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

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