Dining in Finger Lakes

[coquus]

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

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Yes please, I'm going through the area on a trip to the Adirondacks Memorial Day weekend. I will be going the ninety to the 88/87 whatever towards Fort Drum, is there anything ethnic up Syracuse way, anything at all, even markets, within a few miles of where I'll be travelling through? Or something spectacular worth an exucursion?

[phaelon56]

Can you clarify your travel path a bit better?

Rte 90 runs north from NYC/NJ area towards Alabany and then heads west towards Buffalo, passing through Syracuse on the way.

Rte 88 runs in a northeasterly direction roughly from Binghamton to Albany and Rte 87 goes north from the Albany area straight up through the eastern edge of the Adirondacks towards Canada.

Then we have Rte 81... which runs north/south and passes through Binghamton and Syracuse on its way to Canada and it is the closest major highway to Fort Drum.

I may have some suggestions or ideas but it's all a function of your specific route.

[coquus]

Can you clarify your travel path a bit better? 

Rte 90 runs north from NYC/NJ area towards Alabany and then heads west towards Buffalo, passing through Syracuse on the way.

Rte 88 runs in a northeasterly direction roughly from Binghamton to Albany and Rte 87 goes north from the Albany area straight up through the eastern edge of the Adirondacks towards Canada.

Then we have Rte 81...  which runs north/south and passes through Binghamton and Syracuse on its way to Canada and it is the closest major highway to Fort Drum.

I may have some suggestions or ideas but it's all a function of your specific route.

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Going 90E to 81N on Sunday, on Wed, 81S to 90W, I think.

Edited May 20, 2006 by coquus (log)

[phaelon56]

Are you leaving early enough in the day on Sunday to allow a detour off 81N to Ithaca? (you would take Rte 79N from Whitney point to Ithaca and then Rte 13N from Ithaca up towards Cortland to rejoin Rte 81N)

Ithaca has a fantastic farmers market... loads of local organic produce, interesting prepared foods, a great espresso bar by Gimme Coffee, local artisinal cheesemakers, great baked goods etc. But the detour there and then back to 81N will add a bit over an hour to your travel not including time spent at the market.

If, OTOH, you're passing by Syracuse in late morning I highly recommend brunch at Alto Cinco or L'Adour. My favorite Vietnamese restaurant in town, New Century, is open from morning until at least 9 PM every day and is also worth a visit. Nearby Solvay has an excellent and very authentic Polish restauirant, Eva's, that is well worth a visit even if only to get some of her European style pies, tarts or cakes to take with you (but their fresh sauerkraut, peirogies and latkes are excellent).

[coquus]

Are you leaving early enough in the day on Sunday to allow a detour off 81N to Ithaca? (you would take Rte 79N from Whitney point to Ithaca and then Rte 13N from Ithaca up towards Cortland to rejoin Rte 81N)

Ithaca has a fantastic farmers market...  loads of local organic produce, interesting prepared foods, a great espresso bar by Gimme Coffee, local artisinal cheesemakers, great baked goods etc.  But the detour there and then back to 81N will add a bit over an hour to your travel not including time spent at the market.

If, OTOH, you're passing by Syracuse in late morning I highly recommend brunch at Alto Cinco or L'Adour.  My favorite Vietnamese restaurant in town, New Century, is open from morning until at least 9 PM every day and is also worth a visit.  Nearby Solvay has an excellent and very authentic Polish restauirant, Eva's, that is well worth a visit even if only to get some of her European style pies, tarts or cakes to take with you (but their fresh sauerkraut, peirogies and latkes are excellent).

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Hey, have you read any of my other posts on here? JK, I know and love the farmer's market, however it's not in the budget time wise. I'm really looking for some good deals such as the last two you gave me, nothing high end as it's just a detour, but destinations in their own right. Anyhow, that's enough I think.

One additional question, our Japanese friends from Ithaca used to go to a fish market up there to get sashimi quality fish, do you know of such a place, and if so, if it's out of the way from my trip's perspective, how much, and are there any decent places to eat in close proximity to it?

[phaelon56]

The ONLY fish market in town that sells sashimi quality fish is Fins & Tails on Erioe Blvd next to Liquor Square - corner of Thompson Road and Erie Blvd.It;'s not much of a detour. You take Rte 690 east off 81 N in Syracuse and go to about the thrid exit - Thompson Rd South. A hundred yards off the ramp you're at Erie and you'll see Liquir Square across the street - just drive straight, turn right around the back side of the building and there you are.

Tom Farmer (coincidentally enough a good buddy of mine from about age 3 to age 6!) owns it but he buys only from Foley's opf Boston and is closed on Sunday and Monday because Foley's does not deliver on those days.

Another possibility but I'm not sure if thjey';re open on Sundays (but most likely are) is

Bob's Barbecue

87 W Main St

Homer, NY 13077

(607) 753-7098

Take the Homer exit off Rte 81 North and as soon as you get off the ramp turn on to Rte 11 N. It's not too far up and they have darn good chicken.

Syracuse also has an excellent Italian import market - Lombardi's - but they are not open on Sunday. In Skaneatles I forgot to mention Doug's Fish Fry. Other people seem to love it. I enjoy their onion rings and chowder but they use generic white "scrod" style fish instead of real haddock for their fish fry. Not my cup of tea - haddock is far better.

[coquus]

Hey, thanks for the info. I'll probably try to make it to the Vietnamese place for lunch on Sunday and hit up the Market on the way home. I've been to Doug's in Cortland, bleh, though I've had enough fish fries in my lifetime. Now, bout all I eat American that's fried is scallops and clamcakes when I visit my relatives in Rhode Island every couple years and the occasional order of fries. I can't wait to get down to the Farmer's Market when it really starts hopping sometime next month.

[coquus]

Dano's Heuriger is going to be on TV. Fine Living's Opening Soon, this weekend, not sure if it's a repeat, but it's on this weekend in case you're interested in what you may have missed.

[coquus]

Bob's Barbecue

87 W Main St

Homer, NY 13077

(607) 753-7098

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Hey, I just remembered actually seeing this place once, they weren't open, and I beleive it was Sunday as my folks were up visiting, and it happened to be graduation weekend or some such at Cornell so the only place they could get a room was a bed and breakfast on the same road in Homer. I had heard about Bob's and really wanted to go, but alas they weren't open Sunday. They had some really good french toast at that B&B however. I love me some well executed Cornell sauce chicken, it is a work of art, and science.

[coquus]

Hey Phaleon56, New Century was really good. We had two apps: their special shrimp rolls, and their chile lemongrass beef wrapped around onions and skewered. The beef was really great. I had chili lemongrass pork with broken rice and my girlfriend had a shrimp and bbq pork vermicelli. We enjoyed ourselves immensely, thanks. There seem to be quite a few nice restaurants up in the Lake Placid Saranac Lake area since I was up there last six years ago, unfortunately none of them were in the time budget.

[phaelon56]

Cool. Thanks for the favorable feedback. The guys who work there are all family and have on repeat occasions expressed hwo happy they are that I've publicized them on the Web. They do a special all vegetarian menu once or twice each year to raise money for a planned local Bhuddist temple. Unusual dishes and the food is really good.

I love that lacey crispy shell on the special shrimp rolls - have never had any like that elsewhere. I hope you got to try their Cafe Sua Da - it's excellent.

[coquus]

Cool. Thanks for the favorable feedback.  The guys who work there are all family and have on repeat occasions expressed hwo happy they are that I've publicized them on the Web. They do a special all vegetarian menu once or twice each year to raise money for a planned local Bhuddist temple. Unusual dishes and the food is really good.

I love that lacey crispy shell on the special shrimp rolls - have never had any like that elsewhere. I hope you got to try their Cafe Sua Da - it's excellent.

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No, I didn't try that. But I did see a Buddhist temple on the way back to 81N, and also noticed that they were very nice. Yeah, and that crispy shell was advertised as homemade on the menu, hmm.

[tammylc]

I've got another trip to Finger Lakes coming up at the end of the month - this time spanning Wednesday and Thursday nights, so that's much better. We have reservations for Madderlake Cafe on Wednesday night and Red Newt Bistro on Thursday night. I look forward to having more good things to report about dining in the Finger Lakes! (Sadly, no time on this trip for any more winery visits!)

[H. du Bois]

Do fill us in! I do get to the region from time to time, and would love to try some new places.

And Owen (phaelon56), thank you for all your suggestions and guidance in this thread - I'll be using this as a resource next time I'm up there.

[coquus]

I think I'm going to hit Dano's spot up sometime, saw his Opening Soon show he made an awesome looking stuffed pig, and his wife is looking familiar, like she knows me or something, it looks really cool, got to get him some mushrooms so he can cook me up a real feast.

[tammylc]

Madderlake Cafe is great! We did make it to the restaurant despite delays in our plane departing from Detroit, and we were very glad to make it. I'm too tired, and my meeting starts too early, to write too many details about it tonight, but I can say that I had one of the best desserts ever. Mmmm. More tomorrow.

[tammylc]

Okay, just back from Red Newt Bistro, which was even better, but first things first.

Madderlake Cafe was a good choice for our first night in, because unlike most of the other restaurants on my list, it's on the same side of the lake and near the top as Geneva, where we're staying. Our flight was late, so we went there straight from the airport.

You can tell the building they're in is a bit dingy, although they've done a pretty good job of covering it up with some nice bright paint and some great glass artwork on the walls. It's funky and cheery - different colored napkins at each place setting, things like that. There was a bit of an odd smell to it, unfortunately - never did figure out what that was about.

It was a very small menu, not even as broad as what's posted on their website. Six openers including a soup, two salads and a cheese course, and just 8 mains. Not a lot was jumping out at us, to be honest. But my coworker and I each managed to find something that appealed, and ordered a bottle of wine to go with. Their wine list had a good number of Finger Lakes wines as well as wines from other regions and was really reasonably priced - nothing over $50. There was nothing by the glass that I was interested in (only 4 reds, and only one of those from Finger Lakes), so I took a look at the list and jumped at the chance to order a bottle of the 2003 Red Newt Cellars Red Eft. This is a red blend that I'd just loved when I'd visited the winery on my last trip. (And given that it sells for just $12.50 at the winery, you can see that the wine markup is really reasonable.)

To start we split an order of deep fried calamari, shrimp and scallops, with sides of mignonette and remoulade sauces. Tasty, satisfying, well-prepared, although nothing particularly special about it. For mains, I had the roast breast and potted leg of duck with grilled fresh pineapple and wild rice spoonbread. This was wonderful. Duck and pretty much any fruit goes great, but I was surprised at how well it played with the grilled pineapple. There was some nice rich demi-glace based sauce under it. The spoonbread was quite tasty, although I wasn't sure it went quite so well with the rest. But all in all a quite delightful and different dish. My coworker had the grilled pork tenderloin with apples, dried cherries and roasted fingerling potatoes. Again with a lovely rich sauce, unidentified on the menu. Fairly basic fare, but very nicely prepared.

Dessert was glorious. I didn't steal a dessert menu, so I have to reconstruct the description from memory, but it was baked cream with vanilla bean, kahlua sauce and a mexican wedding cookie? A rich, creamy, glorious custard, served atop a caramel and kahlua sauce (like a creme caramel or flan, but with the sauce and custard cooked separately) and a perfect little nutty cookie along side. Incredible.

Definitely recommended if you're in the neighborhood.

[coquus]

Okay, just back from Red Newt Bistro, which was even better, but first things first.

Madderlake Cafe was a good choice for our first night in, because unlike most of the other restaurants on my list, it's on the same side of the lake and near the top as Geneva, where we're staying.  Our flight was late, so we went there straight from the airport.

You can tell the building they're in is a bit dingy, although they've done a pretty good job of covering it up with some nice bright paint and some great glass artwork on the walls.  It's funky and cheery - different colored napkins at each place setting, things like that.  There was a bit of an odd smell to it, unfortunately - never did figure out what that was about.

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Welcome to upstate, non-urban upstate, if you look deeper I'm sure you will spot the trend. Just kidding, sounds really tops, looking forward to you're further description of your food and wine discoveries in Finger Lakes wine country.

[Epernay]

My wife and I are relocating to Ithaca

If anyone knows of any spaces open for a French Bistro Please E Mail Me

It will be greatly appreciated

Thank You

Mark

[Epernay]

New E Mail Address

Dijonbistro@yahoo.com

[coquus]

That's a good question, lots of places seem booked up right now. I haven't been down to Cayuga St. lately, the French place, Le Duc, there closed down last I knew, the owner/chef cut and ran I heard. Maybe not another French Restaurant there. I know that there seem to be more spots open there than on Aurora side of the Commons, that is the better business side however. I'm sure there is plenty vacant in Collegetown, Eddy St., area as there always was when I was there. The Commons itself. What scale are you thinking of?

[tammylc]

the Bistro at Red Newt Cellars

Red Newt Cellars is a mom and pop kind of thing - he makes the wines, she cooks in the bistro. They had my favorite wines from when D and I did our winery tour of Finger Lakes on our last trip there. And the menu in the bistro looked great, and it came highly recommended, so I was really looking forward to getting a chance to go. The menu changes every three weeks and focuses on seasonal local ingredients. We were there on the first night of the new menu, but we didn't notice any opening night glitches.

It's a nice big open room. We had seat along the window and could look out over some vineyards off to the other side of Seneca Lake and the setting sun, which had come out just for us. While the food is upscale, the environment is pretty casual, as you'd expect given the cottage country location. They have a small kids menu, and one of my most amusing moments of the evening came when the 8 year old girl at another table asked her server, in the most serious and formal of voices, "Which do you recommend, the pizza or the macaroni and cheese?"

<a href="http://rednewt.com/vm/content/view/16/53/">Red Newt Bistro</a> was the most wine-centric of the restaurants that we've visited in the Finger Lakes. They had about 20 wines being poured by the glass, most arranged into tasting flights, one for each of the main dinner entrees on the menu. You could order the flight, or just one of the wines in the flight, in half or full size glasses. Very flexible. And if you weren't sure what you wanted, they'd pour you a taste. I was overjoyed that they were serving the Tierce riesling by the glass. Tierce is a collaborative wine made by three different wineries on Seneca Lake, of which Red Newt is one. It's a really great riesling - best wine I tasted on my last trip, and one I've thought fondly of since then. But at $30/bottle, I just couldn't bring myself to buy any - I can get some mighty good German riesling for $30/bottle, and I'm not buying that either. But I was thrilled to be able to get a glass with dinner!

In our usual way, D and I split an appetizer. I was voting for the <i>Foccacia with Wild Mushrooms, Tomatoes, Arugula, Feta, Roasted Garlic Oil and Proscuitto</i>, but D had a strong preference for the <i>Puff Pastry Turnover with Roasted Garlic Chevre, Carmelized Onions and Collards

served with Roasted Red Pepper and Ginger Chutney</i>. And if you know me, you know that I find it hard to say no to chevre, so we went with that. It was tasty and the presentation was pretty, but there was nothing in it that made me say ooh-la-la. The roasted red pepper and ginger chutney had seemed so promising on paper, but didn't live up to its promise.

All entrees come with a salad. D had the regular house salad with a spicy peanut dressing, and I spent the $3 to upgrade mine to something that I'd been looking forward to ever since seeing the menu online: <i>Mixed Green Salad with Carmelized Chevre, Shaved Fennel, Scallions

and Toasted Pine Nuts with a Strawberry Vinaigrette</i>. I was most intrigued by "caramelized chevre" - what ever could that be? It turned out to be a ball of goat cheese, coated in sugar, and browned into sweet crunchy shell, like the top of a creme brulee. It was wonderful. The cheese was warm, the salad cold, the pine nuts toasty, the strawberries oh-so-fresh. I loved every bit of it.

D's main was the <i>Bacon Wrapped Beef Tenderloin with a Chocolate Red Wine Sauce</i>. It was served with a lovely potato dish, which looked kind of like hash browns but tasted sooo much better. Being cooked in cream and parmesan will do that for you. The beef and the sauce were great too. For wines, D had tried one of the merlots recommended for the course, as well as a cabernet sauvignon, but ended up opting to just get more of the Red Eft that we'd had the night before. I was very impressed with the merlot pairing - I've often heard merlots described as chocolately, but this was the first that totally fit the bill for me. Even before tasting the dish I could tell these would be great together, and saved a sip in the sample glass for when I got my forkful from Donna's plate. I ordered a half glass of the Red Newt Cellars cabernet sauvignon to go with my main: the <i>Mixed Grill of Ancho Chili Coated Lamb Chops and Chorizo Sausage with a Cherry Glaze served with Roasted Garlic Grits</i>. The sausage was spicy but not overbearing. the lamb chops were tender and flavorful. The cherry glaze was tasty. The grits were great. Mmm... grits. Nothing transcendent, just really good food, really well prepared and perfectly seasoned.

D and I were both quite full at this point, but there's always room in the dessert stomach. We opted for one of the lighter offerings, bypassing the turtle cheesecake and kitchen-sink brownie sundae and going for the more refined <i>chocolate roulade with white chocolate mint filling and raspberry sauce.</i> It was a perfect choice - light, but still chocolatey enough to satisfy a couple of demanding chocoholics.

Our bill, including tax and tip, came to $132. That's a bit much for our company's expense account (we are a nonprofit, afterall), so we put $80 on the company card and split the rest. But I'd happily pay my own money to eat there again!

[Epernay]

60-100 seats

anywhere in town

we are very flexible

[coquus]

The more I think about it, the more I like the Le Duc spot for you guys. Though not sure how big it is as I have never been inside, it has a fine dining reputation already so people would be willing to go there to see what's new. Downtown on the inlet (The Station Restaurant, Greenstar co-op area, Rte. 13) they are pouring money into building, so that seems to be getting hotter, if you could sort out the parking issue. I heard Joe's Restaurant got re-opened, though I didn't notice last time I was in town. A little while back a bar kiddy corner from Tompkins County Trust was closed down, not sure the parking, I forget the crazy story on that one, I'm not sure but I think it's reopened now. The Roma Pizzeria on Rte. 13 would need alot of work, but I heard a while back that it was for sale. Whatever happened to the old building on Rte. 13 south out of town, it used to be a restaurant back some five years, and was for sale. Keep your ears open, there is alot of restaurant comings and goings and I am really not that in tune. I always thought a nice bistroish restaurant could be installed down near the farmers market maybe in cooperation with those guys. It's got to be a good area for fine dining with all the restaurants down there, kinda ghetto however, and I can't really think of a spot except maybe the Pizza spot. Maybe the plaza near the DMV there is something. I don't think Rene's Patisserie is open anymore, is it? I never went there either (not sure the size), but its back where the Heigths is. Triphammer Mall, as well, is worth checking out. I hope I've given you something to work with.

[Epernay]

thank you for your help

Les ducs turned into some kind of tropical fusion spot and painted the dining room black

It is already for sale at an extremely high price of 400,000

Where they got this price is mind boggling!

I don't know the pastry space BUT I am curious. She did close her bistro on quarry st. (Very strange location)

Any further ideas are appreciated

We will be there full time on 7-11 and begin serious leg work.

Thank You

Mark