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."

WORTH THE DRIVE TO UNION BLOCK ITALIAN BISTRO

Enjoy owner/chef Craig Wilson’s 21^st-century take on Italian cuisine, as he conjures up unctuous textures and unexpected flavor combinations, along with familiar pasta favorites (they carry gluten-free pasta, for those who prefer it), in both long-simmered and fresh tomato sauces.  Don’t miss the surprising antipasti, ordered for one, two, or a family, or the grilled octopus on cannellini beans with prosciutto and greens.  Pizzas, thin-crusted and served on boards, sport ingredients such as fresh salmon, cappicola, gorgonzola, fresh mozzarella or housemade meatballs. And their four-cheese mac-and-cheese is locally legendary, dressed with shrimp, lobster, crab, or whatever moves the chef that day. Step down to their lower level, the Grotto, to enjoy live music and a glass of wine or one of their ten beers on tap.

31 Shethar Street, Hammondsport, NY, 607.246.4065

www.unionblockitalian.com

CREATIVE DISTILLERY ON CAYUGA LAKE: NEAT!

With an abiding respect for the history of his family’s 1000-acre farm, one of the largest certified organic farms in the Northeast, John Myers grows all manner of grains.  He and his brother, Joe Myers, have redefined the term “value added.” They are upping the energy value of the farm’s grain product by turning it into some very fine tasting high-test spirits.

Their local heritage runs deep: The brothers trace family history back to 1789, when their ancestors settled what is now the Town of Ovid. They also had the first distilleries on record in that town. John has been working the current farm for the past 30 years, and the current farm itself was established in 1868 when their great grandparents acquired the land and built the farmhouse. Still hale and hardy, John said he wasn’t ready to retire. Joe trained as a concert pianist and violinist, and as a painter, worked as a herdsman, and then at Cornell’s College of Human Ecology; he longed to return to the farm.  The creative elements of whiskey making, appealed to both of them, and they saw a future in it for themselves, especially now when the spirits industry in this country is booming.

They are starting small, expecting to make 600-800 cases their first year.  Focusing on quality, they’ll develop a range of hand-crafted spirits: vodka, blueberry vodka, gin, wheat whiskey, rye whiskey, buckwheat whiskey (very popular in Japan, they say), bourbon, a mixed grain whiskey, mostly from organic grains planted, harvested, and cleaned on Myers land. They also have plans for liqueurs. While they’re still wading through paperwork, receiving glassware, and getting Federal label approval, the vodka we sampled there was sipping-delicious with undertones of caramel and vanilla – far more complex than the flavorless tonsilwash of bar well vodka. Joe says it smells like baking bread when it’s working.

The farm’s new facility, designed and built by the brothers and their “right-hand man,” Mark Thomas, aided by Ithaca architect Ernie Bales, is based on traditional Scottish distilleries with their pagoda-topped still houses.  The design speaks to the happy marriage of the modern and the ancient, science and art; recent landscaping helps it settle into the sensuous roll of the farmland perched above Cayuga Lake. 

The “back of the house” holds a modern laboratory and office with the communications tools required for today’s commerce, along with the impressive  16-foot-tall, 19-plate, 650-liter German-made copper and steel column still.  The front of the house – the part visitors are most likely to see -- is crafted of local materials, its deep tasting bars crafted from wide cherry and oak boards harvested from the farm’s woodlots and polished to a warm glow.  The concrete floors, are treated to a deep cordovan stain and sealed and burnished to a leathery shine, thanks to advice from Karen Gilman of Dano’s Heuriger.

But the spirits business isn’t all chemistry, art, and chatting up the public. There’s a mountain of paperwork which, fortunately, the multitalented Joe, also relishes -- filing taxes every two weeks, and producing a monthly production report, monthly state taxes, and quarterly sales taxes.  He also keeps detailed production notes.  And then the artistic side of him balances things out. For information and frequent updates on the facility’s progress, check out his poetic blog on the distillery’s Web site, www.myerfarmdistillers.com

As local grape growers facing an ebbing market for their product turned successfully to winemaking, and local dairy farmers process excess milk into rich cheeses, the brothers Myers have created a New York State farm distillery whose products will utilize their produce -- winter and spring wheat, rye, buckwheat, barley, even corn – malted when appropriate, fermented, and given a couple of leisurely passes through an awe-inspiring copper column still, hoping, expecting to bring even greater glory to the Finger Lakes’ wine, cheese, beer, and spirits trails.

Myers Farm Distillery

7350 Route 89 (just past Route 139)

Ovid, NY 14521

607.532.4904