Our trip to New York to visit family was just in time for birthdays.  There are a lot of October babies in my family, especially on my side.  Lena, my sister Rachel, my father, my brother-in-law Tom.  So this trip was going to be a birthday-filled celebration.  It all started with a birthday lunch for my sister, where Lena and I, along with my sister and her husband Tom went to a little place in Pawling, NY.

McKinney & Doyle Fine Foods is only open for lunch Friday-Sunday, so we went early and grabbed a nice birthday lunch.  The place is known for fine fare and for great baked goods.

A nice booth for the four of us and we ordered our lunch.  Sandwiches sounded great, so we went for it.  I decided on the Rueben.  I can only find good Ruebens in the US, so I had to satisfy that craving.  With a side of Pasta Salad, it came out looking open-faced.  But put it all together and it was pretty good.

There are two trains of thought with a Rueben and how the corned beef should be.  One is thick slices of corned beef while the other is thin and shaved.  I prefer thin and shaved, as it bites better when you get into it.  And you taste the beef much better.  This style was thick, thus a little difficult to bite through.  But, a tasty sandwich nonetheless!

Lena went for the Crab Burger.  A nice crabcake with capers and a tartar sauce.

The crabcake was nicely done and the quite a bit of meat in the crab cake, less bread filler.

Next up was a Pork Milanese Sandwich for Tom.  Thin layers of pork, breaded and fried with avocado and mozzarella.  Nice and thin, it was quite a nice taste.

Rachel went for the Cranberry Turkey half sandwich and Soup.  The turkey was moist and the sandwich quite nice with it.

The desserts were up next.  Here is the cake case!  A huge selection!

First up was the Raspberry Mousse Cake.  The sponge was nice and delicate and thick and the mousse was so flavorful, with the buttercream frosting melting.  A great piece of cake!

Then we had what they called “Pain in the Butt” cake.  Chocolate cake with peanut butter, served hot with hot fudge.

Oh my goodness, so rich and decadent!  What a great piece of cake!

The birthday girl with her cakes!

The selection of sandwiches and cakes and cookies make this quite a unique place and experience.  It is definitely a small town feel with some great food.  If you’re in the Hudson Valley area and in Pawling, check it out, it is worth a trip!