Upstate New York Dining ?

[phaelon56]

NY Texan - I'll PM you - I'm definitely available on the 9th and always enjoy meeting other eGulleteers - I'm actually going down to NYC this Friday for the Pizza Survey outing. Rokinrev, who has weighed in on this thread, is the only other Syracuse area eGulleteer I'm aware of. She's in a small Cooking Club that I'm active in - we meet once very few months. There may be some lurkers aroudn but the only other folks up in this general direction who are active seem to be GordonCooks in Rochester and Docsconz in Glens Falls (neither of which is close enough to pop over for dinner).

Is Johnny's Hot Truck the one that is always parked over on North Campus - the red one? When I worked at Cornell I lived on Wyckoff Ave (across from the Ag School frat house) and walked by that truck every day - I think it's still there. We always knew it as Louie's Lunch Truck. Perhaps there's another truck somewhere?

I'm not sure if it's open yet or not, but Gimme Coffee won a bid to be the espresso purveyor on campus. They're putting in a classic Airstream trailer that's been totally refurbished and converted for use as an espresso bar. I think it may be going in near where Entrepot used to be by Beebe Lake but not absolutely sure.

[MsMelkor]

Is Johnny's Hot Truck the one that is always parked over on North Campus - the red one? When I worked at Cornell I lived on Wyckoff Ave (across from the Ag School frat house) and walked by that truck every day - I think it's still there. We always knew it as Louie's Lunch Truck. Perhaps there's another truck somewhere?

No, Hot Truck parks down at the bottom of West Campus. They show up late, maybe 10pm, and stay until everyone has passed our - usually around 4am. They claim to have invented french bread pizza - not sure if this is true, but they make some damn fine pizza! Very heavy, very greasy. Perfect food after a hard night in Collegetown.

NYT: I'll be at Reunion next year - hope you have fun at yours this year!

[NewYorkTexan]

There are two “trucks” near the Cornell campus. The one on North campus is Louie’s and its menu includes everything from hamburgers, fries, hot dogs and pizza….all of the collegiate food groups.

On West campus there was Johnny’s hot truck. Johnny’s only (or at least used to) sells french bread pizzas. Learning the acronyms for the many varieties of pizzas was a rite of passage in every student’s four year drinking career. Yes, the rumor is that Stouffers licensed the concept many years ago from Johnny to sell in supermarkets. Johnny has retired after 35+ years and sold the business so it will be interesting to see if the quality is still the same. During reunions, Cornell allows Johnny’s hot truck to drive up on campus and park in the middle of the Arts quad, right next to the beer tents. It really is a beautiful arrangement. Nothing like drunken alumni reliving their college years by inhaling pippin hot french bread pizzas

Glad to see they are becoming more quality coffee options on campus. When I was managing the largest dining hall, we opened a small coffee house within “the Ivy Room” that offered the first espresso drinks on central campus. At least from 85-89, it was damn near impossible to get a good cup of coffee on campus.

[phaelon56]

I was a buyer/manager at the Campus Store for four years in the early 90's. I had many a cup of damn good Guatemala Antigua at the little coffee bar in the Ivy Room. Also had some pretty passable lunches considering that it was a college dining hall.

[Cornellrob]

On West campus there was Johnny’s hot truck. Johnny’s only (or at least used to) sells french bread pizzas. Learning the acronyms for the many varieties of pizzas was a rite of passage in every student’s four year drinking career. Yes, the rumor is that Stouffers licensed the concept many years ago from Johnny to sell in supermarkets. Johnny has retired after 35+ years and sold the business so it will be interesting to see if the quality is still the same.

I just noticed this thread and thought i would add my 2 cents....

I was at Cornell from '95 through '00, and i don't think I ever heard it referred to as "Johnny's Hot Truck". People just say "Hot Truck" - like "hey, let's get some Hot truck" or "hey, let's get some Truck."

Also, FYI, the person who retired after 35+ years was Bob Petrillose, which was Johnny's son. Bob is a truly great guy, and it's only because of his dedication to truck, as well as to serving some truly delicious food, that he was probalby able to work in an environment serving drunken idiots all night long.

I am a huge fan of Hot Truck, having easily eaten there over 300 times during my stay at Cornell (probably more than that actually). After Bob sold the Truck to the Shortstop Deli, there was a noticeable decline in the quality and care that went into preparing each sub. For example, the meatballs and link sausages, which use to be a delicious homemade concoction by Bob's wife, is now mass produced in the kitchen of the shortstop deli.

That being said, Hot Truck is still a worthy diversion to anyone visiting ithaca or the surrounding area. The unique combination of ingredients will certainly add up to a great eating experience.

I higly recommend getting "HSC Soprano, BBQ, G&G, Cut" which translates to a Hot Link Sausage Sub w/ 1 meatball, topped with Crushed BBQ Potato Chips, with Lettuce and Mayo -- the sandwich is then cut in half.

[tofino]

Haven't been back to Rochester since 2001, so not sure how my old favorite haunts are still doing - but here we go:

As per an earlier writer -

2 Vine was good , however service was of the rapid fire style or non-existent.

Boom - enjoyed rack of kangaroo there a few years ago - still talking about it

Richmonds - not really good food usually - however used to do Sunday night BBQ with some travelling BBQ guy - great food - great prices

54 Park(?) - not sure of the actual number but it is on Park - neat atmosphere - great food

Tavern26 - In the Inn on Broadway - fabulous sandwiches, and burgers for lunch, great atmosphere

Dinosaurs (Rochester) - yes agree with everyone above about decent food, long waits etc - but hey - thats why we go - nothing like a 2 hour wait in the parking lot watching all the Harleys come in and out drinking watery draft!

[whim-see]

Try the little place just outside St Johnsville if you want atmosphere. Right on the river even.

Does anyone know the name of the restaurant in the quote?

[GordonCooks]

Haven't been back to Rochester since 2001, so not sure how my old favorite haunts are still doing - but here we go:

As per an earlier writer -

2 Vine was good , however service was of the rapid fire style or non-existent.

Boom - enjoyed rack of kangaroo there a few years ago - still talking about it

Richmonds - not really good food usually - however used to do Sunday night BBQ with some travelling BBQ guy - great food - great prices

54 Park(?) - not sure of the actual number but it is on Park - neat atmosphere - great food

Tavern26 - In the Inn on Broadway - fabulous sandwiches, and burgers for lunch, great atmosphere

Dinosaurs (Rochester) - yes agree with everyone above about decent food, long waits etc - but hey - thats why we go - nothing like a 2 hour wait in the parking lot watching all the Harleys come in and out drinking watery draft!

2Vine still had great food but the same service issues. The penalty paid by being a scene place.

Boom is no longer and has been replaced by Dish. Similiar place with lower menu prices..more of a casual bistro feel. Still a top ten in Roch-cha-cha

Richmonds is still doing 'Uncle Ralph's Steak Out" and decent burgers and wings.

Park54 is no longer as well. A victim of the area's expansion into fine dining. Park54 was probably my favorite restaurant. The food was always fantastic, the owner was a great host, and I made many friends whom I still am very close with. Probably the only place you could go to by yourself and always know you'd run into someone you knew.

Dinosaur's food is not as good as it used to be but you can still find the watery drafts, drunken 40 something divorcees, and blues.

[rokinrev]

I just got back from a family funeral on the Cape, and on the way out stopped in Albany at my favorite Dragon Bufett on Central...and ran smack into their fourth anniversary...and an expanded menu of even greater proprtions than I remember!

http://www.dragonbuffet.net/

This place has "the usual" but also really hand rolled (not hand thawed) sushi, Mongolian BBQ, Hong Kong Noodle Bowls and Congees of all kinds. It also has agar based (jello is animal based, agar based geletin is plant) desserts like the ABC we had at our place that night phaelon.

Worth getting off 90 and heading a bit north then towards Schenectady on 5, across from KMart

[rokinrev]

Owen- If you are around for dinner on June 9th that would be very cool and Eva's it is. Are there any other Syracuse egulleters?

re:Ithaca

Gimme Coffee! is on my must go to list. That and Johnny's Hot Truck.

I am not sad to hear that Auberge du Cochon Rouge closed. It was home to several first dates and no second dates. Now I can re-write history and blame the restaurant.

Anyone going up to the Cornell Reunion?

Are there any other Syracuse egulleters?

Depends...you buyin? As a almost unemployed minister I don't THINK I'll be available as we are getting ready to head towards Chicago for a conference, but yes, there are other syracuse e-gulleters!

[Truffle]

Anyone fortunate to have spent time at Stone Barns Center, or to have enjoyed Blue Hill at the Center?

[LittleWing]

In Olean: Southern Kitchen for the most amazing peach cobbler or fried chicken.  Actually, it's all good!  The owner/chef is a retired social worker who was raised in Georgia. 

anyone know of anything else in the Southern Tier? I grew up outside Buffalo (now live in washington DC) and am coming back to Rushford, NY for a quick vacation at my family's cabin. Not much food around there (about 45 minutes northeast of olean). Is there anywhere anyone knows of within about an hour or so from there?

Edited August 17, 2004 by LittleWing (log)

[Susan G]

My mother's people are from Franklinville: You're right - -one has to travel for food not limp from frying!

The Maple Haven Restaurant (103 North Main Street/ Hwy 16/ Franklinville) does an excellent breakfast: The maple syrup on the table for the blueberry pancakes or the french toast is the real stuff! The local volunteer firefighters and State Troopers hang out there. 'Nuff said.

Attard's restaurant in Olean (186 North Union Street, (716) 373-7736), is a family-run Syrian place that also does steaks and hamburgers - - but their glory is in the ethnic dishes. I long for their lamb, rice and mint stuffed grapeleaves! I think grandma makes the pita. It's oh so good.

To the North, Schwabl's in West Seneca makes a beef on kimmelwick worth travelling for - -and the horseradish in pots on the tables will make your hair curl. I'm getting tears in my eyes just thinking about it! (789 Center Road/ (716) 674-9821.)

The Friday night fish-frys are ubiquitous in the Southern Tier; both the Chaffee Hotel and the Yorkshire Hotel (both on Hwy 16) have good reputations.

To the South, Alfred (South of I-86) has two colleges, and an ever-changing array of ethnic restaurants to accomodate the out-of-Staters.........

Check the billboards outside the local VFD's..........the chicken BBqs there are worth stopping for.

[SKS]

If anyone is in Buffalo I recommend a place called Sunami for some of the most innovative Japanese food that I have ever had and I live in NYC. I was there about a month ago and was completly blown away, I couldn't beleive it.

[docsconz]

If anyone is in Buffalo I recommend a place called Sunami for some of the most innovative Japanese food that I have ever had and I live in NYC. I was there about a month ago and was completly blown away, I couldn't beleive it.

SKS, Welcome to eGullet! Tell us more about Sunami. What made it so innovative? What blew you away?

[LittleWing]

If anyone is in Buffalo I recommend a place called Sunami for some of the most innovative Japanese food that I have ever had and I live in NYC. I was there about a month ago and was completly blown away, I couldn't beleive it.

i've been to Tsunami a few times and its pretty good. Definitely the best restaurant in Buffalo but I've had better elsewhere (now live in DC). Its Asian Fusion, with an emphasis on fish (from when I was last there, at least, which I admit was a year or two ago.) It was inventive and very very tasty. Buffalo has never seen anything like it.. But if you ever get to DC, try TenPenh or Asia Nora and you'll find similar style, but much more consistent and much better results.

Edited August 17, 2004 by LittleWing (log)

[coquus]

In Olean: Southern Kitchen for the most amazing peach cobbler or fried chicken.  Actually, it's all good!  The owner/chef is a retired social worker who was raised in Georgia. 

anyone know of anything else in the Southern Tier? I grew up outside Buffalo (now live in washington DC) and am coming back to Rushford, NY for a quick vacation at my family's cabin. Not much food around there (about 45 minutes northeast of olean). Is there anywhere anyone knows of within about an hour or so from there?

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It's called No Match Southern Cooking, and I believe Ola Mae is from northern Florida. She had a cooking show on the local cable access for a bit, she's a really nice lady, and there isn't anything bad on the menu, but I go for the slow cooked stuff, beans, ribs, collards etc. One of a kind in subs, wings and pizza upstate. Tasta Pizza has decent subs and pizza next door down, but they bake their wings so get bar-b-que sauce.

Red-n-Trudy's in Portville for awesome loose meat burgers.

Sorry I'm a little late, but around Rushford, my people swear by the Bistro in Cuba, used to be at the four corners, but is now down the block, for, you guessed it, Bistro fare.

Johnny's Lunch in Jamestown has great texas hots and burgers.

RosaLee's in Skaneatles is pretty awesome.

Seoul Garden in Rochester (Korean).

Pleasant Valley Farms in Pulaski? has all you can eat turkey buffet throughout the year.

The Stone Cat north of Watkins Glen is a seasonal place that I've been longing to try.

I'll second Schwabl's in Buffalo.

Brook's Bar-B-Que in Oneonta.

Also, I'll do a good job, but you'll have to find that out yourself.

[coquus]

There should be a thread for celeb-n-big city chefs from upstate, like Alfred Portale (Buffalo) and Tom Valenti (Ithaca).

[menton1]

There should be a thread for celeb-n-big city chefs from upstate, like Alfred Portale (Buffalo) and Tom Valenti (Ithaca).

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This is really a Manhattan Forum, coquus; but there were rumblings several months ago about a new forum for a separate food discussion forum OUTSIDE of Manhattan-- hopefully that will come to fruition. Until then, non-Manhattan topics will pretty much get short shrift.

[coquus]

There should be a thread for celeb-n-big city chefs from upstate, like Alfred Portale (Buffalo) and Tom Valenti (Ithaca).

←

This is really a Manhattan Forum, coquus; but there were rumblings several months ago about a new forum for a separate food discussion forum OUTSIDE of Manhattan-- hopefully that will come to fruition. Until then, non-Manhattan topics will pretty much get short shrift.

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Word, word. Just came across this oldie in search for anything Delmonico's. Apparently have to refine said search. I personally don't think upstate deserves it's own thread yet, there are so few bastions and so many bastardizations of fine dining up here. I wasn't even expecting someone to explain this for me. Gotta go, the burgers need flipping.

[menton1]

Word, word.  Just came across this oldie in search for anything Delmonico's.  Apparently have to refine said search.  I personally don't think upstate deserves it's own thread yet, there are so few bastions and so many bastardizations of fine dining up here.  I wasn't even expecting someone to explain this for me.  Gotta go, the burgers need flipping.

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Well, just in Westchester County there are 1 million people and several hundred restaurants, many of them quite noteworthy. Rarely a whisper of them here.

[GordonCooks]

There should be a thread for celeb-n-big city chefs from upstate, like Alfred Portale (Buffalo) and Tom Valenti (Ithaca).

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Gary Danko is from Massena, Rick Tramonto is from Rochester, Mark Millitello is from Buffalo, and a few others I'm forgetting.......

[coquus]

Yeah, but alas, Weschester is an island unto itself (neither upstate, nor Manhattan), perhaps it would belong with the Jersey thread. I guess I was a bit self depricating, there are really some nice restaurants in upstate, and there is alot of history here. For example, I'm told the meeting of all the family heads from the Godfather took place in a Niagara Falls restaurant, not sure the name.

GordonCooks, also great stuff. I do beleive that the Bread Alone guy, Daniel Leader is from Buffalo as well. Also, the surly Adam from Northern Exposure spent some teaching time in a cooking school in Buffalo , perhaps he picked up a few things here.

[dscott]

[docsconz]

There should be a thread for celeb-n-big city chefs from upstate, like Alfred Portale (Buffalo) and Tom Valenti (Ithaca).

←

This is really a Manhattan Forum, coquus; but there were rumblings several months ago about a new forum for a separate food discussion forum OUTSIDE of Manhattan-- hopefully that will come to fruition. Until then, non-Manhattan topics will pretty much get short shrift.

←

I take great exception to this statement. If this were strictly a Manhatten Forum it would be labeled as such. It is certainly difficult for anyplace outside of NYC to compete just because the rest of the state is so large and much less concentrated. That certainly does not mean that there aren't things of tremendous value to discuss. By all means non-NYC NYS discussions are certainly encouraged. I, for one, particularly encourage topics about outstanding farmers and producers from around the state. Unfortunately my knowledge and exposure is limited to the eastern third of the state and I don't really wish to be saying the same thing over and over again.