Upstate New York Dining ?

[coquus]

Do you rec either of these places, Maxie's always seems to me to be fronting on fine dining with the oysters, do they really have anything else on the menu worth a visit. The Heigths, I haven't heard enough good to make the pilgrimage.

[phaelon56]

I didn't know they did dinners at the Heights. My GF went to some sort of Cornell sponsored lunchenon there a year or two ago and said it was good but she didn't rave about it.

Maxie's - at least when I've gone - has always been fairly good with decent gumbo, jambalaya etc.. But it's not the kind of place where I have a burning desire to revisit and try a number of other tiems ont he menu. It's more like a reliable moderately priced place that I'll visit when I want that specific type of food.

And I have been meaning to try ZaZa's Cucina but I'm waiting for the right occasion. I did revisit Dijon Bistro again about three weeks ago and was more than a bit pleased. The food was excellent and service good.

[coquus]

phaelon56, I love the new pic , I think I understand the number in your name now. And that's the impression I had about Maxie's. I used to grab a drink at their bar once in a while, that's about it. I think that Dijon is definately going to be on my list next trip

[coquus]

Zaza's best entree's are probably their homemade pastas, rav, lasagna, their food was pretty standard Italian last time I was there. And don't get the shrimp unless you like to get dirty in front of your woman.

[coquus]

*they don't do their own odd shaped pasta, stick to spaghetti or linguini.

[phaelon56]

Zaza's best entree's are probably their homemade pastas, rav, lasagna, their food was pretty standard Italian last time I was there.

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Standard Italian fare is easy enough to get here in Syracuse - not to mention that I make a darn good lasagna at home. Thanks for the tip.

And don't get the shrimp unless you like to get dirty in front of your woman.

I think we'll both order the shrimp

phaelon56, I love the new pic  , I think I understand the number in your name now.

You do indeed. The mystery is revealed (the number part at least - the rest of it is not).

[adegiulio]

I think that Dijon is definately going to be on my list next trip

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Just make sure you don't ask for less dressing on your salad OR get sick on the mussels. They won't let you back...

[phaelon56]

Just make sure you don't ask for less dressing on your salad OR get sick on the mussels. They won't let you back...

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I don't understand these comments - have reviewed earlier posts in this thread and don't see any context that explains it - can you clarify?

Coquus said:

Do you rec either of these places, Maxie's always seems to me to be fronting on fine dining with the oysters, do they really have anything else on the menu worth a visit. The Heights, I haven't heard enough good to make the pilgrimage.

I made the trip down yesterday evening to have dinner with my GF - she usally just comes up here to Syracuse on weekends. We tried Dijon Bistro as wlk-ins at about 6:30 PM and were informed that they were fully booked for the night I'll know to call in advance for reservations next time. I guess they're doing well - being fully booked on a weeknight with no special events in town is a good problem to have for a restaurateur.

My GF has eaten lunch at the Heights on several occasions but always on Cornell's dime when her boss was entertaining prospective Phd candidates who were visiting. We popped up there to check the menu but ouch! Appetizers were in the $12 to $17 range and entrees were mostly $28 to $38. I can handlel that for a special occasion meal but not for a quick weekday "let's pop out for a casual dinner" evening.

We settled on Maxie's and now I know why there's not much buzz. Apart form her shrimp and cheese grits with Andouilel sausage - which had so-so shrimp but spectacularly good grits - the food was mediocre at best.

She started with a New Orleans style BBQ shrimp appetizer. It consisted of about 8 to 10 small shell-off shrimp (not salad shrimp size but they were way smaller than the shrimp one normally gets in a decent restaurant. It was served with two pieces of lightly toasted baguette and a pool of weird BBQ sauce that tased like.... no kind of BBQ I've ever had (she was equally unimpressed). I began with a bowl of crab and corn chowder. It was light on crab and corn and especially light on flavor - actually downright bland. Some black pepper and a healthy dose of Tabasco chipotle pepepr sauce kicked it up enough to be edible but it was very disappointing.

Worst of all was what I chose for a main course. Rather than an entree I had the crabcake appetizer and an order of fried green tomatoes. Both were overcooked in deep fryer oil that was desparately in need of being replaced and both dishes were also served with a rather healthy coating of visible oil on the surface. No more Maxie's for me unless I hear reports that they've gotten these food issues straightened out.

Service - I'm happy to report - was efficient, friendly and professional - absolutely no issues there. But I'll always take great food and mediocre service over the inverse.

[coquus]

Service - I'm happy to report - was efficient, friendly and professional - absolutely no issues there. But I'll always take great food and mediocre service over the inverse.

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Hear, Hear!

[adegiulio]

Just make sure you don't ask for less dressing on your salad OR get sick on the mussels. They won't let you back...

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I don't understand these comments - have reviewed earlier posts in this thread and don't see any context that explains it - can you clarify?

Dijon is the Upstate NY incarnation of a New Jersey restaurant named Epernay. After requesting less dressing on my salad (repeatedly) and calling to inform them that we got sick on their mussells (so they would know to save the tag), they told us that they didn't want our business anymore. This was after we sang their praises on eG for months.

I guess that's why people answer the question "how was everything tonight" with "fine"

There is a nice long thread somewhere. "Chef" is a hack anyway. We enjoyed the idea of a nice french bistro more than we actually enjoyed the experience of going there. I always hoped they would achieve that simple nirvana that is bistro food. Unfortunately, it never happened...

[santo_grace]

Hi, I'm going home to visit family in Fulton in a couple of weeks. (Yes, I grew up there, and I'm not a mutant, which I believe someone on egullet called us Fultonians once. I'm not too offended though, since on one of my recent visits, after a trip to a local store in town, I asked my mother "does anyone in this town have teeth?" Poor Fulton, it's been tough times since Miller's Brewing and Nestles left.)

Anyhow, back to food...My mother mentioned going to a restaurant that is opening up soon or maybe just opened. She said it is south of Skaneatelas (maybe about 10 miles) and she heard it has a local, organic focus. Does this sound familiar to anyone?

I'm also hoping to get to Hawley Green Bistro in Syracuse. I think that is opening up soon or recently opened. I will post back about any dining experiences.

Also, no trip home to Fulton during the summer can be without a visit to the Loop (aka Rudy's) in Oswego. Good times.

[MelissaH]

Also, no trip home to Fulton during the summer can be without a visit to the Loop (aka Rudy's) in Oswego.  Good times.

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And Bev's for dessert afterwards?

Depending on when/how long you're here for, don't forget the Oswego farmer's market on Thursday evenings starting at 5, and Fulton's on Saturday morning. The strawberries will probably be over, but you may be here for the cherries. And we get sour cherries here! And also, plenty of u-pick berries in the area, probably getting close to blueberry season by then. (The strawberries have been supreme this year.)

MelissaH

[santo_grace]

Also, no trip home to Fulton during the summer can be without a visit to the Loop (aka Rudy's) in Oswego.  Good times.

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And Bev's for dessert afterwards?

Depending on when/how long you're here for, don't forget the Oswego farmer's market on Thursday evenings starting at 5, and Fulton's on Saturday morning. The strawberries will probably be over, but you may be here for the cherries. And we get sour cherries here! And also, plenty of u-pick berries in the area, probably getting close to blueberry season by then. (The strawberries have been supreme this year.)

MelissaH

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Ha! I could be easily convinced to go to Bev's. As kids if we didn't go to Bev's then we begged for Friendly's on the way home.

I will miss the Thursday market in Oswego, but may end up at the Saturday one in Fulton. I know my mother goes to one or the other during the week depending on her schedule. We may try to go to the regional market in Syracuse on Saturday. My mother doesn't usually go on Saturday's since it is much more crowded than during the week, and she has MS which makes parking far away hard for her.

[phaelon56]

My mother mentioned going to a restaurant that is opening up soon or maybe just opened.  She said it is south of Skaneatles (maybe about 10 miles) and she heard it has a local, organic focus.  Does this sound familiar to anyone?

I wonder if she's thinking of Elderberry Pond? It's actually about 3 or 4 miles south of Auburn which makes it pretty far north of Skaneatles. I've been there to dinner and although the grounds were truly lovely and the room very nice I was slightly underwhelmed. There were fewer organic products on the menu than I thought there would be and precious few of those from their own farm. In their defense... it was autumn and the fingerling potatoes that accompanied my buddy's dinner were insanely delicious. The menu was not especially creative, a tad high on prices relative to the market and what was being served and the service... was well meaning but somewhat amateurish and painfully slow. I've only been that one time and I will go back in nice weather to enjoy the grounds before and after dinner but it's not a place I'd seek out regularly.

But there is a new French bistro - as of about 3 to 4 months ago - that opened a few miles north of Skaneatles. It's called Joelle's Bistro and if I recall correctly they are trying to use local organic/sustainable sourcing when possible.

I'm also hoping to get to Hawley Green Bistro in Syracuse.  I think that is opening up soon or recently opened.  I will post back about any dining experiences.

Hawley-Green Bistro opening was delayed a week due to late arrival of new kitchen equipment. It's slated to open next Monday July 9th and I'll report back here after my first visit. And try to plan for a visit to La Cena in Fayetteville. They weren't doing the hoped for volume with their original menu of Moroccan, Spanish, North African and Mediterranean inspired food so they have revamped and now have a Mexican, Latin American and Caribbean focus. Excellent food, very good service and one of the coolest dining spaces (aesthetically speaking) that I've ever been in.

[philadining]

Made a return visit to Dano's Heuriger on Seneca Lake this past weekend (original visit described here>>) and I'm happy to say that it was an excellent experience again.

It seems a tiny bit odd to pay for a basket of bread, but it's so good, and varied, that I don't really mind.

For slathering on that bread, three spreads: liptauer, pumpinkseed oil, tapanade. The first two are cheese-based, with interesting spicing. Their tapanade is basically just chopped olives, a little more minimal than I'm used to, but still good, especially on the olive bread.

We couldn't resist the beet salad with horseradish.

Also, a tomato, cucumber and feta salad, and a celery root salad. All are very straight-ahead, simple preparations employing only a few ingredients, but the raw materials are very good, and are tweaked just the right way.

The "Heuriger Eggplant" was outrageously good. Served cold, it projected amazingly intense flavors of both the eggplant and tomato, one of the freshest, most summery-tasting things I've had in years. It's a little early for good local tomatoes, so I'm not sure what kind of sorcery he's doing in the kitchen, or sourcing he's doing from purveyors. There's a lovely small garden directly out the back door of the kitchen, but I didn't see any tomatoes...

A special of Goulash featured shreds and chunks of pork, cooked with sauerkraut in an intense paprika sauce. I haven't had a goulash quite like this before, but I hope to have some more soon! We were wiping the plate with bread to capture every drop of the sauce, which was great on its own, and even better combined with the sour cream.

A simple poached salmon was clean and refreshing, served cold with a light remoulade, a great summer dish.

The knockwurst was a bit more hearty, and especially delicious with the spicy homemade riesling mustard.

The "daily mash" was basic mashed potatoes, and they really might have been the absolute perfect version of this dish. Really, like the Platonic Ideal of potatoes.

To drink? Of course a mug of Gruner Veltliner, but for the beer drinkers, they also offer a few good brews, including a really nice Double Bock from just up the road.

We didn't really have room for dessert, but for the sake of completion, we tried a couple.

The Fruit Patch was a rich cake studded with seasonal berries, doused in vanilla sauce.

Linzer Torte was a classic version, maybe a touch on the austere side, but I suspect that's a stylistic choice rather than a baking error.

All in all a terrific meal. All the food was delicious, the service was very friendly and helpful, letting us improvise the final order throughout a somewhat extended lunch. Dano himself came out a few times and toured the dining room, asking how everything was. It's a lovely space, with a great view of the lake. They say they get very busy on summer weekends, but there were always a few tables open while we were there on a sunday afternoon. So it's not a bad idea to make a reservation, but if you didn't, it's probably worth stopping anyway, they can probably fit you in.

www.danosonseneca.com

Edited July 10, 2007 by philadining (log)

[rlibkind]

Yummy, Phil. I'll be at Dano's Friday evening after stopping across the lake to stock on some Wiemer's. Saturday morning will be time for a revisit to the Ithaca Farmers' Market where some Bergeré bleu from Northland Sheep Dairy has my name on it.

[philadining]

If I'd had time for the farmer's market, we would have had oddly similar visits: I did some stocking up at Wiemer right after lunch. Now if we could just get someone to run a ferry service across the middle of Seneca Lake, we'd really be set! Or I just need to get that amphibious car I've ben dreaming of...

[phaelon56]

Saturday morning will be time for a revisit to the Ithaca Farmers' Market where some Bergeré bleu from Northland Sheep Dairy has my name on it.

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You might also check out the other cheesemaker at the market (whose name escapes me). They have cow's milk cheeses and one in particular has long been one of my favorites. It's called "Cheddar Blue" and is really quite unlike conventional blue or cheddar cheeses. The veins of blue are very thin and subtle, the color is a pale golden yellow and the texture is somewhere in between a hard Italian grating cheese and a 4X cheddar cheese.

[santo_grace]

Hi,  I'm going home to visit family in Fulton in a couple of weeks.  (Yes, I grew up there, and I'm not a mutant, which I believe someone on egullet called us Fultonians once.  I'm not too offended though, since on one of my recent visits, after a trip to a local store in town, I asked my mother "does anyone in this town have teeth?"  Poor Fulton, it's been tough times since Miller's Brewing and Nestles left.) 

Anyhow, back to food...My mother mentioned going to a restaurant that is opening up soon or maybe just opened.  She said it is south of Skaneatelas (maybe about 10 miles) and she heard it has a local, organic focus.  Does this sound familiar to anyone? 

I'm also hoping to get to Hawley Green Bistro in Syracuse.  I think that is opening up soon or recently opened.  I will post back about any dining experiences. 

Also, no trip home to Fulton during the summer can be without a visit to the Loop (aka Rudy's) in Oswego.  Good times.

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Well, now that I'm back from my weekend visit to Fulton, I can answer my own question. The place that my mother was talking about it is called Niles Gourmet Country Market. The address says it is Moravia, but I don't think we near the town. It's 4588 Grange Hall Rd (phone: 315-784-5015), which was southwest of Skaneateles. If you stand on their covered deck, you can see a sliver of Skaneateles Lake. My mother heard of the place in Bob Niedt's column Store Front in the Post Standard.

We went this past Saturday, first to Skaneateles (got a donut and a macaroon at the bakery in town), then onto the NGCM. We called for directions, which we good, along with help from hand-written signs posted along the way. It's a store/market along with a tiny restaurant. Most of the tables are outside (4) and a few inside also. We wandered around the store looking at the products, a lot can be found here - pastas, beers, cheeses, buffalo meat (from Semprionus, NY), pork, chicken, oils, sauces, and on and on. There are a lot of products that I'm sure people on this site will recognize. The focus of the food they are serving is organic, but the products are not all organic or local. At first , this struck me as odd, having an organic (in some cases vegan) approach to the restaurant food, but selling foods that weren't organic and not focusing on local vendors either. As I think about it though, it is probably a means to survive. This place really is not near anything else, so you need to have the diversity.

The market is owned by Eric and Sandie Decker, and Sandie does all the cooking. And she certainly cooks a lot. We were more than welcome to wander into her kitchen. When we first walked in we read the menu off a couple of hand-written whiteboards, so it was a lot easier to decide what we wanted once we saw the finished products on her table. It is mostly stews, quiches and raviolis. Big raviolis. All kinds (squash, lobster, asparagus, etc.). The price is per ravioli and average $6-7 each. They are served in either a brown butter sauce or pesto sauce. My mother had the lobster ravioli in brown butter sauce and I had the fiddleheard fern (I opted for a little of both sauces). Both were delicious. I do wish I had ordered another one though. My mother was fine with her one, but it left me wanting more. Desserts were good also - homemade cookies and a cherry strudel. It wasn't a traditional struedel, but call it what you want, it was tasty. To drink my mother had a nice chai iced tea, and I had a glass of Riesling from King Ferry. I really liked the wine. I also had some coffee, though I can't remember where the beans come from (sorry Phaelon56), which was served in a french press.

We also took home a potato torta and a piece of salmon/leek quiche for dinner. These heated up nicely in the toaster oven.

Both Sandie and Eric are very nice, and willing to answer questions when they have time. They don't have any help yet, so we tried not to distract them too much from their duties. From what Eric said the Post Standard will be returning for a follow up article focusing on the organic side of their business. Eric was very straight forward with us, letting us know they would love it if the store took off vs. the restaurant. That's where the money is. They do know the restaurant is a good draw, which at this point the first article created a lot of business for them, which they weren't necessarily prepared for as far as all the cooking and baking that is required.

If you are in the area check it out.

[docsconz]

The "Heuriger Eggplant" was outrageously good. Served cold, it projected amazingly intense flavors of both the eggplant and tomato, one of the freshest, most summery-tasting things I've had in years. It's a little early for good local tomatoes, so I'm not sure what kind of sorcery he's doing in the kitchen, or sourcing he's doing from purveyors. There's a lovely small garden directly out the back door of the kitchen, but I didn't see any tomatoes...

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I've had some very good Farmers Market tomatoes so far this season. The produce appears to be particularly good this summer so far.

BTW, Beautiful report, as usual.

[phaelon56]

Now if we could just get someone to run a ferry service across the middle of Seneca Lake, we'd really be set!  Or I just need to get that amphibious car I've ben dreaming of...

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Not so far fetched....

Cayuga-Seneca Lake Ferry Boat Initiative

[Ciao Ling]

Another great restaurant overlooking Seneca Lake is Suzanne's. My wife and I had a terrific meal there last year and I recently recommended it to a fellow Rochesterian who is a New York restaurantophile. He was thoroughly enchanted by both the food, gracious service, and view.

http://www.suzannefrc.com/

[GordonCooks]

Has anyone been to Rosalie's Cucina lately? Always a good hearty meal in the past.

[Pyewacket]

Just in case anyone is interested in places back down the Hudson River----

We moved to Cold Spring a few years ago and have been checking out the (limited) restaurant choices in the area.

Le Bouchon (which everyone seems to rave about) has proven to be nothing but a totally frustrating experience. We have attemped on about 6 occasions to dine there only to be met with arbitrary opening times, mysteriously cancelled reservations, rude behavior from hosts and service personnel, indifferent service style and rather ordinary french cooking. We have given up and choose not to attempt it again. They instigated a spitting match with another local restaurant owner in our local paper which only made them appear worse and they use as an excuse to this day for any criticism of their lack of hospitality and professionalism.

One restaurant not mentioned is the Riverview-everytime we go there our food and service has been excellent. The views of Storm King and Crows Nest Mtns are spectacular. The seafood is always fresh, oceany and delicious. They have a peanut soup with harissa that is great on a cold day (though there is really no entree that would accompany this soup very well.) The menu rotates frequently yet the regular offerings are consistently top notch. I've never had anything like a bad experience there.

Catharines' Tuscan Grill has been good, but inconsistent in both food and service.

For Mexican, try Casa Maya on Rt. 9 just south of I-84. They moved from a small hole in the wall in a delapidated strip mall further south. Don't order from the standard menu as it's all ordinary Tex Mex stuff with refried beans & rice. Instead, order from the specials menu where to cooks really show off their skills and the surprising combinations of foods from their home regions. The pozole is wonderful and the seafood offerings are fresh with zingy flavor treatments. I can't remember specific dishes, but they are always pleasantly surprising.

[rlibkind]

<a href="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1185499387/gallery_7493_1768_359527.jpg"><img'>http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1185499387/gallery_7493_1768_359527.jpg"><img style="margin: 0pt 0pt 10px 10px; float: right; cursor: pointer;" src="http://forums.egullet.org/uploads/1185499387/gallery_7493_1768_359527.jpg" alt="Cold Tomato Soup" border="0"/></a>Here's a delayed report on my recent visit (July 13) to Dano's on Seneca, complementing rather than duplicating, I hope, Philadining's wonderful reports and photos. (The next morning we visited the Ithaca Farmers' Market; you can find my report here.)

Dano's Heuriger approach emphasizes simple foods, cooked perfectly. Nothing fancy or ornate, just good, hearty, stick-to-the-ribs fare perfect for casual dining. Heck, even the house wine is served in a mug (glass mug, to be sure). As conceived by Dano, it's the Vienese equivalent to an Italian red gravy establishment serving homemade fare and wine in glasses.

She Who Must Be Obeyed was tired after a day's ride and a quick Hermann J. Wiemer winery stop (where we purchased two cases of various rieslings, plus a couple of extra bottles of Pinot Noir rosé), so for our early supper she limited her order to the cold tomato soup, three scopes of spreads (sun-dried tomato/garlick, pumpkin seed, and green olive tapenade) and sharing the bread basket. The soup was perfect for a mildly warm, sunny summer afternoon, and while all three spreads were delicious the unique pumpkin seed variety stood out.

I started with the herring salad. I was expecting herring finely chopped with apples, potatoes, beets, etc. Instead, I enjoyed chunks of herring mixed with potatoes, onions and seasonings mixed with homemade mayonnaise atop some leaf lettuce.

Since I wanted to taste everything, but had neither the stomach capacity nor wallet to support such a desire, I went for the jokingly-named "Bento Box". In it I found a farmers' sausage served the the riesling mustard Philadining so adored, a small pork shank (I didn't know they came that small!), red cabbage, spaetzle, liptauer spread, potato salad, cabbage salad, and cucumber salad.

As much as the jokey-named "Bento Box" brought a smile to my face, so did its contents. The sausage was suitably porky and pleasantly seasoned, not overly spiced. The shank's meat melted in the mouth; a lot of care went into its cooking. The spaetzle and salads were perfect accompaniments.

The liptauer spread is noted on the menu as "Austrian house specialty". And special it is. Dano said it's a combination of cream cheese and feta with seasonings, primarily paprika. Indeed. Lots of sweet paprika, perhaps just a bit of hot paprika. A neighbor who hails from Budapest told me that recipe sounded right: her family made it with Quark (a very thick fresh cheese not dissimilar to cream cheese, but a bit more akin to a thick yogurt cheese or fromage blanc) mixed with a soft sheep cheese, with lots of paprika and some onion. I'm going to try to duplicate this at home, because the liptauer spread is a great taste. I think the secret is paprika that hasn't sat on the shelf too long.

After a long, tiring day driving and hauling cases of wine, we were in a hurry to get back to our motel room, but I couldn't pass up ordering dessert to go: kugelhopf. The staff packaged the rich cake with separate containers of freshly whipped sweetened cream and the freshly made sour cherry sauce. My only regret upon consuming it later that night was the unavailability of some good Viennese coffee!

Should you find yourself anywhere within shooting distance of the Finger Lakes from spring to fall, make a point of visiting Dano's on Seneca. So long as you aren't expecting knock-your-socks-off cutting-edge cuisine, but are looking forward to a highly satisfying, personal, well-prepared, relaxing meal, you will not be disappointed.

Herring salad

'Bento box'