Dinner along the New York Thruway...

New Paltz (exit 18) is the next exit after Newburgh. It's a small village and only a mile off the Thruway to some good eating and drinking. At the 3nd traffic light after leaving the thruway on Rt 299 (Man ST) is Gadaletto's seafood on your left ( about 200 feet from Pasquale's Pizza , a good but not great pizza and other Itailan specialities - quick and inexpensive). Gadaletto's is a sit down restaurant so you'll need at least a half hour to have dinner - very good and a wide range of fish and styles of cooking - I love their soups and chowders.

Another hundred feet down the street on the right is a discount beverage store , but next to it is a tiny tacos joint - I've never been there but it has a very good reputation.

Almost across the street in a strip mall on your left is Main Course a small sit down place with excellent "American" cooking - the service is usually pretty fast there so you should be out in a half hour - the food is a bit too spicy for my wife's Scandanavian taste.

At the next traffic light there is an Indian restaurant on your right - English is foreign to them, so communication can be difficult, but if you know your way around an Indian menu the food is good. Across the street in another strip mall is a pizza joint that many around here rate the best in town - I like their heros. Another block on your left is My Hero, - very good heros.

Another block and also on your left is a Chinese joint  - can't tell you anything about it except it has been there for thirty years, so they must be doing something right.

Just past the Chinese place on your right is the landmark of New Paltz, the famous P&Gs. Good food reasonably priced, good service, very busy noisy bar crowd - specially noted for their hamburgers, but I think a lot of other stuff on the menu like their chili is better. 

There's a Middle-eastern joint on your right a block past P&Gs -tiny just a few seats , but if you like hummus and such it's said to be pretty good. I remember an excellent lemon flavored soup I had there last year. Across the Street is another pizza joint that I like a lot, but don't patronize much because of the tough parking situation. 

At the foot of Main Street, just before the Walkill River bridge, is The Guilded Otter, a brew pub. Good beer and ale, but spotty on the food - it goes from excellent ( a mussel dish i recently had) to awful ( a mussel dish from a previous visit). Most people speak well of their chicken dishes.Their outdoor patio is very comfortable on a nice evening. Across the street in a kind of mall is a very good small place with American cooking, some outdoor seating, and a small indoor seating area, The Harvest Cafe - nice views of the Shwangunk mountains.

I should have mentioned the mall on your right just across the street from Gadaletto's. (the entrance is at the traffic light) There's a very inventive pizza joint - my wife's favorite in town. It has a comfortable sit down area if you want to eat in. Across the mall is a diner that's been there under the same management for 40 or 50 years - standard diner fare, good fast service, clean and comfortable. 

Cheers, John