Saugerties is one of the bigger small towns of Upstate New York and is also one of the weirdest-named. Nonetheless, it is home to a bar and grill called Mirabella’s that I found myself in for dinner while I was up there. Looking a whole lot like the Waterfront in Lake Nebagamon, Wisconsin, I had high hopes that the place could deliver some good food.

Beginning with some garlic knots for the table, things were looking (and tasting) good. I ended up picking the Crispy Chicken Kicker as my main course because it looked awesome and appeared to be a specialty of Mirabella’s. It came topped with pepper jack cheese, bacon and spicy horseradish sauce. I picked fries as my side and also noticed all sandwiches came with a pickle (so nice of Mirabella’s to tell me!) that I made sure to order without.

The result was a pretty fantastic sandwich. The chicken wasn’t your typical breading and was actually more schnitzel-esque. This was nice, because there’s already bread for the bun and it was just enough to give it a crispiness to accompany the great flavors of the cheese, bacon and horseradish. On top of all that, the fries were really damn good – crispy on the outside, soft on the inside and nicely salted.

For bar food, Mirabella’s really surprised me with its unique options and solid execution. One could do a lot worse with their drinking food while in Saugerties.