Jmoryl

In addition to what has been mentioned above, Hazelnut Kitchen in T'burg has opened since the thread started and it is one of the best places to have dinner in the entire region (http://www.hazelnutkitchen.com). I also like a bar called Pourhouse on the main street for a good assortment of microbrews and bar food. Over on Seneca the Stonecat Cafe, Red Newt Bistro and Dano's are great places to stop for food whilst wine tasting. There is a dinner only place called Suzanna's which I haven't tried, but gets good reviews.

Recently I have been very impressed with the lunch buffet at Saffron on Rt. 10 E. in East Hannover. A bit more upscale than some of the nearby competition but certainly worth the $8.95. There is a place in the plaza almost directly across Rt. 10 (where the Dick's sporting good store is) that is not nearly as good. Also agree with others on Chand Palace for vegetarian. There is a place in the plaza at Rt. 46 and Parsippany Rd. that also does a decent non-veg. lunch buffet. The name escapes me right now, but I believe it is actually run by Pakistanis.

Jason, Sorry to presume that you bought your FL rieslings in NYC - the prices you quoted seem to be typical of the markup one sees there. I live in NJ and haven't seen much in the way of Finger Lakes wine here; since I visit upstate NY frequently I tend to stock up there. Well, the good news is that wine lovers in the US are starting to give riesling the respect it is due. The bad news is that prices for good German wine have skyrocketed since the rave reviews of the '01 vintage. For instance, Selbach-Oster, which has always been well priced, is now fetching about $20 for a Kabinett and $25 for a Spaetlese (e.g. '02 Zeltinger Schlossberg in NYC). It is not unusual to see a +$30 Kabinett or Spaetlese these days. I love some of the Austrian producers, but the problem is even more severe there. The Finger Lakes appears to be settling into a style that lies somewhere between the delicacy of a good German (often with a low alcohol level of 8% or so) and the full-bodied minerality of Alsace (although many complain about increasing levels of RS in Alsace). Cheers, Joe Moryl

Hmm, if I'm not mistaken the grapes for the Rivendell wine come from the Finger Lakes. I haven't had that one yet, but I enjoy Finger Lakes riesling and have been following the area for years. Gordon - the Ingle Vineyard Riesling from Heron Hill is a very fine wine; this has been an automatic purchase for me for the last few years. But this year the price has about doubled (it is now $25 in the tasting room) so I'm likely to pass, given some other equally good FL rieslings are much better QPR. Jason - you must be buying these wines in NYC. Upstate the usual range for the standard bottlings of FL riesling run $9-$15 in the stores that discount. VintageNY in particular has a very steep markup. With the sucessful hyping of the '01 German vintage and current euro exchange rate I'd like to know where you are getting your $6 - $12 QmP wines. I've been seeing $13-$20 for many estate bottled Kabinetts and $18 and up for most Spaetlesen. If you don't find vintage variation in the FL rieslings you aren't following them closely enough. If anyone wants to try a good one that has fairly good availability look for the '03 Dr. Frank Dry Riesling (e.g. $14 at Astor in NYC) - lots of minerals, great balance.

Outside of California: Gruet - from NM, great QPR and quite widely available. Argyle Brut - Willamette Valley, OR Various producers in the Finger Lakes (NYS), especially Chateau Frank (related to Konstantin Frank's - the pricing here is getting out of control, however) and Glenora. The cool climate is a big advantage for making sparkling wine. Cheers, Joe Moryl

Oh, I may be wrong, but I seem to recall driving by Zopp's recently and noticing they were gone. Maybe they've moved? Cheers, Joe

A Binghamton native here; I've been there frequently in the last few years and will be there this weekend. The place is basically a culinary wasteland. Far to many chain restaurants and really bad Chinese buffets have replaced most of the local stuff. Binghamton, and most of upstate NY, have been economically devastated for in the last few decades, and this has had an impact on what people can afford. I've never been wild about speidies, but Lupo's is considered a good source. You might try Sharkie's on Glenwood Ave., more for the dive bar atmosphere (but for a really interesting dive bar try the Belmar on Main St. - an odd mix of hipsters and old alcoholics - haven't tried their speidies, but the jukebox is good). The last speidie I had was at the Ale House on the Vestal Parkway, just west of SUNY. It was ok but I go mainly to drown my sorrows in the excellent selection of microbrews. Other than speidies: my current fave is Curry n' Grill on North St. in Endicott (right in the vicinity of the now mostly empty IBM plants, which until recently employed thousands). They have only been around for less than a year but are capable of producing some very well seasoned Indian. Better than 90% of what is available in Iselin/Edison, NJ. Afterwords, head up to the north side, over to Oak Hill Ave., across from the carousel, for an espresso from a little coffee shop (the name of which escapes me): very good coffee here, maybe some old Italians singing out in front if the weather is good. For more upscale dining the choices are very slim; try P.S., Thai/French, on the Vestal Parkway. Cheers, Joe

In various discussions on various wineboards it seems that wine geeks generally all agree on one thing: Wax capsules are a pain and there seems to be little agreement on the best way to deal with them. Cheers, Joe

Thanks, guys. Madame Claude and Marco & Pepe sound like they might fit the bill. If they want to spend mucho dinero we would probably make the trek to NY, so they probably wouldn't be interested in Casa Dante. Oh, I did some searches on Edward's before comming here and they didn't yield much; that's why I asked.... Joe

That's right: only wealthy people deserve good food. OK, I'm being a bit flip, but I still get a bit hot under the collar when I remembe Wegman's from the bad old days of the late '70s - early '80s. Living in inner city Rochester then, Wegman's hadn't quite become the phenom it is now, but it dominated the local market. It had closed most of the mid sized markets in the city and was concentrating on building up the superstore concept in the suburbs (e.g. their flagship Pittsford store). The city stores that remained were wretched - dirty, stale veggies and meat, etc. In fact a friend who worked one in one of the big suburban stores told me they would shrink wrap stale veggies to send into the inner city stores for sale. I was trying to live without a car, so had to rely on these stores. Strangely enough, Tops, based in Buffalo, was the only chain that would open a clean, modern store in the city. When Wegman's pulled up in some struggling neighborhoods it only accelerated the decline....

Thanks for your report on the Ithaca market - I'm crazy about that place. I'd love to be able to move to that area if there were only some work in my field... It is always good to hear about more people starting to reclaim the agricultural heritage of the area by producing artisanal products like the ones you describe. The economy is horrible upstate and maybe this is one route back. The proliferation of small wineries and grape growers has been a real boon to the economy of Finger Lakes counties like Yates and Cayuga.

A friend's parents will be staying in Jersey City later this week and I'm looking for some fairly conservative mid-level places to eat at. I love hole-in-the-wall ethnic eateries, etc. but I'm not sure it will be the thing for them. On another board there were a few good things about Edward's Steakhouse, which has been around for about 6 months. Anyone been there? Cheers, Joe Moryl

Hi Katie, Trumansburg is a great little village - be sure to get a cup of Gimme coffee from their shop on the main street. If you can, avoid the weekends and your tasting room experience will be much better. You will be close to both the west shore of Cayuga and the east shore of Seneca. Nearby on Cayuga I would recommend Sheldrake Point and Hosmer. But the east side of Seneca has one of the best groupings of quality wineries in the area. From south to north along Rt. 414 I would try Atwater, Bloomer Creek (at the Stone Cat Cafe, a nice place to have a meal), Red Newt, Standing Stone, Shalestone, Silver Thread (organic viticulture) and Lamoreaux Landing. If you get a chance also check out the Ithaca Farmer's market - I think they have both Sat. and Sun. hours (plus maybe one weekday). Cheers, Joe Moryl