Garlic festival nears for Penn Yan

PENN YAN, NY -- The 17th annual Garlic Festival is nearly upon us.

The event is set for the weekend of August 1-2 at Fox Run Vineyards, 670 Route 14. Festivities are scheduled from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days.

Fox Run's new executive chef, Heather Tompkins, and her staff will offer a garlic-centric menu of food under the festival tent.

In addition, the festival will have the vineyard's wines for sale by the bottle or glass in the Fox Run Beverage Barn, along with non-alcoholic drinks, plus something new this year -- a "wine satellite" up the hill in front of vendors in Vineyard Row.

There also will be cooking demonstrations and live entertainment.

The vendors list:

Burdick Creek Gardens, of Montrose, PA
Corning Museum of Glass
Country Gourmet Creations, of Syracuse
Dounya Kele, of Rochester
Earthly Possession Boutique, of Geneva
Edible Finger Lakes, of Ithaca
For Claudia's Sayke, of Hammondsport
Gambino Garlic Growers, of Hornell
Hacienda Shiloh, of Gettysburg, PA
Happy Goat Farm, of Naples
Heaven Scent Garden & Nursery, of Hamlin
Hendy Hollow Organic Farm, of Pine City
Hooper Garlic, of Fultonham
Keuka Lake Coffee Roasters, of Penn Yan
Knapp Farm, of Lowman
Loreen Shoup, of Wellsville
Mark S. Bowman, of Canandaigua
Mele Garlic Farm, of Holley
Mill Creek Farm, of North Chili
Muranda Cheese Company, of Waterloo
Natural Disorder, of Oswego
North Country Farms, of Watertown
Papa's Kettle Korn, of York, PA
Piedmonte Garlic Farm, of Holley
Schiek's Maple Products, of Penn Yan
Seneca Farms, of Penn Yan
Seneca Vegetable, of Hall
Siren Farms, of Spencer
Six Circles Farm, of Lodi
Tabasco Chris, of Mechanicville
Upstate New York Garlic Farm, of Holley
Yellow Rose Crafts, of Rochester

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• Fox Run Vineyards
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4-Diamond honors for 9 Upstate restaurants

Nine Upstate New York restaurants have been awarded a AAA Four-Diamond Award this year, all of them repeat honorees.

The 2009 list, just announced, includes (number indicates consecutive years as award winner):

• Fire On the Mountain, Stormville (15)
• La Panetiere, Rye (15)
• Equus, Tarrytown (10)
• Giverny, Skaneateles (5)
• The Erie Grill, Pittsford (5)
• Wildflowers at Turning Stone, Verona (3)
• The Inn at Erlowest, Lake George (3)
• Trillium Bis, Bolton Landing (2)
• The View, Lake Placid (2)

To be considered for a diamond rating, hotels must undergo a review, including an unannounced visit from one of AAA’s full-time evaluators. The inspections scrutinize such areas as cleanliness, ambiance, amenities and service. In addition to the American Automobile Association (AAA), the awards are conducted in conjunction with the Canadian Automobile Association (CAA).

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'Lots' of squabbling in Schenectady

• From the Schenectady Gazette

SCHENECTADY, NY -- How do you annex a parking lot?

With a tow truck, of course.

The parking crunch near the Erie Boulevard bars has led to an all-out feud in which each business that owns — or even operates near — a parking lot is threatening to call in the tow trucks to preserve its space.

[Go here for the full story.]

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• The Van Dyck
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Ithaca microbrewery in the works

ITHACA, NY -- The owners of Madeline's on The Commons plan to open a second restaurant at the spot currently occupied by the Lost Dog.

And, those involved say, some of the Lost Dog's owners and employees plan to move up Cayuga Street to start a brew pub, something that sounds pretty good in a small Finger Lakes town dominated by thousands of Cornell University and Ithaca College students.

Teresa and Scott Miller have announced plans to open by September a restaurant called Wildfire: An American Bistro, at 106 South Cayuga Street which now is occupied by the Lost Dog.

The space became available when some of the Lost Dog's owners decided to concentrate on the original Binghamton Lost Dog (above), and others plan to create the Bandwagon Microbrewery.

The original was founded in an old garage at 60 Main Street in 1994, before moving to larger downtown quarters at 222 Water Street.

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Distillery/arts venue planned in Bethel

BETHEL, NY -- Drinks and music go together very nicely, so the husband/wife team of Monte Sachs and Stacy Cohen (right) are planning on making a business of it for themselves. And, what better way to go about it than being supported through a $295,000 grant?

They are planning to build the Dancing Cat Distillery on Route 17B near Bethel Woods, a project that would include a tasting room for their distilled spirits, plus a venue for music and other art forms.

The Sullivan County Industrial Development Agency announced it secured a Rural Business Enterprise Grant for the project from the U.S. Department of Agricultural. It will purchase the distilling equipment, and lease it to the distillery. The leasing fees will go into a revolving fund used to finance other local agricultural projects.

The 5,000-square-foot building is targeted for a spring 2010 opening. Groundbreaking will take place in September, and Sachs and Cohen intend to begin production this winter. Their plans call for the production of distilled spirits utilizing crops from local farmers, as well as from on-site fruit orchards. The distillery will produce vodka, baby bourbon, gin, whiskey, brandy and grappa for sale to visitors and local establishments, and will also offer tasting tours.

"I am still amazed at the way everyone came together to make this happen," Sachs said. "There were so many people on the state, county and town level who are behind this project and played a part in the grant process. In the end, everyone in the county wins because of this renewed support of agricultural development."

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• NY Craft Distillers Get Organized
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Equestrian benefit a Grape Country Week finale

MAYVILLE, NY -- The Chautauqua Bon Vivant, described in a whimsical burst of grammar as as "a luxury experience of culinary, wine & spirits," will be held Saturday and Sunday, August 22-23, at the Chautaqua Suites Hotel & Expo Center.

The event is a fundraiser for Centaur Stride, which offers therapeutic equestrian programs to persons with a wide range of disabilities. It currently serves more than 150 clients.

The Bon Vivant will be the finale to the America's Grape Country Week festivities, scheduled in the Chautauqua-Lake Erie Wine Trail region for August 15-23. Mayville is located on the northwest tip of Chautauqua Lake in southwestern New York.

Overall, the week-long festival honors the oldest, largest Concord grape-growing region in the world.

The Bon Vivant itself includes a Saturday wine pairing lunch, a VIP cocktail reception, a grand tasting, and a Sunday champagne-infused brunch. It will showcase national and local wineries, feature premium spirits and top mixologists, local and national vendors, and highlight special cuisine through tastings, demonstrations, and special events.

On Sunday afternoon, Centaur Stride will host an open house tour of its facility.

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Catskills farm dinner series nears

Breates there an Upstate soul so dead who never to him/herself has said ... "Catskills, OK, but Great Western Catskills?"

The "Great Western Catskills" label is a marketing effort intended to attract tourists from the New York Metro area, the Capital Region and other nearby population centers.

Delaware County is the particular bullseye of this target, and its farming heritage is being used for a farm dinners program that begins this Saturday, July 25.

Local farmers and producers share stories about life on their farms at Fable, Stone & Thistle Farm's on-farm restaurant this season. Dining guests will have an opportunity to learn about growing grapes and making wine, making absinthe and opening a local absinthe distillery, raising lamb and poultry on pasture and making cheese.

The five-course, prix-fixe menu, will feature the presenting farmers and producers' products in each of the courses. The Meet the Farmer Dinners provide intimate, relaxed forums in which to converse with farmers and producers and to taste their products.

The five-Saturday schedule:

July 25 -- Absinthe, with Cheryl Lins of Delaware Phoenix Distillery in Walton. Absinthe tasting and absinthe dinner.

August 1 -- Field-raised lamb, with Elizabeth Phillips of Faraway Farm in Treadwell.

August 15 -- Goat cheese, with Linda Smith and Morgan George of Sherman Hill Farmstead in Franklin; Cow cheese, with Ron and Corinne of Brovetto Dairy in Jefferson.

August 29 -- Pastured poultry, with Dan and Kate Marsiglio of Stony Creek Farm in Walton.

October 24 -- Wine, with Jennifer Clark and Andrew Scott of Eminence Road Farm Winery in Long Eddy. Wine tasting and wine dinner.

The dinner series is sponsored through the Pure Catskills Buy Local campaign, an economic initiative of the Watershed Agricultural Council, which funds the event along with the New York City Department of Environmental Protection and other sources.

Stone & Thistle Farm in located in East Meredith. Guests join farmer Tom Warren for a farm tour at 6:30 p.m. or have a beverage on the stone patio. At 7 p.m., guests are seated communally at the harvest table. Reservations are required. Contact Denise Warren at (607) 278-5800.

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• Great Western Catskills
• Stone and Thistle Farm
• Delaware County Today
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Big Apple entries head 'Tales' awards

PDT, a New York City cocktail lounge, was named “World’s Best Cocktail Bar” at the 7th annual Tales of the Cocktail convention.

Not only that. Co-owner Jim Meehan was named “American Bartender of the Year.”

PDT is located at 113 St. Marks Place in Manhattan, near First Avenue.

New York magazine calls it “the hot-dog joint for grown-ups. Actually, it’s the cocktail-lounge annex to Crif Dogs, an East Village mainstay known for its deep-fried Jersey-style franks. Accessed through a vintage phone booth within Crif Dogs, PDT (short for Please Don’t Tell) is a snug, sexy speakeasy with a twist: Along with its high-quality classic cocktails and a well-chosen selection of beer and wine, patrons can order food from Crif’s kitchen next door. Oddly, it works. …

“As well as rendering classic cocktails with unparalleled expertise, mixologist Jim Meehan (formerly of Gramercy Tavern and Pegu Club) offers up irresistible seasonal creations … .”

The Merchant Hotel of Belfast, Northern Ireland, won three awards:

• World’s Best Hotel Bar
• World’s Best Drink Selection
• World’s Best Cocktail Menu

Other winners:

• World’s Best New Cocktail Bar: The Clover Club, Brooklyn, NY
• Best American Cocktail Bar: Pegu Club, New York City
• International Bartender of the Year: Tony Conigliaro, England
• Helen Davis Lifetime Achievement Award: Peter Dorelli, manager, American Bar, The Savoy Hotel, London

Tales of the Cocktail is an annual event held in New Orleans, where bar professionals, enthusiasts, writers, chefs and others gather to share information in a variety of seminars and demonstrations. This year’s Tales ended Sunday night.

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• World's Best Bars: NYC edition
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Seneca Falls gets a Hollywood touch

SENECA FALLS, NY -- The owners of the former Gould Hotel are hoping the structure's new name will signal a wonderful second life for it.

The renamed Hotel Clarence is named for the angel from the 1946 Frank Capra film "It's a Wonderful Life." That's in keeping with the contention of many residents of this Finger Lakes village that their community was the inspiration for the film.

Karolyn Grimes, who portrayed Jimmy Stewart's daughter in the film, is expected to attend the opening. (In photo above, she is seen with Stewart and Donna Reed.)

The Hotel Clarence is scheduled to open Thursday of this week. It is a 48-room hotel with a restaurant and banquet facilities and a restaurant, located in a downtown building that opened in 1918 and operated for decades. Two Syracuse-area developers bought the property in 2007.

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• Gateway to the Finger Lakes
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Troy Pig Out broadens its offerings

TROY, NY -- The 2nd annual Troy Pig Out, the barbecue extravaganza that racheted up the local taste for barbecue when it debuted last summer, has a broader field of involvement for this weekend.

In addition to 28 teams from seven states vying for the New York State Barbecue Championship, there will be more food for attendees.

The event is scheduled for 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Saturday and 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Sunday at Riverfront Park. There is no admission charge. The event is organized and planned by the city of Troy, chef-owner Larry Schepici of Tosca Grille and the Illium Cafe, and the Troy Downtown Collaborative.

Last year, 2,000 bite-sized samples of barbecue were exhausted in about 10 minutes. To prevent a recurrence of that problem, 9,000 ribs will be made available at $1 a rib as a benefit for the National Kidney Foundation.

Beyond the public sampling, teams will compete for the barbecue championship, sanctioned once again by the Kansas City Barbecue Society. Categories include pork, pork ribs, beef brisket and chicken. The competitors registered as of today:

NEW YORK

• Troy Firefighters Local 86, Troy
• Adirondack Smokers, Northville
• All Fired Up BBQ, Coxsackie
• BBQ-Bretheren.com, Nesconset
• Good Smoke BBQ, Rochester
• TNT Dynamite BBQ, Oceanside
• MA’s QUE Crew, Lane Grove
• Up in Smoke, Kenmore
• Doc Roberts BBQ, Latham
• Swamp Pit BBQ, Wantagh
• Full Throttle Smokin’ Bikers, Webster
• Yanni’s BBQ Circus, Ravena
• Four Hogs, Red Hook
• Blazin Buttz BBQ, Patchogue
• Mr. Bobo’s Traveling BBQ All-Stars, Slingerlands
• Hawg Doctors, Geneseo

MASSACHUSETTS

• I Que, Hopkington
• Lakeside Smokers, Methuen
• Boar-n-Q, Monson
• Dogs in Smoke, Framingham
• Transformer BBQ, Canton

NEW JERSEY

• Ocean County Pig Assassins, Forked River
• Lo’-N-Slo’ BBQ, Ringoes

PENNSYLVANIA

• Smoke ‘Em if You Got ‘Em, Bethlehem
• Penalty Box BBQ, Tunkhannock

NEW HAMPSHIRE

• Yabba Dabba Que, Bedford

CONNECTICUT

• The Purple Turtle, Norwalk

TEXAS

• Smokin’ Wally’s BBQ, Arlington

The full schedule of events:

Saturday:

11 a.m.-9 p.m. -- Live music, chef demonstrations, children’s activities.
4 p.m. -- People’s Choice Buck A Rib ticket sales begin.
5:30 p.m. -- People’s Choice rib contest begins.
9 p.m. -- People’s Choice awards presentation.
9:30 p.m. -- Fireworks.

Sunday:

11 a.m.-4 p.m. -- Live music, chef demonstrations, free children’s activities.
Noon -- NYS Barbecue Championship begins.
4 p.m. -- Awards presentation.

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• Dining in Troy
• Kansas City Barbecue Society
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Troy wine bar proposal in need of salvation

Mekas Lounge (right) shares an entranceway with Jose Malone's
TROY, NY -- Well, at least the Dinosaur Bar-B-Que should be safe.

The State Liquor Authority (SLA) has denied a license to the Mekas Lounge, a proposed wine and martini bar located next to Jose Malone’s on Troy’s River Street.

According to The Record, owners Chris Schrader and Brian Stanley have just been informed — after putting more than $100,000 into the project — that they won’t be getting a liquor license because the Salvation Army has a facility across the street. Under SLA rules, license applications may not be granted if the establishment is within 200 feet of a building exclusively occupied by a school, church, synagogue or other place of worship. Except for the school part of that, it’s an obviously outdated and discriminatory prohibition, probably stemming from the days when Sunday blue laws and the churches behind them ruled the public in many areas.

The curiosity is that Ryan’s Wake, Jose Malone’s, Brown’s Tap Room, River Street Cafe and Revolution Hall all are in adjacent buildings on the same strip of River Street just north of the Green Island Bridge. They serve wine or spirits or beer or all three in an area that has become the busiest neighborhood in the city in terms of entertainment and nightlife in general.

The Dinosaur Bar-B-Que, which will be established in the building that once was home to the Castaway and then to Fresno’s just south of the bridge, is far enough down the street to avoid the “church” problem.

The Record quoted SLA spokesman Bill Crowley as saying, “Our findings at our licensing bureau were that the Salv ation Army there is exclusively used as a church.”

Well, it isn’t. The SLA apparently regards the Salvation Army’s sand-colored brick building as a church because it holds a Sunday worship service. Throughout the week, however, it serves as a food pantry and also offers community dinners, its main business operation.

Schrader and Stanley can, of course, appeal the rejection, but whether they can afford to do so financially is another question.

They have been working on the wine/martini bar project since last fall and applied for their liquor license back in February. It took the notoriously slow SLA since then to come up with a rejection it could have made simply by standing on the front step of the bar and looking across the street at the Salvation Army building.

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• Dining in Troy
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Long Island wine country in a growth spurt

• From Newsday

Recession or not, a new crop of wineries, tasting rooms, vineyards and wines is making its way to Long Island wine country this season, suggesting that the business of sipping may not only defy but thrive in tough economic times.

From the planned September opening in Southold of a 10,000-square-foot tasting room and winery called Sparkling Pointe devoted exclusively to sparkling wines to a quaint red tasting shed across the road called One Woman Wines & Vineyards, Long Island will play host to nearly a dozen new winemaking operations over a one-year period, pushing the total to more than 60.

The "newcomers" include some stalwarts in the business. Just this week, Jason Damianos, the winemaker of Pindar Vineyards fame, plans to open a two-story, 5,500-square-foot winery and tasting room called Jason's Vineyard in Jamesport. His plans preceded the economic downturn, Damianos said. But financial changes since then actually have helped, because interest rates are down. "I'm hoping they stay low," he said.

[Go here for the full story.]

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• Long Island Wine Country
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Miss Liberty's crown re-opens for July 4

NEW YORK -- With a tip of the nation's hat, the Statue of Liberty opened her crown to the public for the first time since the terrorist attacks on the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001.

The iconic statue that sits on Liberty Island, once known as Bedloe's Island, in New York Harbor received the first passenger ferry of July 4 at 7 o'clock this morning. As part of the festivities, a special swearing-in ceremony for new citizens was held under a tent. Seven U.S. servicemen from various countries took the citizenship oath.

Visitors who climb inside the statue to reach the crown must negotiate a narrow "double helix" staircase, working their way up 146 steps with no turnarounds allowed. The total steps from the statue's base to the crown is 354.

The statue, whose official name is "Liberty Enlightening the World," was created by French architect Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and shipped from France as a gift to the U.S. in 1886, the nation's centennial year.

It is made of a pure copper sheeting hung on a framework of steel (originally puddled iron), except for the roch's flame which is coated in gold leaf. It originally was made of copper and later altered to hold glass panes. It stands atop a rectangular stonework pedestal which in turn stands on a foundation in the shape of an irregular 11-pointed star. The statue is 151 feet tall. With the pedestal and foundation, it is 305 feet.

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French Culinary Institute duo hosting trade

Chefs Dave Arnold (left) and Nils Norén

NEW YORK -- French Culinary Institute duo Dave Arnold and Nils Norén will present a workshop called "A Kitchen Without Boundaries" exclusively for industry professionals in September.

The workshop is part of the International Chefs Congress scheduled for Sunday-Tuesday, September 20-22, at the Park Avenue Armory, 643 Park Avenue, in Manhattan. Tickets are only available in advance to food service professionals.

Arnold’s love of food, combined with a Masters of Fine Arts degree from Columbia University, led to a habit of tinkering with restaurant equipment. His hobby became a profession in 2005 when The French Culinary Institute hired him to head its new Culinary Technology Department.

You can watch his culinary application of the Japanese Mokume-Gane metal working technique in this video.

Norén is a graduate of a culinary school in his hometown of Gävle, Sweden. He was coordinator of cooking classes for Restaurant Akademin in Stockholm. He now is vice president of Culinary Arts for The French Culinary Institute’s culinary, pastry, bread, and Italian food departments.

Passes may be purchased online, or by calling (212) 966-7575. Three-day working restaurant passes are $275, limited availability three-day industry passes are $495. To register, you must use the invitation code EM-7309.

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Rhone wine dinner festival gets under way

"Celebrate Summer the French Way," a two-week promotional event involving 27 restaurants in nine states plus Montreal, begins tomorrow, July 4. Four of the restaurants are in New York State.

The project pairs French cooking and Rhone Valley wines. It is held in collaboration with Maitres Cuisiniers de France Restaurants, and will offer a special $30 prix fixe menu paired with Cotes du Rhone wines along with Maitres Cuisiniers de France "Celebrate Every Day the French Way" booklets.

The event is scheduled to coincide with both the American and French days of independence, officially beginning on July 4 and continuing through July 18, Bastille Day.

The four New York restaurants participating in the event are:

• Jack's Oyster House
42 State Street, Albany, (518) 465-8854.
• Madison Bistro Restaurant
238 Madison Avenue, Manhattan, (212) 447-1919.
• L'Absinthe Brasserie
227 East 67th Street, Manhattan, (212) 794-4950.
• Tree Village Inn
150 Main Street, Stony Brook, Long Island, (631) 584-5999.

Daphne Payan, Rhone Valley wines brand ambassador, says the "Celebrate Summer the French Way" honors the commonalities of French and American culture.

"The versatility and food-friendliness of Cotes du Rhone wines make them perfect for by the glass experimentation and allows diners to try pairing the wines with a variety of different fare," she said.

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• Participating restaurants list
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