When you're looking for a casual bite in Brewster, New York, try a fast and fresh local restaurant offering ethnic to comfort cuisine from local business owners. With quick service and a laid-back atmosphere, our list of fun and casual dining spots lets you choose from simple but tasty roadside snack bars to high cuisine served in a pub. Check out our sampling of favorite spots in the Brewster area.
Red Rooster Drive-In
Started as a small custard shack in the 1960s, Red Rooster Drive-In serves cooked-to-order food with a focus on quality. Try one of its 100% Angus beef burgers topped with chili, fried onions, or bacon, or make it deluxe with lettuce, tomato, and mayo. Red Rooster also serves up tasty dinner baskets with fried favorites, hot and cold sandwiches, hot dogs, veggie burgers, and wraps.
It's almost impossible not to stay for the ice cream. Order a sweet cone of soft serve dipped in cherry or chocolate, covered in sprinkles, or topped with other goodies. Red Rooster also serves shakes, sundaes, and other ice cream novelties. If you need some time between dinner and dessert, head over to the miniature golf course open seasonally for big fun.
Location: 1566 state Route 22
Phone Number: 845-279-8046
La Guadalupana Restaurant
Open every day at 6 a.m., La Guadalupana Restaurant offers hearty breakfasts and an extensive menu of classic Mexican cuisine. Start with its huevos Mexicana, which are eggs served with jalapenos, tomatoes, and onions, or its chilaquiles, which is a dish of tortilla chips layered with your choice of chicken or beef, red or green sauce, and topped with avocado and sour cream.
Visit at lunch to order the three-taco combo with rice and beans. Choose from pork, beef, chicken, or Mexican sausage. La Guadalupana also offers grilled plates with your choice of steak, chicken, and shrimp served with a salad, tortillas, rice, and refried beans. For something unique, try the pork meat stew with cactus or crispy fried pork skin in red or green sauce. One visit is hardly enough to sample all the delicious plates at La Guadalupana.
Location: 64 Main St.
Phone Number: 845-279-8891
McKinney and Doyle
McKinney and Doyle offers diners a relaxed pub atmosphere with scratch cocktails and elevated cuisine. Far from bar food, the pub menu on Tuesday nights delivers small plate choices, like ahi tuna poke with ponzu, ginger, and peanuts and Buffalo cauliflower with a crispy rice crust and honey hot sauce for dipping. Or you can try large plate delicacies, like the chipotle bison burger smothered in melted Jarlsberg cheese and caramelized onions.
The regular dinner menu offers expanded small and large plate choices like the Moroccan spiced lamb meatballs with a harissa olive tapenade or creamy Maine lobster risotto with asparagus and asiago cheese. McKinney and Doyle gives diners a chance to taste flavors from cuisines and cultures around the world with bold spices and ingredients that you won't find in a typical pub menu. Spanish octopus anyone? Stop into McKinney and Doyle's Corner Bakery for luscious desserts plus a soda fountain and juice bar.
Location: 10 Charles Colman Blvd. in Pawling
Phone Number: 845-855-3875
Wandering Dave's
Wandering Dave's serves up mouth-watering farm-to-table food from a humble shopping center storefront. Featuring a menu that shifts with the seasons, this fun and casual stop offers diners plenty of options for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Start your day with a classic steak and eggs or eggs benedict. Move on to lunch fare with sandwiches, soups, and salads, or order a big entrée. Wandering Dave's offers handmade pasta with pesto, red sauce, or a black pepper cream sauce.
From comfort food like meatloaf and mashed potatoes to chicken roulade served in a brown butter thyme sauce, Wandering Dave's offers variety. Try its Korean tacos with chicken, steak, or shrimp served on a bed of crisp slaw with Sriracha mayo or the tempura-battered cod with avocado. For creamy goodness, order macaroni and cheese with the toppings of your choice, including steak, bacon, or Buffalo chicken. Using local produce and catering to area events, Wandering Dave's offers an array of fresh choices with customizable options for every palate.
Location: 1515 state Route 22, Unit D-4
Phone Number: 845-582-0668
George's Place
Enjoy breakfast or lunch at this family-owned diner overlooking Lake Gleneida in Carmel, New York. Breakfast options include egg specialties like its George McMuffin with your choice of breakfast meat on a cream cheese smothered English muffin or farm-fresh baked eggs with feta and tomato. George's Place offers comfort food with plates like open-face turkey and hot roast beef salads, along with sandwiches and soups. Sip a milkshake or order a pie a la mode to satisfy your sweet tooth.
You'll find quaint seating on the patio or dining in the restored restaurant that the owner's rebuilt after a kitchen fire in 1985. There's more to the story of this restored property that you can discover over its Carmel Big Apple Waffle.
Location: 36 Gleneida Ave. in Carmel
Phone Number: 845-225-3933
Empire Bagels
Empire Bagels is so much more than a bagel joint with a menu that goes on and on. If you come for the bagels, you still have to choose from nine cream cheeses. Other breakfast offerings include crisp and chewy bagel breakfast sandwiches, omelets, pancakes, and French toast. Enjoy hearty lunch and dinner fare with nearly three dozen gourmet sandwich options also encased in a signature bagel or an 8-ounce Angus burger. Empire Bagels also features a long list of vegan sandwiches, soups, and fresh salads.
Empire's drink menu rivals its food with smoothies, cafe beverages, and protein shakes. Try the What's A Matcha With You smoothie for a green tea blended with fruit, milk, and honey, or the Tropical Fiesta with mango, pineapple, banana, apple juice, and mint. Empire's also offers a fresh-pressed juice menu with healthy elixirs like Sweet Greens with spinach, pineapple, green apple, and celery or sips like a Cold Buster with ginger, lemon, carrots, oranges, and pineapple.
Location: 1515 state Route 22
Phone Number: 845-302-2757
You just read Brewster Ford's list of fun and casual restaurants to check out in our area. We named some spots with quick service, while others offer a casual, fun atmosphere to enjoy time with friends and family. If we missed one of your favorites, let us know. We'd love to update our list. Stop by Brewster Ford to enjoy our casual atmosphere and browse our new vehicle stock and pre-owned inventory. Brewster Ford offers a relaxed showroom with friendly and knowledgeable staff members ready to help you find and finance your ideal vehicle.
