It’s been a while since we visited New York. We’ve missed it. New York is a really great city. Times Square, however, is terrible and crowded. We managed to get stuck walking through Times Square three times even though we were committed to avoiding it. Whoops! If you’ve never been to New York, don’t judge it based on Times Square. Judge it based on its great neighborhood dive bars. Here are [...]
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Technically, there is a closer brewery — 3 Herons — but they don’t sell beer (yet). Ithaca Beer has been selling beer since the late ’90s. Their most famous brews are Apricot Wheat and Nut Brown. Both are delicious. But there’s more. Just after we moved to Trumansburg, Ithaca Beer opened their newly-constructed taproom, restaurant, and brewing facility. It’s amazing. It’s huge. We’ve been there three times already and I [...]
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3 Comments Finding a good burger in a city is easy. There’s Dick’s in Seattle, Kopp’s in Milwaukee, In-N-Out across the Southwest, and Culver’s everywhere in the Midwest. But there’s something about being in the middle of nowhere and finding a great burger place. A cheeseburger in paradise is wonderful, but a cheeseburger in the boondocks is even better. Here are my six favorites: 6. Sebastian’s Store — Hearst Beef Burgers Sebastian’s [...]
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This weekend, we were at Just a Taste in Ithaca and we thought we recognized our waitress. “Have you worked here for a while,” I asked. “Yeah. A loooooong time,” she said. “Like ten years? We haven’t been here for ten years and you look familiar.” “Longer than that,” she said. I knew it! One of the most fun parts of being back in the area is sampling our old [...]
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In the sleepy Adirondack town of North Creek, there’s a new restaurant. It’s called barVino (lowercase ‘b’ and uppercase ‘V’ and all one word). They have live music every Wednesday, a great wine list, and a tasty beer list. They also serve delicious food. After visiting one of Lisa’s dad’s projects in Tahawus (pronounced “Ta-HAUS” — two syllables, not three), we stopped in for a bite. Dishes are small, meant for sharing, [...]
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After an afternoon at our local IKEA … in Ontario, Canada (Ottawa, to be exact), we were in need of a beer and a bite. Big Rig Brewery promised both. First: the beer. I got the sampler (Golden, Red, IPA, Stout). Lisa ordered a pint of the brown ale. All were tasty. Lisa even liked their red ale (Lisa typically hates red ales). The brown ale was superb. We ordered [...]
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When we were in London, we noticed UK booze was pricey, wine and liquor especially. Cider and beer was a bit more in line with our expectations. Then we visited Canada, Ottawa specifically. OMFG. Look at these pics from the state (province?) liquor store (note the current exchange rate is about 1:1): So I did some research. Canada is far from the worst. England ranks pricier (which we expected). Who’s the [...]
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Slight amendment to this post. We did find two good wine deals while in London. Half-off Champagne at Tesco. Just some random French bottle. It was pretty great and £12.99 ($21), 50% off its normal price. Not worth $42. That’s Bollinger price territory back home. Half-off 2010 vintage Freixenet (fresh-e-net) at Sainsbury’s. Normally, Lisa’s not a huge fan of the black bottle, but for £6.99 ($9.70), we had to try it. It was fantastic. [...]
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I cut into it and it spewed, simple as that. Not a bad spew. Just a spew. Didn’t want Lisa to see though, so I mopped it up and shoved it in my mouth. Damn, it was tasty. “What was that?” she asked. “I’ll tell you later,” I told her. “Tell me now,” she insisted. “Better later.” I kept chewing, but I couldn’t convince her. So I told her: “The [...]
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Things were going OK in our relationship with our local pub, the Prince Arthur. We visited three days in a row and got friendly with the staff. We were charged for something we didn’t order the first day, but didn’t worry too much about it (it was just a couple £s). Then, the third day, we were charged for about six extra drinks. I thought I had the problem fixed, [...]
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The Syndicate Wine Shop