T'BURG'S HOMETOWN JOINT: THE FALLS RESTAURANT

The Falls Restaurant, formerly the Falls Tavern, once a roadhouse, has made its way up the food chain, serving some of the area’s heartiest breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, from a menu of comfort foods with a local touch, and more daring daily specials. At the hands of the brother-and-sister team of Carol and Fred Van Derzee, the décor is Americana, the service warm and welcoming, especially with the addition of The Falls’ new Adirondacks style dining room.

Early weekday mornings find neighborhood regulars -- farmers, businesspeople, and retirees -- kibitzing with one another from their usual tables and helping themselves to freshly brewed coffee from the double Bunn, while the Van Derzees, including Carol’s son Cole, or long-time chef Mindy Cross, speed out orders of bacon, eggs, and home fries, omelets, or stacks of platter-sized flapjacks for calorie-burning farmers, and homemade pies and java for the rest of us.

Weekends are another story entirely, especially in the summer, when “lake people” fill the place to its hand-hewn rafters, and when the Van Derzees’ 84-year-old mom, Nancy, commands the toaster battery, turning out raft after raft of just-right toast slabs carved from the restaurant’s own whole wheat and white bread loaves. The restaurant also produces a grand selection of flaky-crusted pies, among them custard, blackberry, strawberry rhubarb, and, of course, apple -- and cakes.

The weekend’s blackboard breakfast menu turns to more daring fare:  poached eggs on smoked salmon hash, an egg-white omelet stuffed with artichoke, roasted red pepper, and provolone, a delicious version of huevos rancheros with a base of cornmeal pancakes in place of tortillas. cream cheese-filled crepes with strawberries or warm peaches, and a comfort-food favorite, farmhand-sized orders of sausage gravy over biscuits.

The lunch and dinner menu offer both standard fare -- burgers, fries, sandwiches -- and the likes of smothered chicken (buried in spinach, artichoke hearts, roasted red pepper and mozzarella), or shrimp Florentine, supplemented with Carol’s latest fresh-and-local creations, along with the daily blue-plate special, actually served on blue plates: roast turkey and gravy, chicken and biscuits, and, our favorite, the Falls’ spicy meatloaf and mashed potatoes (Tuesdays); comfort food heaven!

On a recent Friday night one of us opted for the fried fish platter -- a good-sized hunk of sweet and fresh beer-battered haddock with baked potato and coleslaw; and the other downed a hefty hunk of prime rib (queen-sized) with baked potato and a fresh green salad.  Total cost with tax and tip: $34.00.  Not bad for a Friday night’s dinner and entertainment.

The new post and beam Adirondacks-style addition built by Carol’s husband, Ken Davis, (you’ve seen his even more monumental work if you’ve visited the tasting-room barn at Americana Vineyards), was built of lumber harvested and hand-hewn from the family’s property adjoining the restaurant. Its elegant new front door is adorned with deep-relief oak leaves and acorns carved by T’burg sculptor Jay Seaman, who is also responsible for the lively fish sculpture that graces the roof’s peak.

Beloved by T’Burgers for their community participation, the Van Derzees sponsor a major annual fundraiser for the fight against pediatric cancer, as well as providing food for many local charities and events, and The Falls has, over the years, become a weekly meeting place for local groups, including area clergy who meet there one night a week, and a group of women friends who meet on another (their husbands occupy a separate table). The addition’s fifty seats may alleviate the summer weekend breakfast crush. It also provides larger tables for intergenerational family groups who gravitate to the place for its something-for-everyone menu and friendly service.

The Falls is open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner Tuesdays through Saturdays, and brunch only on Sundays, and the Van Derzees also cater off-premises events.

Falls Restaurant

214 East Main Street

Trumansburg, NY 14886

607 387-9761

www.fallsrestaurantandtavern.com

A SWEET TRADITION SINCE 1961: HAL'S DELI

When I arrived in Ithaca from Brooklyn, years before that refuge for the huddled masses yearning to breathe free became hip, I WAS the wretched refuse, a lost blue-collar kid at an Ivy League school, where kids had their own fur coats, brought from homes where they didn’t have to share a room with anybody and had live-in maids. Did people really live like this? LOST!  I was lost. For consolation I drifted down State Street’s then-yellow-brick road for lunches at Hal’s, the New York-style deli that had also just arrived in Ithaca. There I could console myself with a potato knish, a hunk of kishke (a section of a cow’s large intestine filled with don’t-ask-what), or a big fat “special,” a hearty kosher hotdog that would give six inches of kielbasa a garlicky run for its money. The menu was printed on paper cut in the shape of a loaf of Jewish rye. The owners were welcoming. It felt like home.

The original Hal’s stood next to the previous Greyhound bus terminal, across from what is now the Commons’ east end home of the Trebloc Building. When those structures were urban-renewed (destroyed, along with far too much of Ithaca’s architectural history) the Kuntz family relocated the deli to a central spot on Aurora Street. Its other next-door neighbor, the Asiatic Garden, moved to West State Street, and is now long gone. If you wanted “fancy food” you dined at the Ithaca Hotel’s Dutch Kitchen. The Commons was just a gleam in Mayor Ed Conley’s eye, and traffic still flowed up and down State Street.

As you have probably assumed, lunch there the other day brought back memories. Though it was destroyed by fire in 1977, reconstructed, and re-opened, the place hasn’t changed much since 1971 when it moved to Aurora Street. Dark wainscoting and a dark-paneled back wall make for a long but cozy den, with light-colored walls reminiscent of formica countertops above the wainscoting. Gone from the menu are the kishke and the “specials,” but you can still get cheese blintzes and sour cream, a chopped liver sandwich, crunchy little potato pancakes served with apple sauce, and to wash it all down, Dr. Brown’s Cel-Ray. Some fancy-pants mixologist really ought to run with that not-too-sweet celery-flavored soda.

Despite the day’s cruelly chilling wind, the welcome at Hal’s was warm: Hal’s daughter Jacky buzzed about cheerfully greeting customers, taking orders, and checking to see that everyone was happy; his son Mike worked the register and took luncheon delivery orders; at the front window, Hal’s widow Sandy reigned over the books and absorbed a little sunshine, which she reflected into the shop.

Behind us, two gentlemen in suits (Attorneys? Financial advisors? Insurance solicitors?) ripped through the latest episodes of Downton Abbey critiquing actors and plots. Across the way a six-top of lively, casually dressed young women compared privileged childhoods.

The food: Hal’s is known for its sandwiches, which seem relatively inexpensive, the dearest of them weighing in under eight bucks, and ranging from peanut butter to unusual-combination triple deckers, many named after local characters and sports teams.  A salami sandwich on fresh rye was packed with meat and yearning to be slathered with mustard.  Cole slaw was just damp enough, slightly sweet, and crunchy. The Reuben sandwich (corned beef, sauerkraut, Swiss cheese, and Russian dressing, all of it griddled to gooeyness between slices of rye) is about the best one you can get in these parts. The half-dollar-size potato latkes were well spiced and crisp, and would make great hors d’oeuvres topped with dab of sour cream, a bit of lox, and a caper or two. Good thing they cater. Of course, the Cel-Ray brought back memories. And the warm welcome is perennially comforting.

At breakfast, Hal’s early riser regulars gather around the bar, chatting with their server and proffering cups for coffee refills. Where else in town can you get a pastrami omelet?

Hal’s is open seven days a week from 6:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m., serving breakfast and lunch, and they deliver. Phone 607.273.7765. No Web site.

                        

A YEAR-ROUND BEAUTY: THE AURORA INN

The Inn, in the picture-perfect town of Aurora, has had its ups and downs, but is now back in its ascendance at the hands of Executive Chef Patrick Higgins, whose staff turns out three elegant meals a day, seven days a week, in a cozy dining room, with hearth fires blazing in cool weather, patio seating on warmer days, and, in all seasons, spectacular Cayuga Lake views.  

Higgins starts dinner with pan-seared foie gras, crab-stuffed calamari, or a plate of house-made charcuterie, and progresses to the likes of truffle and parsnip pierogies or pork ragout with cracked-pepper tagliatelle, all made in house, and drawing heavily from ingredients produced by local farmers.  For a quick burger, try the company’s Fargo Bar and Grill across the street, but we love the Aurora Inn for Sunday brunch, wine-trail lunches and dinners on the patio. They’re also a popular wedding destination, and offer wine- or beer-tasting dinners, cooking classes, and other culinary events. Check their Web site for details.

391 Main Street, Aurora, NY, 315.364.8862

www.Aurora-Inn.com

BEER, CHEER, & SAG PANEER: NEW DELHI DIAMOND'S

Many moons and two husbands ago, when I fraternized with the South Indian (Dravidian) linguistics crowd at Cornell, the overriding belief was that you couldn’t master the reflexives of Telugu, the language of 50 million Indian people, unless your tongue was burned. Mopping sweaty foreheads and gulping down quantities of Kingfisher beer was the order of the day, flaming heartburn a sign of academic muscle. But that was then, and that was south-Indian food.

No longer required to prove my flame tolerance, I very much enjoy stopping in at New Delhi Diamond’s, operated by the Sekhon family who hail from the northern Indian Punjabi region.  Their restaurant, which has occupied the 106 West Green Street since 1993, has grown more and more wonderful as the years have progressed.  Their north Indian-style food relies less on chilis (though they’ll heat it up for you if you so desire), and more on the complex flavors and textures I fear to experiment with at home, despite guidance from Madhur Jaffrey’s fine cookbooks. And because, with Diamond’s open seven days a week for lunch and dinner, there’s really no need to mess up my kitchen.

The restaurant at 108 West Green Street, for many years a coffee shop beloved by the City Hall crowd, and then Dos Amigos, a Mexican joint beloved by the rest of us, is a no-frills kind of place, with the few requisite Indian tapestries adorning the walls, and an abundance of artificial flowers, paper placemats at lunch, linens at dinner.  Diners seated in the cozy banquettes looking out over Green Street take in the scene on the busy corner of Green and Cayuga. 

At lunchtime, the place draws the downtown throng to a large and colorful all-you-care-to-eat buffet with softly charred naan, a bread roasted in the barrel-shaped clay tandoor oven, warm and fragrant; tandoori chicken and a chicken curry, an abundance of vegetarian offerings with their layers of flavors and textures, a modest salad selection, cooling raita, spicy pickled onions and greens, and, if you can still manage it, dessert.  It’s quite the feed, especially given the $8.61 freight, plus tax and tip.

At dinner recently, we ordered the thick and spicy chicken soup, like none my Brooklyn mom ever made, but likely with similar medicinal qualities.  An order of vegetable pakora, made with chickpea flour, was crisp, its mildness a contrast to the sweet-and-sour tamarind sauce provided for dipping. Onion kulcha, one of the many Tandoori flatbreads they offer, is useful for sopping up chunks of meat, vegetables, and sauce. The sweet taste of the roasted onions incorporated into the dough calmed the spices of our lamb vindaloo, which I always expect to be hot-hot-hot; this was spicy, but not aggressive. Hefty chunks of slow-cooked lamb swam in a complex sauce of ginger? turmeric? coriander? cumin ? ginger? cinnamon? Whatever it was, it was delicious, with its not-over-the-top addition of cayenne and vinegar. Sag paneer, one of my favorites of their dishes, is a rich spinach preparation, flecked with little cubes of house-made mild cheese, and plenty of ghee or clarified butter.

There’s a reasonable selection of desserts.  We usually go for the kheer at lunch, a sweet rice pudding flavored with cardamom, but this time opted for rasmalai, cheese patties swimming in a sweetened milk, a sort of north Indian take on cheesecake. This we washed down with a glass of mango lassi, a refreshing thinned yogurt and mango drink. All of this was supremely satisfying.

While I wasn’t surprised to find a good selection of Indian beers on the booze list, I was delighted to find Finger Lakes Rieslings available, a good match for a bit of spice.

We’ve occasionally employed their catering services, especially useful when we’re expecting a hungry mob of vegetarians. They also provide dishes that are vegan and gluten-free. For more information, check out their Web site at newdelhidiamonds.com.

DANO'S ON SENECA

Finger Lakes fans of Daño Hutnik and Karen Gilman have been eagerly following this duo since they first decamped in Ithaca from the Big Apple in 1990 to open their restaurant, Daño’s on Cayuga.  Fast forward to 2013: the pair have earned well deserved success in their next venture, an imposing wine trail facility on the eastern shore of Seneca Lake, Daño’s Heuriger on Seneca, where Daño holds forth in the kitchen, and Karen sees to the front of the house and serves as pastry chef.  An accomplished artist, her large canvasses adorn the walls of the restaurant.

What, you might ask, is a heuriger?  According to Wikipedia, that bastion of not-necessarily-well-vetted information, in 1784 Emperor Joseph II issued a decree permitting Austrians to open establishments to sell and serve self-produced wine and food. Heurigers (pronounced “HOY-riggers) served fresh wine, still a little cloudy and not quite ready for bottling, and all kinds of picnic-y dishes: breads, liptauer and other spreads, and roasted meats. They were meant to be seasonal, but fortunately for Finger Lakes residents and visitors, Daño’s is one of the few eateries on Seneca Lake to feed us during the winter months.

The James Beard Foundation has acknowledged their culinary prowess, inviting Daño to create dinners at New York City’s James Beard House, and Daño has generously introduced other talented Finger Lakes chefs to the James Beard House.

As do many Finger Lakes region chefs, Daño relies on local farmers and producers to supply an ever-changing panoply of vegetables, fruits, and meats. What sets this place apart is Daño’s energetic quest to produce, himself, every prepared food the restaurant needs.  Daño makes and smokes his own sausages, makes his own preserves (go for the quince!), and has begun to produce cheeses from the milk of local herds. 

In warmer weather, a Monet-like kitchen garden of fresh herbs flavors the dishes and contributes flowers to the salads; in late fall and winter, pots of bamboo decorate the massive stone patio providing a screen through which to peer over dormant vineyards to the lake.  Indoors, clay-potted live succulents on each table remind us that spring will come again.

The restaurant is also known for its special events, dinners produced in concert with other chefs, an evening of gypsy entertainment and Romany-style food, Turkish cuisine and Middle Eastern entertainment – whatever the season calls for.

Dano’s is one of the few wine trail restaurants that remains open during the winter months, and the restaurant’s focus on Viennese food is perfect for the cold winter days ahead – schnitzel, roasted meats, best-ever sweet-and-sour red cabbage (the secret ingredient is duck fat), and goulash are substantial, soul-warming foods.

On a recent visit, we started our meal with mugs of seasonal “sturm,” or Federweisser, a white wine still in its perky fermentation stage, a little sweet, a little bubbly, a little cloudy.  This was served with a slice of zwiebelkuchen, a German-style onion cake, a yeasted dough topped with caramelized onions and cracklings, and baked.  It resembles a bialy on steroids, and the combination was delicious. We managed to nurse our sturms through dinner, though we have in past enjoyed selections from their wine list, which focuses on some excellent local wines, but also includes some Austrian selections; we often go with a Gruner Veltliner (a.k.a. Gru-Ve), which pairs well with most of what’s on the menu.

Nearly everything on the extensive menu is a la carte, which sometimes makes it difficult to choose.  Playing it safe, we ordered the goulash, deeply flavored and intensely colored, which came with a side of spaetzle, good for getting up every last bit of the sauce; a side of roasted Brussels sprouts was crunchy and a good counterpoint to the spicy goulash. We also ordered the bento box, a sort of guided menu tour, that included a basket of Wide Awake Bakery breads, creamy liptauer spread, a selection of salads (cucumber, German potato, cole slaw), one of Dano’s housemade sausages, a roasted pork shank, sweet and sour red cabbage, and spaetzle – a lot of food.  A lot of really satisfying, well prepared, beautifully and simply presented food.  And while we were quite full, for the purpose of this article we felt obliged to sample a couple of Karen Gilman’s buttery desserts.  A Sachertort, a dark, dense chocolate cake slathered with apricot preserves, was enrobed in a dark chocolate glaze – chocolate heaven.  The marzipan kugel was dense and almond-y, pleasingly paired with a dollop of schlag.  Replete, we rolled out into the chilly evening, warmed from within, and very happy.

Daño’s, located at 9564 Route 414 just south of Lodi and 13 miles north of Watkins Glen, is open throughout the winter Friday and Saturday for lunch and dinner, Sunday for dinner as well as a spectacular brunch. It’s a good idea to make reservations at 607.582.7555.  For a look at their menu, go to www.danosonseneca.com.