RED NEWT RE-INVENTED

All talk of dowsing, lay lines, and other pseudo-geological hocus-pocus aside, lay of the land can affect the very core of our beings, or, at the very least, our moods. Driving west from Trumansburg across Searsburg Road, it’s difficult not to feel a sense of relaxation and a kind of elation when, coming over the rise, Seneca Lake and its broad valley and crazy-quilt of vineyards spread out before us.  For me, it imparts a near-giddy feeling that world-weariness has been lifted, and that all’s about to be very, very well.

And it was with that sense of relief and coming pleasure that we approached the recently revised Red Newt Winery and Bistro with dinner on our minds. The folks at Red Newt re-opened their newly reconfigured dining facilities on May 1, survived the crush of local college and university commencements, and, say the waitstaff, emerged with their own senses of relief – everything still works, perhaps better than ever.  The winery and bistro have been through some changes in the past few years, and, we’re happy to say that they’ve come through adeptly, classily, beautifully, deliciously. 

We chose to dine in the re-configured tasting room, its bank of high and low tables facing through a wall of windows over the deck, with its recent pergola addition and rustic picnic tables. The Bistro, which has also been changed a bit, has given up its linen napery in favor of a more relaxed presentation. If you time it right on a Friday or Saturday evening, you may be witness to one of those spectacular Seneca Lake sunsets.

In the tasting room, as in the Bistro, there’s a set menu, and a few specials.  For wine trail visitors who need sustenance to maintain their equilibrium as they ramble (stagger, perhaps) from tasting room to tasting room along the wine trail, there are plates of cheeses, cured and prepared meats, or spreads (sun-dried tomato and olive tapenade, spicy cheddar cheese spread, and garbanzo sesame spread), as well as small plates of olives, pickled vegetables, or rich Marcona almonds.  But we were hankering for a substantial meal and were pleased with what we found.

A good-sized bowl of tomato soup was rich, creamy, hot, and spicy, perfect for that cool evening. The grilled cheese sandwich du jour, on the house’s substantial bread, was stuffed with local cheddar and crunchy asparagus spears, and was a perfect reminder of juicy fresh asparagus’ fleeting availability in relief from its year-round woody supermarket cousin.  The roasted garlic gnocchi was pure comfort food, its sauce of roasted garlic and cream napping fennel, kale, and chunks of sausage. The special of the day was a hearty slab of bacon-wrapped roasted pork loin served on a bed of barely sautéed greens, among them kale and celery-like lovage lightly kissed by an agrodolce dressing.  As ever, the focus is on local and fresh, same as it’s been since the winery’s inception (can it be?) twenty years ago. All this, along with a glass of Riesling and one of Gruner Veltliner, came to a rip-roaring $54.

Among the changes at Red Newt is the rotation of personnel.  Dave Whiting, occasionally spelled by his son, Brenton, has donned the toque, creating a limited but imaginative menu.  The wines are as topflight as ever, though he has ceded most of the winemaking duties to up-and-coming winemaker Kelby Russell, with a couple of new releases out on the Kelby James Russell imprimateur.

We left happily sated, snagging a case of their Circle Riesling on the way out.  Circle Riesling is our new favorite, less austere than many bone-dry Rieslings, its residual sugar balanced by a pleasant acidity and all that nice fruitiness that marks Rieslings at their best, great for pairing with spicy Asian cuisine, or for lifting the mood on the back porch after a day’s communion with the computer and the phone.

At Red Newt, the tasting room and the Bistro are open seven days a week, from 11:30am to 6:00pm, and until 8:00pm on Fridays and Saturdays. Phone 564-4100 for reservations and information.  3675 Tichenor Road, Hector, NY.

Café DeWitt: You'll run into EVERYBODY there!

The Café DeWitt, rounding on its fourth decade, started life as a coffee shop tucked into a hallway -- one wag called it the “plus-chic bomb shelter in town” -- in a trend-setting re-purposed school building in downtown Ithaca.

In the beginning, café owners Sigrid Pauen and a friend baked their own bread, sewed the table cloths, and gave birth to the curried tuna sandwich. The fact that the Café has grown and thrived,  still in that hallway,  is testimony to Pauen and co-owner Josh Eckenrode, a young chef who, while not classically trained, grew up cooking with his family, and has studied in depth on his own.  Both focus on creating brilliant stuff from local meats and produce.  Both are longtime community members, products of Cornell University, she in German literature, he in business management.

Between the two of them, and with the addition of pastry chef Barbara Brazill, “meat expert” Brent Perkins, salad-and-soup-pro Amy Pennington, and a crew of dedicated  waitstaff, the place clicks merrily along, producing and serving favorites like their rich and famous onion soup, its onions caramelized for hours to rich sweetness, obviating the need for meat stock, and their famously addictive double-glazed lemon cake.

The place and the food are important, but a good part of the draw is the people.  It’s a breakfast and lunchtime hangout for the local sisterhood of therapists, building residents and shopkeepers. The staff, many of them long-time café employees, can hold up their end of a conversation.  “Everybody here has another life,” said Pauen.  “They’re musicians, photographers, potters, nurses, EMTs, textile artists, filmmakers, librarians, film librarians.”

As like attracts like, the café has hosted arts and sciences notables. Actors John Lithgow and Gabriel Byrne (“The Usual Suspects), New York State Author and Pulitzer Prize winner Alison Lurie, economist Alfred Kahn, literary critic Mike Abrams, and astronomer Carl Sagan have broken bread with colleagues and friends at the café’s tables. 

Their oddest guest of all time, though, was a white-tailed deer that came to visit during a Sunday brunch, crashing through a store window, skittering along the café’s back bench, leaping over the back wall’s battery of fish tanks, and ending up, befuddled and dazed, in the dish room, where veterinarians tranquilized it and sheriff’s deputies removed it to a woodsier setting. While Eckenrode and Pauen pride themselves on the café’s fresh, local meat and produce, this was a bit too fresh for them.  Said Pauen, “Everybody was in shock.”

They have forged alliances with local producers.  “The thing that’s excited me the most is partnering with Autumn’s Harvest,” said Eckenrode, who sources eggs, bacon, ham, and sausages from the Romulus, New York producers. “We’ve started making our own corned beef from their brisket. It’s been a huge hit.” And every Tuesday is burger day at the café using their beef.

Said Pauen, “We’ve gone very far to remain local, with unadulterated ingredients.”  They make their own condiments, chutneys, curry spice mixes, vinaigrettes, and roast their own turkeys. Pauen credits Eckenrode not only with adding considerably to the café’s offerings but also with upgrading the café’s tools, and with taking the restaurant to new levels of presentation.  Even so, the café still has its original espresso machine, nearly 40 years old, and thought to be the first in town. “It’s like a Ferrari,” said Pauen.

On the table, the salads are dazzlingly colorful, the soups legendary, and the basic menu hasn’t changed in years – there’d be a great pulling out of hair and rending of clothes were items like the caprese salad or the curried tuna sandwich to disappear.  But daily specials provide fresh approaches to soups, salads, and omelets, often vegetarian, occasionally nearly vegan, and then they’ll hit you with the Tuesday juicy hamburger special or some of that excellent house-corned beef.  Weekends, however, any pretence of dietary restraint is off, as menu offerings warble a siren call with French toast fashioned from rich brioche and stuffed with raspberries, sour cherries, and ricotta, or pumpkin waffles with spiced apple compote and whipped cream, or their famous huevos rancheros.  And you’re bound to find something laced with chocolate sauce as well.

The group has made the best of the café’s humble locale, whose hallway configuration serves as a kind of people-funnel, particularly in winter, when visitors stroll through the hall, greeting and being greeted by friends in the café, and where sun-deprived singles and duos come to warm up with soup, or with coffee and dessert, and to get their “people fix.” The lighted fishtanks cast a flattering glow, as do hundreds of little Christmas lights suspended from white dowels, holiday décor so beloved by patrons, it was allowed to remain, spanning the seasons. The restaurant subscribes to a flower CSA, so there are always fresh flowers on the tables.

The Café DeWitt is located in the DeWitt Building, 215 N. Cayuga Street (entrance on East Buffalo Street).  Hours are Monday through Saturday 8:30-2:30 and Sundays from 10:00 to 2:00.  It’s breakfast and lunch weekdays, brunch weekends.  For a look at recent and current menus, and day-to-day gastroporn check out their Facebook page

THE GLORY OF BURDETT: BERTA'S

If you’re planning on heading out for a day of winery touring on Seneca Lake, you’d be well advised to fuel up at Berta’s Café in the little village of Burdett, population 340. A relative newcomer on the Finger Lakes dining scene, it is quickly becoming a meeting place for early risers, those who appreciate a hearty breakfast, and folks looking to recharge around the noon hour.

On a recent Sunday, the parking lot was full, the dining room alive with a friendly crowd of after-church celebrants, weekend warriors on vintage Harleys heading for the wineries, local senior citizens, bicyclists “doing” the lakes, and young lovers; as the day warmed, diners headed outdoors to relax in the patio’s mild breezes, enjoying the luxuriant plantings of black-eyed susans and blood-red day lilies. Nearby, halved whisky barrels sent forth abundant sweet potato vines. The pleasure of outdoor dining was underscored by the sounds of Logan Creek, which powered the building’s mill in days of yore.

We were surprised and delighted to find gifted chef Jonah McKeough, formerly co-owner/chef at Hazelnut Kitchen in Trumansburg holding forth at the stove. We knew we’d be in good hands.

At Berta’s, things are informal: you give your order at the counter, help yourself to coffee, or to water from a clear-glass jug, and seat yourself; in short order a pleasant counter-person will bring you your food.

A recent Sunday morning special included a fresh and fluffy spinach omelet, packed with spinach, mushrooms, and cheese, and served with a heaping side of crisp home fries, along with what was called a “butter roll,” tasting like a cross between an English muffin and a brioche.

Buttermilk biscuits and country sausage gravy featured the lightest biscuit ever, topped with sausage gravy that was silky enough to be readily absorbed into the biscuit. It was delicious.

For lunch, substantial homemade corn tortillas, thicker and sweeter than the store-bought kind, wrapped themselves around pulled pork (black bean was the other option) topped with pico de gallo, sliced avocado, and lettuces of the season. A side salad offered the usual lettuce-tomato-cucumber-onion mix topped with sprouted mung beans, adzuki beans, and chickpeas. Who knew you could sprout chickpeas?

We watched enviously as a parade of fluffy-looking blueberry pancakes emerged from the kitchen, and comforted ourselves with a tender, chocolate-y brownie nestling under a walnut crust.

The new owner, a retired physician, has created a bright and airy series of dining areas with lovely woodwork, touches of country décor (our table was one of those red-and-white enameled metal-top jobbies that reminded us of mid-century grannyware), and historic photos of Burdett, including one of what was then the world’s largest earthen railroad viaduct, and a few of the building as a creek-powered mill.

Berta’s is easy to find: coming in from the east on Route 79, take a left onto Main St. at the village’s blinking light and it’s the second property on your right. You’ll know it by its green-umbrella’d patio and charming turn of the (last) century Victorian architecture.

Mill Street behind Berta’s, to Factory Street, and on to Middle Road is a little-traveled path with spectacular Seneca Lake views, which leads to Route 414 on Seneca’s eastern shore. Take a right and you’re at some of the finest Finger Lakes wineries. Take a left, and you’re in bustling Watkins Glen (where, if you’re still hungry, you can stop for a cannoli at Scuteri’s).

Local Autumn Harvest Farm supplies many of the provisions, and, according to the café’s menu, produce and dairy are sourced from local farms when possible.

Berta’s is open Wednesday through Sunday, serving hearty breakfasts from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. and lunch from 11 to 2. It’s a welcome addition to the Village of Burdett, which for many serves only as a through road from Trumansburg and Ithaca to the wineries on Seneca Lake and the Watkins Glen racetrack.

Slow down—it’s definitely worth a stop.

INDUSTRIAL SURROUNDINGS, FAB FOOD

Located on the up-and-coming west end of State Street, near Felicia’s Atomic Lounge, and Gimme! Coffee (with branches in Brooklyn and Manhattan), its nearest neighbor is a local tattoo parlor.  The décor is industrial but cozy, the service friendly/professional, and the food sophisticated, beautifully presented, tasty, and worth finding a parking space for. 

If you can, sit at the bar where you can hang out with the chef and watch him work his magic. One of our Ithaca favorites, it's a great place for dinner after wine tasting, before an evening at the nearby Kitchen Theatre, for impressing out-of-towners, because you've just dropped your car off at the Garage Mahal across the street, or just because you need a night out. 

Reservations suggested.

404 West State Street, Ithaca, NY, 607.277.1077

www.finelinebistro.com

BUSINESS IS BOOMING: SEED OILS

The oil business is booming in the Finger Lakes -- without the aid of roughnecks or drilling rigs.  It's culinary oil, and for husband-and-wife entrepreneurs Gregory Woodworth and Kelly Coughlin, it's turning into a thriving business, with products winning over both professional chefs and health- and taste-conscious home cooks.

Woodworth and Coughlin's Stoney Brook Wholehearted Foods produces varietal seed oils from locally grown butternut squash, delicate squash, oilseed pumpkin, and kabocha squash -- each with its own personality, flavor, and behavior under various cooking conditions.  The squash-seed oils have high smoke points, making them ideal for frying.  The pumpkin-seed oil -- derived from an heirloom varietal, the Kikai, grown specifically for its hull-less seeds -- doesn't do well at high temperatures and is best drizzled over salads or soups, or added to rice, couscous, or pasta.  Their most popular oil is butternut squash-seed, the product that launched the company.  Says Woodworth: "It has a flavor that pleases just about everybody --toasted almonds, walnuts, peanuts, and warm butter."

The primary markets for the Wholehearted oils are specialty stores such as Dean & DeLuca and Whole Foods.  They've also been welcomed at natural food stores, including Ithaca's Greenstar Co-op.  A third and fast-growing market is in "tasting stores" in places as far away as New Mexico and Oregon, where sales have more than doubled in the past year.  The oils have also found favor with professional chefs in Maine, Massachusetts, and New York City.

Woodworth, who earned an MBA from Bentley College after graduating from Cornell's Hotel School, and Coughlin, who studied marine biology and fine arts at Cornell, moved their mail-order cookie company from Boston to more easygoing environs.  Their dreams of returning to Upstate New York solidified when they  learned about Cornell's New York State Food Venture Center, an incubator for food-related start-ups.  A program of the Department of Food Science, the center offers help with product development and safety evaluation, guidance through the regulatory maze, and links to business assistance, financing sources, and local suppliers and service providers. "We get around 1,700 calls a year from people producing, or trying to produce, all kinds of food products," says technician Herb Cooley. "Some are from companies as large as Unilever and some as small as the Mennonite farmer down the road whose wife is trying to make pickles to sell at the farmers' market."

Cooley told Woodworth and Coughlin about a farm in Brockport, New York, that grows thousands of acres of squash that is peeled, seeded, and cut up for sale at supermarkets.  The process leaves behind twenty-five to thirty tons of seeds each year; disposing of them was burdensome -- and expensive.  Cooley roasted and pressed a test batch. "The roasted seeds were good to eat," he says," and when pressed the oil was plentiful and a beautiful color and flavor." 

He suggested that Woodworth and Coughlin look into extracting oil from the seeds to replace some of the butter in their cookies -- and they were impressed. "I though, This is amazing stuff and with a little tweaking of the flavor profile, I'd like to see this developed in a culinary oil," Woodworth says. "It became our calling."  After further experimentation and refinement, the couple had a product that seemed more promising than cookies.  They switched gears and founded Wholehearted to produce and market squash-seed oil as an alternative to olive oil and other specialty oils, most of which are imports.  Drawing on her background in art, Coughlin designed packaging, labels, and a website (wholehearted foods.com). She aimed for clarity and simplicity. "You don't need a lot of bells and whistles to showcase a product you've put so much of yourself into," says Coughlin. "We care about how we make that product, and that's what we want to get across."

Venture capitalists found the idea too risky, so the entrepreneurs moved ahead on a shoestring budget with equipment borrowed from Cornell.  They got a boost when Noah Sheets, the chef at the New York State Governor's Mansion, purchased their squash-seed oil for a special event -- becoming their first official customer.  Sales took off; last year they were up 25 percent and they continue to rise.  The company's modest profits have fueled growth, with new equipment including an expeller press from Germany and a roaster custom manufactured by one of the few U.S. producers. "And maybe one day," muses Woodworth, "we'll have the time to go back to doing cookies."