Monday Tuesday Grill Fills a Gap in the High Peaks Region
UPPER JAY - If you have ever driven up to the High Peaks Region on a Monday night looking for a place to eat. Or if you’ve ever come off a hike around there ravenous and hoping to grab dinner nearby, then you know you’re often out of luck. There aren’t that many restaurants in the area to begin with, and what is there is either closed on Mondays (Ice Jam Inn, Au Sable Inn) or needs a reservation (Forty Six).
So when we first spotted a sign outside the ADK Trail Inn in Upper Jay announcing they now serve dinner on Mondays and Tuesdays, our first thought was: “That’s genius.”
Yet the creation of the aptly named Monday Tuesday Grill was not some long-mulled marketing plan made by the inn’s owners Amy and Wayne Stoner. It actually came about when one of them, namely Amy, was hangry.
It was a Monday in the summer of 2022. Amy was at their other property, the Snow Goose Inn in Keene Valley, and she was starving. She wanted to grab a bite out, but save for the Stewart’s gas station in Keene, she had no options close by. As Amy stood at her kitchen counter eating a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, she snapped.
This sign is like a beacon for hungry hikers and travelers.
A New Restaurant Opens in Upper Jay
She called Wayne who was at the ADK Trail Inn at the time. “We’re going to open a restaurant,” she announced. Since neither had ever even worked in a restaurant it was a bold statement. But, says Amy, “I was a hungry, hangry woman, so he knew not to shoot me down.”
The lack of dinner options early in the week was actually a known problem to them both and had been since they opened the inn on the east branch of the Au Sable River in 2012. Guests would often arrive after driving for hours looking for a place to eat and they’d have to send them to Placid a half hour away. Or hikers would return from a big day out looking for food only to find nothing open nearby. It just hadn’t hit Amy so viscerally, and she wanted to act.
She figured they could keep it simple. They’d grill up some burgers and dogs. She’d make her famous peach-whisky BBQ pulled chicken and her Amish broccoli salad, both of which can be made ahead. And they’d only be open on those two nights. To placate her, Wayne called the health department to get an inspection for serving food at the inn. He figured it would take a while for someone to come out, but they came the next day. A week later, the ADK Trail Inn had a sign outside advertising dinner.
Since then, Mondays and Tuesdays at the inn have been filled with hungry tourists and, to Amy and Wayne’s surprise, many locals as well.
A meal that’s casual and comforting.
So what’s dinner like at the Grill? Says Amy: “It’s like a fancy food truck, a friendly neighborhood bar, and a family cookout.”
You show up between 5:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m and order from a small menu at the counter inside the inn’s dining room. There’s always burgers ($11 plus additional for toppings), hot dogs ($7 for one, $10 for two), and that famous pulled chicken as a sandwich ($11). A vegan chilli of sweet potato and black beans ($10) is a favorite as well. Each week there are also two specials one of them usually a decked out burger; past specials have included lasagna, pulled pork, and kebabs. Along with your main, you can order a side of broccoli salad, slaw, or a cup of chile for an additional fee. Soft drinks come free with the meal, but you can order cans of beer, most of it local, for $5 to $8, or wine by the glass ($7).
We popped in on a beautiful Monday night to find the parking lot packed. There was a line to order, but with the exception of a few regulars who, despite being there almost every Monday, took a long time to decide what to order, the line moved fast. The menu is displayed on a lit-up board, and Amy herself takes your order. (Wayne is in the back slinging burgers.)
You wait in line to place an order, but the line moves fast and the food comes quick.
We ordered the night’s specials, the Shrimp Boil ($15) and the Lumberjack Burger ($14). The broccoli salad was sadly sold out, so we got some slaw, and the burger came with potato chips. After the order is placed your meal is delivered to your table by a member of the tiny staff Amy and Wendy employ. Though the interior is cozy and wood-paneled and regularly has music in the guise of a single keyboard player, we opted for sitting outside on the deck under brightly colored umbrellas and surrounded by colorful potted flower arrangements.
As we waited (not long) for our food to come, we looked around at the range of people enjoying their food. A multi-generational family here, a group of young mountain bikers there, a trio of white-headed women enjoying a night out.
Brightly colored umbrellas, chairs, and flowers make the porch a welcome place to eat in good weather.
As noted, this is casual fare, so the bowls and plates are paper and the cutlery is plastic.
“Now this is a good old-school burger,” said my husband as he surveyed the thick patty topped with bacon, canned fried onions, and maple BBQ mayo. Despite its thickness, it was incredibly juicy and the pepper jack cheese balanced the sweetness of the mayo perfectly.
My shrimp boil included said shrimp, sliced Andouille sausage, boiled baby potatoes, and chunks of corn on the cob. The shrimp, though small, added a ton of flavor to the buttery Old Bay sauce that tied it all together. The potatoes were perfectly cooked so that they gently burst in your mouth. The sausage was good, but my favorite bites might have been the corn which absorbed all the goodness of the sauce. A lumpy looking drop biscuit turned out to have an exquisitely tender interior with a rich, savory flavor.
Thick and juicy, the Lumberjack Burger came topped with bacon, fried onions, melty pepperjack cheese, and maple BBQ mayo.
There’s always a homey dessert available. On the night we went, it was Grandma’s Strawberry Pretzel Salad, and to be honest I was not sure if I was sad or glad it was sold out by the time we ordered as, from what I have read, it’s made with Jell-O and Cool-Whip. Amy notes that it was a first-time for that dish at the Grill (and for Jell-O), and that she made it for nostalgic reasons: Her son and daughter were visiting and that’s what their grandmother used to make. That said, it might be a keeper: It was on just about every table and people seemed to love it. More recent desserts have included tiramisu, key lime bars, and strawberry-rhubarb crisp. And from mid-July through Labor Day, ice cream sandwiches made with homemade chocolate chips are a staple on the menu.
As solid as the food at the Monday Tuesday Grill is, a visit to it is as much about enjoying the ADK vibe of the place with its mix of locals and tourists alike. “We did not expect the amount of camaraderie,” notes Amy who is naturally gregarious. “We’ve gotten to know so many people.”
GOOD TO KNOW
Food orders can be placed ahead on their website for eating in or taking out.
By regulation, dogs are not allowed inside the inn or on the deck, but the grounds include an outdoor picnic table and a fire pit with Adirondack chairs where they are welcome.
The Grill usually opens in late May and stays open through the end of October. It reopens in late December and stays open until some time in March.
July 2026