Dining in Finger Lakes

[tammylc]

I'm looking for dinner recommendations for the Finger Lakes for tomorrow night (May 16). I had a couple of great sounding possibilities picked out (Dano's Heuriger, Red Newt Cellars Bistro) and both are closed on Tuesdays. Stonecat Cafe is closed too! Any other suggestions that'll be open on a Tuesday night? We're staying in Geneva, will be visiting Seneca Falls, and are willing to dip down along the lakes to visit a winery or two and hopefully get dinner at the end of the day. I'm in on business, but we have a free afternoon and want to make the most of it!

Great and creative food is the key criteria, although I expect the coworker I'm travelling with would be more impressed if there were also some ambience.

Thanks.

[Dryden]

Anywhere near Skaneateles? There are a number of good places there...

[H. du Bois]

I can't vouch for the food there, but Bellhurst Castle is a splendid place to have a drink, at the very least.

[rlibkind]

One of the finest Finger Lakes producers, Herman J. Wiemer, is located about 30-40 minutes due south of Geneva on Rt. 14, on the west shore of Seneca Lake. Great rieslings in the Moselle style; and try the ice wine, too.

Since I don't know what Geneva and environs offers in terms of food, I concur with Dryden's recommendation to head east to Skaneateles, about a one hour trip along U.S. 20. In addition to the finer establishments there's always Doug's Fish Fry for very nicely fried fish, whose proprietor was less than happy when Bill and Hillary spent a week on vacation there; instead, they went to the Blue Water Grill. However, avoid The Krebs; pedestrian food, even if it is a landmark establishment.

[tammylc]

I think an hour is going to be too long to travel for dinner, unfortunately. Anybody else?

[markabauman]

Check out Suzanne Fine Regional Cuisine near Interlaken.

[rlibkind]

Check out Suzanne Fine Regional Cuisine near Interlaken.

←

Its website says it's only open on Fridays and Saturdays during May.

[phaelon56]

Belhurst Castle - lovely place for a drink - yes indeed. Have not heard great things about the food.

best bets:

Ithaca - Willow (near Fall Creek Cinema down by the end of cayuga Street. There's also a new place called Blue Stone cafe that looked interesting but have nto tried it.

Skaneatles - Mirabeau Inn is pricey but good (think $60 - $80 tasting menu), have always heard good things about Rosalie's Cucina (Italian) and you might also try Kabuki for sushi and Japanese.

[GordonCooks]

One of the finest Finger Lakes producers, Herman J. Wiemer, is located about 30-40 minutes due south of Geneva on Rt. 14, on the west shore of Seneca Lake. Great rieslings in the Moselle style; and try the ice wine, too.

Since I don't know what Geneva and environs offers in terms of food, I concur with Dryden's recommendation to head east to Skaneateles, about a one hour trip along U.S. 20. In addition to the finer establishments there's always Doug's Fish Fry for very nicely fried fish, whose proprietor was less than happy when Bill and Hillary spent a week on vacation there; instead, they went to the Blue Water Grill. However, avoid The Krebs; pedestrian food, even if it is a landmark establishment.

←

Ditto on Hermann J., It's a must stop if I'm within 30 miles of the place

[coquus]

Definately Rosalie's in Skaneatles.

I also like the Aurora Inn over on the eastern shore of Cayuga, not sure when they're open however. In Ithaca, Just a Taste is good, and I've often heard good spoke about Cope's Garage.

Edited May 16, 2006 by coquus (log)

[tammylc]

Thanks for all the recommendations. Unfortunately, Skanealetes and Ithaca are just too far to drive for dinner from Geneva, where we're staying. Especially after driving around the lake visiting wineries all afternoon! Seneca Lake has a lot of good dining possiblilities and I look forward to scheduling my next trip to fall later in the week - we saw the menu for Red Newt Bistro, and it looks amazing. Dano's, Suzanne's, Rivercat Cafe, all promising. And all closed on Tuesdays.

So we're going to Port's Cafe. It was recommended by three different people on our journey today. Being told it was the place where all the winemakers on the western side of the lake go to eat sealed the plan. I'm looking forward to having a full glass of one of the many wines I tasted today!

[H. du Bois]

If you got to the west side of the lake, did you have a chance to taste the Seneca Shores wines? I liked Fox Run and Prejean, too. I've twice done the Seneca vineyards, and those three held up as my favorites each time.

I'd have told you the place I ate at both trips, but I can't even remember the name of the town! Good steak, though.

And do stop for a drink at Bellhurst next time, if you've got a chance. Even if you are full of wine from your tastings.

Hope you enjoy your dinner!

[tammylc]

We did not make it Seneca Shores. Next time - I'll be back in a month or six weeks. We started on the west side of the lake, and looped all the way down and back up the other side, hitting six wineries along the way.

Fox Run

Anthony Road Wine Company

Hermann J. Wiemer

Glenora

Red Newt Cellars

Standing Stones Vineyard

Nothing at Fox Run really jumped out at me, although that was where I got to taste the 2004 Tierce Dry Riesling. This is a collaborative effort between Fox Run, Anthony Road and Red Newt, and it was fabulous. And $30/bottle. Interestingly, I tried the individual dry riesling from each of the three wineries and wasn't excited about any of them, but the Tierce totally transcended. Anthony Road was unremarkable to my tastes as well.

All the wines I tasted at Wiemer were solid. The dry riesling was very refined and German, and coming on the heels of the racy Tierce (which has the zing of the 2001 German rieslings) it was a little too refined. But definitely the best of the rieslings I tasted. The cab franc was remarkably bell peppery, both on the nose and the palate. Very strange, but they've had some strange years with Cab France recently, from what they were telling us.

Glenora was ho-hum, although my travelling companion was most pleased there, I think. Her tastes run towards oaky CA Chardonnays, so Finger Lakes wines are just not her style. The Brut sparkling wine was nice.

Things really picked up once we hit the bottom of the lake and started back up. Red Newt knocked my socks off. I loved their Salamander White blend, and the 2003 Red Eft blend, and the 2004 Cab Franc. At $10.49 for the Salamander and $12.50 for the Red Eft, this was the first place I had to decide whether it was worth carrying wine home in my suitcase. They print the bistro menu on the back of the tasting sheet, which made me even more sad that they were closed!

I think we had the most fun at Standing Stone, where it was one of the winery owners who was serving at the bar. She had an absolutely contagious enthusiasm. I liked their Cab Franc and was surprised at it's fullness compared to some of the others I'd tasted, and later she mentioned that they had to truck grapes in from Long Island for that vintage. A good lesson in terroir! I spent the extra dollar to do the vertical tasting of their Bordeaux blend - Pinnacle - one from 2000 and another from 2003. She said that growing conditions were almost identical in those two years, so it was a really good indication of where the 2003s would be going. Very nice. With a number of vertical tastings etc. offered, this was definitely the best stop for a wine geek! We ended with their Vidal ice wine, which was quite lovely. Having had both Vidal and Riesling Ice Wines from the Niagara Penninsula, I think I prefer Vidal.

Oh, this was supposed to be the thread about restaurants, wasn't it? I'll post about Port's Cafe separately.

Edited May 17, 2006 by tammylc (log)

[bigred93]

Belhurst Castle - lovely place for a drink - yes indeed. Have not heard great things about the food.

best bets:

Ithaca -  Willow (near Fall Creek Cinema down by the end of cayuga Street. There's also a new place called Blue Stone cafe that looked interesting but have nto tried it.

Skaneatles - Mirabeau Inn is pricey but good (think $60 - $80 tasting menu), have always heard good things about Rosalie's Cucina (Italian) and you might also try Kabuki for sushi and Japanese.

←

In Ithaca, thumbs up on Willow but unfortunately down on Blue Stone. Pangea, however, would get a thumbs up, as would The Heights.

[tammylc]

Port's Cafe was lovely. Simple food, well prepared. Nice but casual ambience with lots of wood, a view of the lake and semi-open kitchen. But noisy. The menu on their website is rather eclectic and not necessarily all that enticing, but they have many daily specials, and that's where the action is. We split the baked brie with a peach apricot almond topping and it was great. I had brown sugar-black pepper brined salmon steak with horseradish cream atop a potato pancake (basically just like really good hashbrowns, which I adore) and served with a perfectly cooked vegetable mix - asparagus, zucchini, etc. My coworker had the sea bass on a mixed greens with an orange vinaigrette. Both were excellent, with the fish steaming hot and perfectly cooked. Perfectly balanced seasonings on everything we tried. Not pretentious at all, but a good meal. And open on Tuesdays!

The have a great selection of Finger Lakes wines on their wine list, with by the glass and bottle selections. No Tierce, sadly. I originally ordered the Weimer Dry Riesling, but then decided to ride out the Cabernet Franc kick I've been on today by getting the 2004 Hosmer Cab Franc. Great wine - very smooth, still with varietal character, but rounder than most of the others I'd tried. Hosmer is over on Cayuga Lake, so maybe this was terroir in action once again!

While I was looking for review of Port's, I came across a review for Madderlake Cafe. I'd noticed their sign as were driving past earlier in the afternoon, and just from the edgy font, I was guessing it might be interesting. And it is - looks great, in fact. And it's also closed on Tuesday. <Tammy sighs, bangs head>

In the interest of completeness, and for other Finger Lakes diners who end up finding this thread, links to restaurants mentioned previously in this thread, and other restaurants I came across in my research:

Dano's Heuriger (Austrian)

Red Newt Cellars Bistro

Stonecat Cafe

Tomorrow we're going to Seneca Falls and will need to grab lunch, so any recommendations on the north end of Lake Cayuga are welcome.

[coquus]

Tomorrow we're going to Seneca Falls and will need to grab lunch, so any recommendations on the north end of Lake Cayuga are welcome.

←

If you don't see anything you like there, the Aurora Inn which I mentioned earlier offers lunch. It's probably fifteen minutes down the eastern shore of Lake Cayuga.

Aurora Inn

[H. du Bois]

Oh, this was supposed to be the thread about restaurants, wasn't it?    I'll post about Port's Cafe separately.

Okay, a quick aside for the wine ...

Clearly, you did your homework - I just dallied my way along the lake, and we stopped at every vineyard until we were sated with the experience. Seneca Shores is definitely worth a visit - their reserve reds completely changed my opinion on NYS reds. (Squeezed a few of those into my suitcase!). Of course, they were rather pricey, as with the Tierce, which I'll have to try someday.

Have not been to Red Newt or Standing Stone, but I shall make a point of it next time I'm upstate.

[ludja]

...

In the interest of completeness, and for other Finger Lakes diners who end up finding this thread, links to restaurants mentioned previously in this thread, and other restaurants I came across in my research:

Dano's Heuriger (Austrian)

Red Newt Cellars Bistro

Stonecat Cafe

Tomorrow we're going to Seneca Falls and will need to grab lunch, so any recommendations on the north end of Lake Cayuga are welcome.

←

I had read about Dano's Heuriger and wondered if anyone had checked it out.

Here is an article written earlier this year that I had clipped:

Dano's Heuriger

Dano's Heuriger (pronounced DON-yo's HOY-rigger) on Seneca Lake in Lodi is merely following a tradition that its chef and co-owner, Dano Hutnik, brought with him from Vienna, Austria, where wine taverns known as heurigen serve locally produced, inexpensive white wines in chunky glass vessels along with simple, rustic, picnic-style foods.

…

In keeping with tradition, the heuriger menu is casual and free of pretensions and fuss: smoked fish, sausages, roasted meats, salads, goulash. Beckoning the bread basket are the heuriger's staple assortment of cheese-based spreads from Liptauer, horseradish-walnut, bacon and pumpkin seed oil, which Dano's displays in a counter case underneath the fancifully painted blackboard menu.

This grub is meant for grazing, and manages just as readily for a quick mid-afternoon snack as well as a leisurely, uncomplicated lunch or dinner. Gilman's desserts, from a textured, moist mohntorte (poppy seed cake) to an elegant linzertorte, could also be a meal itself.

The menu looks pretty authentic and interesting with a few non-Austrian items thrown in. It also looks like they have a nice selection of Austrian desserts including Linzertorte, Poppyseed Torte and seasonal fruit Strudels.

[rlibkind]

I had read about Dano's Heuriger and wondered if anyone had checked it out.

The menu looks pretty authentic and interesting with a few non-Austrian items thrown in.  It also looks like they have a nice selection of Austrian desserts including Linzertorte, Poppyseed Torte and seasonal fruit Strudels.

←

I enjoyed a previous incarnation about six years ago, when Dano operated a similar establishment on the grounds of Standing Stone winery. It was delightful and the epitome of casual dining. Although my travels rarely bring me to the Finger Lakes anymore, if they do I would make a point of visiting the new place. As an aside, although it's been out of business about five or six years, his former eponymous restaurant in downtown Ithaca was marvelous. The food was excellent in a mittel-European style (though using local whenever possible), the wine choice wide-ranging without being overwhelming (as well as appropriate to the menu), and the service absolutely on target.

[tammylc]

Tomorrow we're going to Seneca Falls and will need to grab lunch, so any recommendations on the north end of Lake Cayuga are welcome.

←

If you don't see anything you like there, the Aurora Inn which I mentioned earlier offers lunch. It's probably fifteen minutes down the eastern shore of Lake Cayuga.

Aurora Inn

←

Darn, wish I'd seen this earlier! That would have been great. As it was, we ended up stopping at a Sbarro on the thruway while heading back to the airport to catch our flight.

Oh, and just in case anyone's keeping track - Aurora Inn, also closed on Mondays and Tuesdays.

[tammylc]

Oh, this was supposed to be the thread about restaurants, wasn't it?    I'll post about Port's Cafe separately.

Okay, a quick aside for the wine ...

Clearly, you did your homework - I just dallied my way along the lake, and we stopped at every vineyard until we were sated with the experience. Seneca Shores is definitely worth a visit - their reserve reds completely changed my opinion on NYS reds. (Squeezed a few of those into my suitcase!). Of course, they were rather pricey, as with the Tierce, which I'll have to try someday.

Have not been to Red Newt or Standing Stone, but I shall make a point of it next time I'm upstate.

←

I suspect that the reds and Red Newt and Standing Stone will both knock your socks off, then.

I did do a fair bit of research before going, asking a sommelier friend for recommendations, and getting this month's Wine Spectator, which has a big feature article on New York wine growing regions.

[phaelon56]

I'm surprised by the nu,ber of Tuesday closures. Monday is the standard day off for most restaurants in the general area but Tuesday as well?

And it's nice to see the positive mention of Hosmer wines. The owner - "Tunk" - grew up in my neighborhood (actually on the same block as France Forum host Bleudauvergne if I recall correctly) and his wife Maren and I attended the same high school. They've beeen at it for a quite a few years.

On a separate note - it's too bad that the Blue Stone Cafe is less than appealing. I'd been hoping to visit but am now disinclined.

[tammylc]

I'm surprised by the nu,ber of Tuesday closures. Monday is the standard day off for most restaurants in the general area but Tuesday as well?

←

In a lot of other locations, the typical days off are Sunday-Monday. My theory is that they need to stay open on Sunday for people who are making a long weekend out of their trip, thus Monday-Tuesday closings.

[Dryden]

Not to hijack the thread, but since we're actually going to be back in Skaneateales at the end of the month for a few days, I was wondering if anyone can comment on any specific choices in the area. We were already planning to hit Mirbeau and Elderberry Pond.

[phaelon56]

Yes. There are a few others to consider but Elderberry and Mirabeau are high on my list already. There aren't too many offerings of much interest out Skaneatles way - I think those of note all been mentioned up thread already.

I haven't tried it but some colleagues of mine are very fond of the menu at Arad Evans Inn

Brian Shore, a local chef who operated the well regarded Kettle Lakes Inn until recently, has returned to their staff as of a few months ago.

Just a few blocks up the road, also in Fayetteville, is my faovrite local place - La Cena - North African, Spanish and Mediterranean influenced food. If you're looking for a place that's a bit out of the ordinary for this conservative area it's a very good choice.

I've had one good bistro dinner, a very nice lunch and a number of excellent breakfasts at L'Adour - but food savvy friends who've been more recently have complained of poor service and inconsistent food quality. That was all for the bistro area - I've never heard a single negative remark about the "fine dining menu" that is served upstairs on Saturday evenings.

If you like a crowded big city casual bistro atmosphere and a Mexican influenced menu (but not exactly Mexican) check out Alto Cinco. Same owner as La Cena and excellent wine selections properly served are available at both.

Another good choice - perhaps not highly inventive by larger metro area standards but certainly progressive for Syracuse and getting consistently good reviews from all I've spoken to (I've had terrific meals there on several occasions) is "bc"

This area has scads of red sauce Italian joints - a few good and many not so great but for northern Italian I like Grimaldi's Luna Park. The atmosphere is unremarkable but the food is excellent.

If by chance you can get down to Ithaca (about a 45 - 55 minute drive from Skaneatles) you'll find good food at Willow and in a more casual atmosphere you'll be able to sample excellent food and world class espresso drinks at Carriage House Cafe

Should your interests include ethnic offerings (Thai, Vietnamese, Indian etc.) just indicate that and I'll give you the skinny.