Let's Eat!!

In this life, when it comes to food, there are only two sides…you either love to eat, or you just eat to live.  Which is why God created restaurants.  Either way, you can find something that makes your palate dance.

I enjoy eating out for reasons that go way beyond food, but good food is certainly a must.  Dining out must be mixed with comfortable surroundings (atmosphere?) and an ability to reasonably carry on a conversation…..after all, you don’t go out to eat just to stare at your dinner partner(s), do you?  Please say you don’t. 

And I have only one other requirement – that the food be cooked. You will not find me in a sushi bar, or a raw bar, or any of their siblings, eating anything that has passed directly from a fishing net or a corral to my plate.  I know more people than I can count do it, but it is simply not for me.  Perhaps I was scared away forever a few years back when someone I know dined at one of these places and took seriously ill.  She went to the hospital and was told that if she had waited just a few hours longer, she would have died.  Well, it took about 4 operations and over a year before she was declared “whole” again.  And the “raw” stuff was the culprit.  Long odds?  Sure, but who cares, for I do not intend to head for the last roundup over a bad clam. 

So, with that in mind, I offer up five of my favorite places to go in/around CNY.  In no particular order:

Morgan’s

The Sherwood Inn

The Retreat

Santangelo’s

The Scotch

Hmm, notice how none of these restaurants are “chains.”  Some chains are good and I do visit them, but give me an independent, locally owned place and my GPS will always say, “turn right here.”  Which is why I found it so sad to see that Smorol’s restaurant on Avery Ave. is closing its doors this week…and then the news about Aunt Josie’s.

And notice how many have fireplaces….why, all of them!  Even Santangelo’s now has one in their new room addition.  I guess I’ve always liked that feature, probably a concession to winter and how nice it is to have a fire nearby when you are enjoying your meal. There is nothing like a snowstorm outside, but you inside, with fire to watch and wine and food at your fingertips.

We’ll visit this again now and then…there are lots more places to eat and enjoy in our little neck of the woods.

Mark Twain Quote:  “In the manner of diet—I have been persistently strict in sticking to the things which didn’t agree with me until one or the other of us got the best of it.”