The Top 10 Restaurants In Cooperstown, New York

“If you’ve only married wine with food…perhaps you need a mistress,’’ the Brewery Ommegang website provocatively suggests. This is a service the Brewery Ommegang (and its on-site restaurant Café Ommegang) is more than happy to organise, with great food that uses their signature beers perfectly matched with more of their beers for a deeply satisfying dining experience that will see you cheating on wine and having a love affair with beer before you know it. At the Ommegang, the food is not only delicious but kept reasonably priced, allowing fine-dining for everyone.

The Cherry Valley branch of Cantina de Salsa is well worth the short drive from Cooperstown until the dedicated Cooperstown branch opens sometime in mid-to-late 2015. Sharing the concept of a small-but-perfectly formed menu with its big sister, the Cantina offers a fairly small selection of dishes (for a Mexican restaurant, anyway) that have been perfected. With neat like touches like the fact that they make all of their own black tortilla chips, Cantina de Salsa remains a classy cut above similar Mexican restaurants.

Food and WineMagazine recently named Cooperstown one of its six ‘Best Little Food Towns’ in part thanks to the Bocca Osteria. A family run Italian bistro, it offers quirky takes on your favorite Italian foods, including pastas, paninis and pizzas, the latter woodfired in their dedicated oven and featuring unusual flavor combinations that might subtly change the way you see pizza.

Although many restaurants like to declare their commitment to ethically sourced and sustainably produced food, Origins Cafe even go as far as putting a list of their providers on their website should you wish to investigate their claim. A foodtruck based in the Carefree Gardens (though it often pops up at local events) all of their food is organic, seasonal, homegrown and homemade. Though the menu regularly changes, it always offers the best in American ingredients in dishes with American and European flavors.

A deep passion for brewing is apparent in every beer created by the Council Rock Brewery, and this enthusiasm feeds into their food menu. An upmarket take on bar food classics sits alongside a few of the more comforting classics of European food, offering a high-quality bar atmosphere perfectly matching the high quality beers on offer. Each of their four signature beers is the perfect compliment to certain menu items, which their friendly staff will delight in pairing for you. They offer those beers to take away, too.

Fitting for a town that is the home of the Baseball Hall of Fame, DiMaggio’s is a grill with all the fun of the ball game. The name is more than just a tribute to the great player, however; the family behind DiMaggio’s are actually called DiMaggio, and are cousins of the baseball great. Their menu of all-American comfort food has become a favorite of many who visit the restaurant due to its family friendly atmosphere and the tantalizing promise that you might get to hear a family story or two.

Open all year round, Nicoletta’s Caféhas been a reliable treat for many in the town throughout the years many years. Located on the town’s leafy Main Street, the restaurant offers family dining with a carefully curated menu of authentic Italian treats featuring the best of meat and seafood and an extensive wine list.

Highlighting the foods of Northern Italy, Toscana is much more than a simple pizza and pasta joint. All of their dishes are expertly and beautifully presented. With 35 years of experience culminating at Toscana, the head chef uses that experience in every day that comes out of the Toscana kitchens, from deceptively simple salads to delicate seafood dishes and perfectly made pastas.

Mel’s at 22 is run by head chef Brian Wrubleski and serves classic American cuisine with global influences alongside a formidable drinks and cocktails menu. For those looking for classic favorites in a upmarket restaurant setting, Mel’s is a great choice.