Where to eat. Where to drink.

The flagship dining room at the Whiteface Lodge, on the peninsula where Whiteface Inn Road meets the water — hand-hewn log beams, a stone fireplace, and a kitchen that treats Adirondack game and trout as the point rather than theme dressing. Tasting menu on weekends. Book two weeks out during foliage season, when every table in town is already spoken for.

The Whiteface Lodge's casual room — shorter plates, handcrafted cocktails, live music some weekends through summer. The move after a day on the water or a High Peaks hike when Kanu feels like too much production. Fireplace seating fills first once the October air turns.

Whiteface Lodge's private beach facility on Lake Placid itself, reached by a short shuttle from the main building — light lunch fare, Adirondack chairs on the sand, a High Peaks view across open water instead of a golf fairway. Memorial Day through Labor Day only; there's no off-season version of this one.

The Whiteface Club & Resort's boathouse dining room on the west shore, in continuous operation since the club opened in 1882 — timber trusses, a stone fireplace, unobstructed sightlines down the lake toward the High Peaks. The camps-and-estates crowd's regular table. Sunset seating books first in July and August.

The golf-side counterpart to the Boathouse at Whiteface Club & Resort — sandwiches and salads on a porch overlooking the 18th fairway toward the lake. Open to the public, not just members, and the easier lunch stop if you're touring the west shore by car rather than arriving by boat.

Second-floor dining room above the pro shop at Craig Wood Golf Club, on the Route 73 corridor between the village and the Cascade trailheads. Formerly Loui's Place — same golf-course view, new kitchen. The outdoor deck holds afternoon sun that the lakefront rooms lose by four.

Inside the reimagined former Paleface ski lodge in Jay, twenty-five minutes from the lake — globally inflected American cooking served under the same roof as a billiards lounge and a live-music bar. Thursday through Sunday evenings only. Arguably the clearest dining-room sightline to Whiteface's north face in the region.

The daytime half of NewVida Preserve — a breakfast bar from 8 to 11 and a lunch bistro Thursday through Sunday, locally sourced and unfussy. Useful as a stop on the Whiteface Veterans Memorial Highway drive rather than a destination in its own right.

On Route 86 in Wilmington with private access to the Ausable River and one of the closest dining-room views of Whiteface anywhere in the region — four trout preparations on the menu, plus venison and quail. Wednesday through Sunday, dinner only, closed Monday and Tuesday. Worth the twenty-minute drive from the lake.

The Hungry Trout's brunch-and-lunch sibling — same riverside setting, more casual kitchen, and the place to eat before or after a Whiteface Highway drive without committing to a full dinner reservation.

A High Peaks institution on NY-73 in Keene Valley since 1981, forty minutes from the lake and the last real meal before the Cascade or Giant trailheads. Homemade pies in the case by the register, an Adirondack Trailways stop out front. Open 7 AM to 3:30 PM only — no dinner service.

On Cascade Road a mile out of the village toward the High Peaks trailheads — ten house beers, a localvore kitchen, and the Giant IPA that took New York's best-double-IPA title. The brewery stop that fits a trailhead day, not a Main Street bar crawl.

Fifteen minutes from Lake Placid in Saranac Lake, in a converted car wash on Lake Flower Avenue — small-batch ales and a South Shore-style thin-crust bar pizza. The regional taproom locals actually rotate through, not the one built for the tour-bus crowd.

Forty-five minutes south in North Hudson, water filtered through granite bedrock underneath the brewery, and worth the detour if you're doing the full Adirondack loop. Not a lake-day stop — plan it as its own outing, ideally on the way to or from the Northway.