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Monday, May 23, 2011

The Hideaway - Colton, NY

To me, Mother's Day is a Brunch event.  Maybe because it's so traditional to cook your mother breakfast in bed, that the adult version is to take them out for the breakfast you used to cook them.  Certainly, there are many places out there that do a better job than I could with breakfast, and that way mom gets whatever she's in the mood food (although I know most moms are just pleased for the thought and effort).  Well, this Mother's Day didn't quite go as planned, however, that did mean I had another opportunity to try a new place and write another review!

We had called in advance to find out if we needed reservations, and were told that they shouldn't be necessary for the party size we were anticipating.  We got there right before noon (peak lunch hour) and with a party larger than expected as well, and although they did not have a big enough table for all of us right off the bat, they were will to accommodate us however we were most comfortable - we could either take 2 tables or wait for a larger table to open up.  We came up with an even better solution, and settled into the picnic table just off the porch since the weather was fantastic.  Because of the timing, they were willing to offer breakfast and lunch, so our party took advantage of both menu options.

This restaurant is pretty basic - simple, good food with no frills to detract from the at home atmosphere.  The small space has a short counter for about 4 people to mosey up and eat and about 8 to 10 tables, mainly 2 and 4 tops with basic banquet chairs.  This is your basic country, maintain restaurant caters to the local community.  It is right off the main road near a gas station and not even in the center of town.  Give it's "off the beaten path" location, you know it's good since it's stayed in business.  The simple atmosphere is also reflected in the down to earth prices - this is definitely a contender in the "best food for the price" category...  If I were to give awards.

While service was good, all of our needs were met, although I wasn't overly impressed.  However, I do have to give our waitress credit since refilling our water and checking in on us did require going outside - out of sight, out of mind, and I never really felt forgotten about.  Given the circumstances, I think they did a good job.  I certainly could have gotten up and gone inside to ask for something if it was needed.  Our waitress was certainly personable and friendly, which is always nice.  That aspect of it definitely made me want to return.

The Hideaway is known for its homemade bread and their omelets.  I had been craving baked goods, so indulged in the french toast with a side of strawberry topping.  These came with a side of home fries, which I always enjoy and was pleasantly surprised at how much I liked these home fries.  Let's start with the french toast - now, I think the fact that this was made with homemade bread was key!  Much better than the average french toast.  The crust was a little crunchy, almost chewy and inside was tender and fluffy.  It definitely didn't even need maple syrup (real syrup available for a small fee).  The fruit gave it a nice extra sweetness, although I was really adding that because I thought it would be fresh fruit and not the stewed fruit topping I normally expect at IHOP or one of those places.  There were home fries on the side and I must say they were excellent.  Small cubes of potato nicely cooked so that the exterior was crunchy and the interior soft and delicate.  I think the size of the potato is always key - too large and there is too much baked potato inside compared to crispy exterior, too small and they end up too crunchy.  These were just right, and came as a side with most of the breakfast options.

My fiance got the western omelet with a side of home fries and homemade toast.  The omelet was perfect, with the eggs perfectly cooked - not runny, not rubbery and with a fluffy smooth texture.  The filling was good in proportion and the fresh vegetables were really able to shine through and sing.  They were bright in your mouth, not over cooked as if they might have been cooked beforehand, these tasted fresh.  The side of homemade bread was amazing - beautifully toasted for some crunch and well buttered.  I normally ask for toast dry, but as this was not my meal, I took what I could get.  And in this situation I was so pleased for the butter.  A perfectly butter piece of bread is almost sinful.  This bread is almost texas toast in character, but not quite as dense, more soft and fluffy.



I had the opportunity to also try the breakfast sandwich.  A few highlights:  fantastic english muffin, suspicious that it is also homemade, but didn't ask.  Wasn't a huge fan of the cheese, but I think that's more a reflection on my tastes than the sandwich itself.  I don't normally eat american cheese (didn't grow up eating it, don't have a taste for it), so I think I would prefer it with cheddar cheese instead.  I think the bite of cheddar might add some good flavor in contrast to the saltiness of the bacon.  The egg was done very well!  I think this would not have been a sandwich easily eaten as sandwiches are intended to be eaten - there is far too much food in this little sandwich, but I don't know of many who would complain about that!
The club sandwich was also good - packed with fixings!

Overall a great spot for a weekend breakfast off the beaten path.  Down home food with great prices and good service.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Blackbird Cafe - Canton, NY

The Blackbird Cafe is one of the few restaurants in Canton, NY and are attempting to support local agriculture by purchasing local meats and produce when in season.  If you go to their website (here) there is a list of what ingredients are local and where they are from.  They have an eclectic menu featuring comfort foods with a twist to some Mediterranean favorites.  They also feature an extensive beer list with many unique microbrews available, and there is always something interesting on tap if you prefer that option.  Open Monday through Saturday for breakfast, lunch and dinner they are an interesting combination for coffee shop with the ability or order paninis and coffee for a quick bite and restaurant for a full sit down dinner.  Almost a conflict of identity but it seems to work for them.  To add in an additional component, they are definitely catering to the college crowd and have live music through their "concert series."  They are definitely going for the eclectic/ethnic/worldly vibe.

 Now, I've been there several times before, but like with all of these reviews, I am definitely trying to focus on the one visit that I am writing about.  Certainly at the end of the review, I might comment on if this was "normal" for the restaurant or if I felt like there might be some irregularity in the experience.

Let us start out with service.  My fiance and I made a last minute decision to go out for dinner on Friday night.  I believe we arrived between 6:30 and 7 - definitely peak dinner hour.  While the place was busy, we were quickly seated at a table and given menus and water glasses.  It took a bit longer to hear the specials for the day, however, our drink order was not taken at that time.  When we got the opportunity to order, we quickly found out that the regular menu was not as self explanatory as we were lead to believe when we discussed the specials with our waiter.  My fiance attempted to order the chicken colorado - which they were out of; he then switched his order to the capanota with the local spicy italian sausage - and they were out of the sausage.  Well, he was definitely craving some pasta but wanted the meat component as well, so asked if he could get a side of the fettuccine (I can see how this might be a hard option if they are making each serving of pasta to order and don't just have a big pile of it ready to serve).  Again, this was not a possibility unless he was willing to order and entire entree.  He settled on the pork chop Marsala and I ordered the falafel.  We also agreed on the brie quesadilla from the tapas part of the menu (this is pretty much equivalent to appetizers, since there's not really enough variety to the tapas to make ordering a few of the tapas into a complete meal... if you're interested in tapas, hit up First Crush in Potsdam, I'm looking forward to another visit in order to write a review).

The brie quesadilla came out within a reasonable amount of time.  The quesadilla is a combination of crisp apples, tender, earthy spinach and smooth and creamy brie.  It is drizzled with a raspberry coulee, most of which I scraped off because while it added an interesting sweet note, the amount applied would be overpowering to the subtle taste of the brie.  I wasn't expecting to like the combination so much, but the warm creamy and melting brie next to the cool and crisp apple was fantastic, and the whole wheat tortilla gave a nice crunch and texture to the otherwise softer contents.  I also enjoy that it was whole wheat (better fiber) as it also contributes a nice nutty flavor.  The spinach was mostly at the outer edge of the tortilla and was almost unexpected and a welcome change from the richness of the brie.  While the spinach was cooked and wilted, it still added some fresh and green tenderness.  I think if I were to order it again, I'd ask for the raspberry coulee on the side.

There was a significant wait between the appetizer and the entree, which was made slightly worse by the fact that the pork chop was delivered with an incorrect entree (which wasn't even the falafel done incorrectly, it was an entree for another table).  We dove into the pork chop as I waited for the falafel, because we were anxious to try something (and didn't want it to get cold).  Starting at the top of the pork chop, it was covered in a mushroom and onion medley that was obvious wonderfully sauteed in butter.  I think I could have eaten an entire bowl of this alone.  The mushrooms were earthy and tender, filling the mouth with richness and full of flavor.  The onions were browned to sweet perfection, almost like a dry french onion soup.  The pork chop was tender and juicy, but compared to the wonderful mushrooms on top and the mashed potatoes below, it's purpose was almost just a vehicle for the other flavors.  It's true that pork is the other white meat, making it a perfect medium for other flavors, and this dish was certainly full of other flavors.  The pork did add a meaty texture, and as my fiance likes to say (he picked this up form the food network):  umami!  Everything was moist and juicy with the marsala gravy and while I am not a gravy fan normally, this was silky and velvety, not heavy or dense.  You can certainly tell it was finished with a magic ingredient of butter.  Now we get to the mashed potatoes.  They were wonderfully whipped, but not gummy or overworked.  They were not quite smooth, which is nice to add that slight texture.

Within a 5-10 minutes, the second entree arrived.  The falafel was fancier than expected.  I was anticipating half a pita stuffed with a few falafel and the appropriate salad fixings stuffed inside with it.  While certainly that presentation is a convenient package for eating this traditional middle eastern dish on the go, the presentation for this dish was much more upscale.  3 wonderful jewels of falafel on a tender flatbread and a small salad.  I was surprised at the composition of the falafel.  They were well seasoned, and you could tell not deep fried as many traditional ones are, making them less greasy.  They were also different in texture - normally a falafel is a homogeneous texture of ground chick peas.  These are slight heterogeneous with large chunks of chick pea present - I love being able to see and identify the ingredients I am eating.  The falafel were warm and tender with the crisp and cool lettuce salad.  The tzatziki sauce was on the side (I always get sauces on the side) and added a cool and creamy component.  Definitely will get this again.

The Blackbird also has some wonderful desserts - we took some to go.  A baklava for me and a vanilla cheesecake for my fiance.  The baklava was excellent and the cheesecake rich and creamy with an intense vanilla flavor (almost like eating a vanilla bean).

The BlackBird Cafe on Urbanspoon

Sunday, May 1, 2011

Crystal Lake Cafe - Americana Vineyards

On the way down to Ithaca to speak at Cornell's Vet school, my fiance and I stopped at Americana Winery to do some quick wine tasting and we sat down for a quick snack at their cafe, which turned into quite the meal!  The place was empty, although it was also 3:30 in the afternoon on Thursday, which isn't a happening time for any restaurant, anywhere, so we won't hold that against them.  It's a very quaint little cafe with simple white 1950s diner tables and chairs, and sunny with pots and pots of beautiful green plants and herbs in the windows.

We started with a special - steamed mussels in Americana's Pinot Gris wine with onions, tomatoes and herbs.  We didn't know that it also came with garlic bread, but oh, we were glad it did.  The mussels were tender and fresh, wonderfully flavorful from the wonderful broth, that I could have put into a mug and just sipped for an hour.  The broth was light and buttery, but rich and smooth with the crispness of the wine and the earthiness of the tomatoes creating a roundness and fullness in your mouth.  The garlic bread was crisp italian bread wonderfully toasted without being overly browned, and doused in a garlic and herb flavor - enough butter that make it super yummy and sinful, but not dripping with butter.  The bread was wonderful dipped in the broth.

From there we moved on to an appetizer of flatbread with goat cheese, roasted red peppers and asparagus.  Now, this bread wasn't what I was imaging.  I was picturing something thin and crispy, almost like a pita or tortilla, but this was more was foccacia bread - thinner, but about an inch thick and a soft dough texture.  The goat cheese was soft and creamy without that overwhelming goat cheese tang which many don't like - so don't let this component of the meal intimidate you if you aren't a "goat cheese person."  I also believe that the goat cheese was from a local goat farm.  The asparagus was tender and wonderfully grilled with those flavorful grill marks.  Now the part I wasn't a huge fan of was the roasted red peppers - and this isn't a comment on the peppers or the dish, simply a comment on the fact that I simply don't like red peppers in really any form.  This dish has really inspired me to go out and buy some good goat cheese and do something yummy with it!

Our third entree was the roasted vegetable quesedilla with  black bean mash.  This was fiance's choice, and if you knew him, you'd know just how good it must have sounded to get a meat lover such as him to be excited about a vegetarian dish.  It says even more about the dish that we both LOVED it.  The quesedilla was filled with lightly roasted sweet potato, spinach and zucchinni and lightly mashed black beans.  It was all held together with a bit of cheddar cheese.  Now, I loved how lightly they used the cheese.  The cheddar didn't overpower or coat the vegetables, but was just a light glue.  This also came to a lovely fresh salsa.  This wasn't your traditional salsa, but more of a pico de gallo, but very finely chopped, so that it had a softer consistency and was not chunky.  The other thing I was very impressed with was how the salsa wasn't wet.  It was almost like the tomatoes had been squeezed of all their excess fluid before being diced.  I'd love to know their secret.

The desserts looked great, but to be honest, we were so stuffed from lunch that we weren't ready for dessert before we left.  Instead, we picked up some fudge from the winery to eat later.  We got 2 types - a chocolate/red wine and a chocolate/raspberry.  We've only tried the chocolate wine, but it certainly is sweet and melt in your mouth succulent.  If you don't like sweet wine or grape juice, this is not the fudge for you.  It does remind me of eating chocolate and grapes together - although the grape flavor is intense.  I'm not a huge fan of a semisweet red wine, but the flavor does bring back childhood memories of manischewitz wine.

I can't wait to go back!  Bring on the wine and fantastic food - my favorite combination.