Bistro Newsletter

The Pickled Hens and I ran off to the Finger Lakes of New York last week for our annual girls trip. We stayed in Ithica, home of Cornell University. The FLX are a perfect mix of country meets city.

After settling into our rental, which was a beautifully appointed home on an old farm, we enjoyed an evening in downtown Ithica. First stop Bar Argo for cocktails on the patio and we dined at Bleecker & Thompson… great casual Italian food. Lots of chatter and excitement for our upcoming weekend.

In the morning, we hired a driver to take us along the Cayuga Wine Trail. The wines of the FLX are comparable to Northern Michigan wines as the climate and terroir is similar. Riesling reigns, followed by Gruner, Chardonnay, Gewürztraminer, Pinot Blanc and Cab Franc. The wines are not amazing, but I did find quite a few I enjoyed, especially when you are looking over a rolling hill filled with vines and out onto the big lake surrounded by 7 of your best friends. Some of the highlights… the FLX Cider House where we had a terrific farm grown lunch, Thirsty Owl Winery right on lake Cayuga and Six Eighty Cellars where not only was the wine decent but the view was lovely, and the espresso and the service was killer.

We ended our afternoon with a short hike to Taughannock Falls. A very impressive large waterfall with a cooling mist. Dinner was at the iconic Moosewood in Ithica. If you were into cookbooks in the 70’s or 80’s you’ll recall this vegetarian cookbook by Mollie Katzen. In my opinion she is as important as Alice Waters in revolutionizing a generation of vegetarians and farm to table cooking.

The next morning, we headed to Watkins Glen State Park to hike the Gorge Trail where we climbed nearly 800 stairs (thankfully, not all at once) within two miles and saw 19 waterfalls. The park was fabulous. The town of Watkins Glen is quite small, but we managed to do a little shopping and we found a cute restaurant, Graft, specializing in NY wines and cider that also had a delicious smash burger. Well deserved after all that hiking!

On our last full day, we took advantage of the house and had a leisurely morning enjoying the pond and property, we went into Ithica for ice cream, drinks and more shopping. Dinner was a terrific meal at Hazelnut Kitchen, another local farm to table style restaurant, highlighting the region’s best ingredients. We drank wine late into the night, played games and even had our very own Olan Mills inspired photography session.

The Finger Lakes are a perfect blend of Mother Nature, art, community and small-town life. Great restaurants, plenty of bars, museums and more. This picturesque area was only made better by the wonderful company of my fabulous Hens.

Ba’gawk!
Sharon

Please click on the photo gallery to see far too many pictures, but it was really beautiful, I couldn’t help myself!

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