Great Food and a Great Vibe in Wassaic
By Charles Dubow
Photos by Erika Dasilva

I want to move to Wassaic, just so I can eat at The Lantern Inn every weekend. That’s only a slight exaggeration. The food, the wines, the cocktails, the ambience are just so…great. And, judging by the tables of happy diners, filling up its indoor and outdoor seating, I am clearly not the only one who really digs coming here.

Just driving by the place you can tell there is something special about it. The town of Wassaic is tiny and The Lantern is the only reason anyone would come here after 5 pm. Then you see BMWs, Teslas, Subarus, and pickups lining the sidewalk. You walk up the old porch and enter what had once been a local bar (and which still looks very much like a local bar—pool table and all) where people with beards and tattoos are drinking and laughing while their food is being prepared. There is no mâitre d’. No reservations. You just roll up. Check out what’s on the menu and make your order directly to the kitchen. Have a drink. When your food is ready, they bring it out to your table. Depending on the weather, you can sit inside or out. (They also do a healthy takeout business.)

And there’s plenty of seating. All tables are intended to accommodate large groups and they are almost continuously filled. The restaurant is in constant flow, thanks in part to people walking to get refills at the bar, the large numbers of young children running around, families, friends, the occasional cyclist, and several well-behaved dogs. 

General manager Mihn Le and his wife Erika DaSilva, who is the beverage manager, welcome returning guests like old friends and make newcomers feel right at home. They have been, as Erika puts it, “stewards of The Lantern” for six years. Veterans of the NYC restaurant world, where they worked at places like Momofuku, Otto and Joseph Leonard, they have fully embraced a laid back country aesthetic that gives The Lantern its California-meets-Brooklyn-meets-upstate-New-York vibe. 

But the food is what makes The Lantern more than just a hip family-friendly joint. The kitchen, led by chef Johnny Dearth, is best-known for its wood-fired pizzas. Favorites include the Green Lantern, made with fresh garlic, kale, pecorino, house mozzarella and lemon oil; and the Smokehouse, with house-smoked pork, red cabbage, and pickled red onions. But it’s not all pizza. The ricotta-filled Caramelle (so called because they look like little wrapped caramels) with English peas and Calabrian chili was so good that I couldn’t help but exclaim “Holy S—!” when I took my first bite. I had similar reactions to pretty much everything that came out of the kitchen. Minh just got a smoker and they are making what might just be the best eggplant dip I’ve ever eaten. Other highlights include the Lantern Burger, the Fried Chicken Sandwich, and the Gnocchetti with local pork sausage and kale. Even if I don’t live in Wassaic for now, I will be coming back as often as possible.

Open Thursday-Sunday. Dinner only.

10 Main Street, Wassaic, wassaiclanterninn.com