Zinnia’s Dinette: A New England Fish Fry For The Hudson Valley
Sometimes you don’t know just how much you are missing something until you get it. That’s the way Columbia County residents (and beyond) are feeling about Zinnia’s Dinette in Craryville, New York. Where has this idyllic little New England-style fish fry been all our lives?
Owner Amy Lawton has built a restaurant and crafted a menu that’s accessible and casual while executed at a really high level. Located in the former Dutch Treat, a local institution for generations, Zinnia’s has started out strong, taking advantage of the location’s big, beautiful back yard and a totally renovated, smartly appointed interior that melds retro and contemporary hip.
“I’ve had a crush on this building for a long time,” said Lawton, who grew up in Rhode Island, where she developed her love of unpretentious seafood. “The world has been a dark place lately and I wanted to bring something good into it. I thought if I could bring a little Rhode Island here I could make people happy.”
The location is beautiful, but what’s surprising everyone is how amazing the food is right out of the gate. Local social media is buzzing and despite Craryville being kind of in the middle of nowhere, folks are flocking to Zinnia's from far afield for their perfect fish and chips, clams, oysters, chowders, fried chicken, squid and even seaweed. And ice cream, too. In fact, culinary expert and HGS Home Chef owner Mathew White, while being interviewed about the Hillsdale Workshop Collective two weeks ago, stopped mid conversation to rave about how good this just-opened place Zinnia’s is.
“I worked a bunch of wacky magic with the old owners and my life savings and by some miracle I was able to buy the building,” Lawton said. “I just want to give people a big hug with the food.”
To be honest, for a brand new restaurant, the menu is way bigger than it needs to be — but that’s Lawson and her personable staff’s problem. For diners it’s a bonanza. Start your meal with spicy sweet hush puppies ($9), crab-stuffed mushrooms ($12), or fried calamari – simple ($12) or Rhode Island style with pickled peppers and garlic butter ($13). You could also go for one of eight salads including a squid salad ($12) borscht salad ($12) and the crazy popular standout fermented seaweed salad ($7).
There are sandwiches of fried or boiled cod, bbq shrimp, scallops and oyster rolls (all $13). Of course there are baskets of steamed little necks ($18), shrimp ($18), bay scallops with bacon and chive ($18), buttermilk-and-black-pepper fried chicken ($17 and gluten free) and a fish-and-chips basket ($17) you might literally want to write home about. The cod (or it could be another variet of fish, based on what is available) is juicy and flaky and completely entombed in a shell of potato chip-laced beer batter that’s going to linger in your sense memory bank for a long time. Lawton said she threw the batter recipe together on Zinnia’s opening day with cheap beer, Old Bay and kettle chips.
Halvah sundae
Zinnia’s is making waves because of the frenetic passion Lawton imbues in her work. While she brings a history of food service experience to the table, most recently at Murray's in Tivoli and Random Harvest just down the road in Crarryville, she’s also bringing her honest, somewhat chaotic self. She’s a refreshingly straightforward personality who doesn’t mind sharing her struggles and complications with her clientele. The "about" section on Zinnia’s website reads like a manifesto and she’ll let you know she’s camping in the backyard because the hurricane delayed her fish shipment. She doesn’t pretend to be the polished industry professional types who are becoming more and more prevalent as upstate rurality becomes more and more comodified. She spent her life savings starting Zinnia’s. It's her whole life now, and it shows.
Zinnia's Dinette
1843 Route 23, Craryville, NY
(518) 325-0342
Please Support Rural Intelligence
We want to continue delivering the entertaining, informative and upbeat stories in the inimitable Rural Intelligence style, despite a pandemic. But we need your support to keep us going. Please consider making a donation; even a small amount helps secure our future. Support us now.
(If you prefer, mail a check to: 45 Pine Grove Ave., Suite 303, Kingston, NY 12401.)
Support Now