Grazin', Hudson

We set off to Hudson with a long, long list of cafés to visit, restaurants to eat at, and antique shops to peruse. But when we got there, it was so, so, so cold that every step outdoors had to be with a very close destination in mind, and if we didn't have a destination, we ended up diving into the nearest shop or cafe to defrost every two minutes. It was a minor miracle that we made it as far up the other end of Warren Street as Grazin', but we'd heard magical things about these burgers, so we were willing to lose some fingers and toes to get there.

When you look up and read about Grazin' on this here internet, you find repeated mentions of their local, sustainable, grass-fed and finished, organic, biodynamic, animal welfare approved meat. This was obviously enough to convince us clichéd food-lovers that we needed to pay this place  a visit. But we weren't expecting this place to also fulfill all our American diner dreams.

All the red banquette lined booths were taken, so we sat on the stools at the bar. I resisted the temptation to have a Coop moment and order coffee, signaling to the waitress (who, sadly, wasn't dressed in blue and white) to wait while I pronounced it a 'damn fine cup of joe'. Instead, we listened to what the daily specials were and what they'd run out of that morning, before selecting which of the many burger options we wanted. We settled on The Stines - sweet caramelized onion and blue cheese - for me, and Uncle Dude - bacon, chipotle mayo, jalapeño relish, cheddar - for B.

It was a good job we were hungry - huge plates of perfectly cooked, juicy burger patties, melted cheese, perfectly cooked veg, pickles, and a beautiful amount of crunchy, perfectly created chips fries. Burger heaven. I'm not one to eat burgers often - I can probably count on one hand all the burgers I've ever had in my life - so maybe that doesn't make me an expert to judge them, but I can tell you that this one was wonderful. I would go back to eat it time and time again, so hopefully that tells you that this really is a burger worth its space in your stomach. Go, go, go.

Grazin' Diner, 717 Warren St, Hudson, NY 12534