not be as cold or as snowy as some places, but those long walks through the concrete canyons in the howling wind make each step feel like a mile. To survive the long winter months, you need to find excuses to get away, even for just a little while.

A break in the worst of the cold temperatures, coinciding with a holiday, gave us the excuse we needed. Hoping in a car, we took a drive north into the Hudson Valley. It was still a cold day, but there was some bright sunshine, so we bundled everyone up and found one of the many hiking trails to enjoy a bit of nature. It is always surprising to be reminded that there is so much park land so close to one of the densest cities in the country.

Reinvigorated by the fresh air, we worked up an appetite. While the area has a lot of amazing restaurants, it being a holiday and a Monday meant that most were closed for the day. We had hoped to try Blue Hill at Stone Barns, to see how it compared to their City outpost, but that will have to wait for another day. Instead, we found ourselves at RiverMarket, on the shore of the Hudson in site of the Tappan Zee Bridge. It was surprisingly quiet for a lunch on a holiday weekend, which worked out well for us as we could linger over our lunch and enjoy a drink before heading back into the city.

Another restaurant with our shared philosophy of fresh, local produce. In this case, it was American food, comforting after a cold day in the woods. A burger and some potato gnocchi happily warmed our bellies. And the day really seemed to call for a beer, and we're still not quite sure why. Fortified with good food and beer, and a reminder that life does exist under all the snow, we returned to the city, ready to face the rest of the winter.