Vacation in 30 Minutes or Less

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Just thirty minutes from Syracuse is one of my favorite places to be, Skaneateles. It is the smallest of the Finger Lakes and a beautiful place to visit year round. Weather you go for lunch, dinner, or an entire weekend, it’s a must do during your time here. Here are some of my favorite spots to go.

The Lakefront
When the weather is nice you can sit on the waterfront in town along West Genesee Street. During summer classes I often bring a lawn chair and a cooler to the waterfront and do my reading for the day out there. Part of the lakefront is portioned off for public swim. For $2 you can bring your swimsuit and jump in. Be warned, the water is typically cold. There’s also a pier you take a walk down to see further down the lake.

Boat Tours
Mid-Lakes Navigation runs boat tours up and down Skaneateles that leave right from the waterfront in town. There are several trip options listed below. Some tickets can be purchased in advance, which I recommend. For others you must purchase the tickets in person the day of the trip. Go early so you will be guaranteed tickets.

  • Dinner cruise. Includes dinner, lasts 3 hours and costs $42 – $50.
  • Dinosaur Bar-B-Que dinner Cruise. For $49 you can eat Dinosaur Bar-B-Que lakeside on a 2.5 hour ride. Bonus, you won’t have to wait in line at Dinosaur to get the food.
  • Lunch cruise. For $29 you will get a sandwich, dessert, and non-alcoholic drinks on a 2 hour tour.
  • Sightseeing cruise. For $12 you can take a short 50 minute cruise around the lake.
  • Takeout cruise. Runs on Friday and Saturday. For $16 you can bring your own dinner on board for an hour and a half boat tour. You must purchase your alcohol on board.
  • Mailboat tour.  For $23 you can ride on the mailboat as they deliver the mail lakeside for 3 hours. You can bring your own lunch.

A full list of the boating options can be seen in their brochure.

The Sherwood
The Sherwood is an inn smack in the middle of town that’s been there for decades. They often run events and festivals on the weekends during summer months. For more information on events they hold see the events portion of this post.

 

Patisserie
The Sherwood runs a little bakery called Patisserie located behind the inn out of a small building at the edge of the parking lot. There’s not much room to sit, but I can’t go to Skaneateles without stopping in and picking up a treat to go. The lemon bars and cookies are some of the best I’ve ever had. A selection of some of the desserts and breads they rotate can be found on their website under the price list form.

 

Mirabeau Spa
While this is a pricey way to spend the day, it’s worth it every once in a blue moon. Mirabeau is a full service spa, restaurant, and resort. As soon as you pull into the parking lot you’ll feel as if you’ve arrived on the French countryside. If you go for one treatment at the spa you will get access to all of their facilities for the entire day for no fee. That means you can use their gym, attend an exercise class, hit the sauna or steam room, or relax in the outdoor mineral whirlpool year round. You’ll get your own luxurious robe for the day that you can wear anywhere around the grounds, including the dining room for lunch or brunch. I recommend you arrive at the spa by 10 am and sign up for a late afternoon spa appointment around 2 or 3 o’clock. This will allow you to get full use of the spa and have lunch in the dining room or the aqua terrace. A manicure, lunch, and a half bottle of wine will run you about $100 with taxes and gratuity. It’s worth every penny. You will need to call well in advance for an appointment, especially if you would like to go on the weekend. For more information visit the website. There are photos of the grounds, a spa price list, and menus for the dining room, wine bar, and aqua terrace.

 

Lake View Restaurant
The photo for this blog is taken from the deck at the 1820 House restaurant. It’s located 8 miles up the road from town and overlooks the lake. It’s pricey  but the food is great and there is no view quite like this on a clear summer night.  Reservations are a must and request to sit outside if it’s a nice night. While there are not a lot of vegetarian options listed on the menu, they will happily make something to your liking upon your request.

They are open Thursday – Sunday from January to July and Wednesday to Sunday July to January. For reservations call (315) 673-2778.

Events
During the summer months there’s a few events held in town practically every day. There are often free concerts on the lakefront. The Sherwood holds several events on their side yard with bands, food, and drinks. Here are some to look forward to:

  • Dogfish Head Brewery Hoppy Hour at the Sherwood. Wednesday March 20, 2013 at 6:00 pm. Tickets are $40.
  • Saranac Summer Beer-B-Que (look for a date at the beginning of July)
  • Sherwood Inn Rhythm & Blues BBQ (look for a date at the end of July along with the classic boat show)
  • Sherwood Inn Seafood Music Festival (look for a date at the beginning of September)
  • Sherwood Inn Fall Festival (look for a date at the end of September)
  • Skaneateles Winterfest (look for a date at the end of January)

For a complete list of events in town visit the Skaneateles events calendar page.

Other Places to Eat
There’s plenty of great places to eat. Here are a few hot spots.

Valentine’s is a little delicatessen right on the main drag. It’s been there for years and the food is good. They have pizza, calzones, salads, and they’ll make any kind of sandwich you want.

Doug’s Fish Fry is a childhood memory for me. My parents love eating here and we never went a summer without stopping in a few times. The name sums up what they serve. There’s fish, shrimp, clams, scallops, oysters, and lobster served several ways with a plethora of starters and sides. Order at the counter on a nice day or night and head out to the back to eat at one of their many picnic tables. Not an outdoor person? No problem. You can grab a table at the indoor dining room.

The Coleman family (who owns Coleman’s on Tipperary Hill and reviewed in a previous post) just opened up a new bar and restaurant this past Fall called the LakeHouse Pub. I haven’t had a chance to go yet, but anything the Coleman’s do is great. There’s live entertainment on Saturday and Sunday nights. They serve traditional bar food and heavier sandwiches like roast beef and turkey.

Kabuki is a sushi bar next door to the LakeHouse Pub. They serve a wide variety of rolls, noodles, and other Asian dishes.

The Bluewater Grill is the closest you’ll get to a waterfront restaurant. There’s no real view of the water, but it’s right on the main drag of town. You will need a reservation for dinner during the summer. For more information visit their Facebook page.

Logistics
Parking can get a bit crazy in town during the summertime. There’s a pay to park lot with a few free spots that fill up quickly between Jordan and State Street. There’s a free lot a couple of blocks from the waterfront behind the post office on Fennell Street and the old Fire Station at 25 Fennell Street that you can often find a spot in.

For more information on Skaneateles visit the website.

 

Are there any kinds of restaurants or activities you want to know about in Syracuse? Let me know and I’ll be happy to write about it. Send me an email at algannon@syr.edu or leave a blog response below.  I’d love to hear from you.

 

Amelia

Your Great Grandmother’s Italian Kitchen

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Syracuse is home to the best no frills Italian restaurant outside of Italy I’ve ever been to. And that’s saying a lot. My mother is 100 percent Italian and grew up cooking homemade sauce, sausage, pasta and wine with her family. What is this gem of a place? Luigi’s located in the Valley area of Syracuse.

When you walk into Luigi’s you’ll know immediately this is the real thing. There’s no fancy decor. It’s all about the food. More is better and boy do they know how to pile it high on your plate. You can’t share plates, but you won’t want to. Half the fun is having enough leftovers to last you three days, literally. For somewhere between $10 and $15 you’ll have a homemade dinner to eat for 3 days. All of the entrees start off with a salad and they bring you a basket of bread from Columbus Bakery that is simply amazing. Many of the meat entrees come with your choice of a generous side of pasta or french fries in addition to your salad. The side of pasta alone is enough for more than one regular meal.

So what can I recommend? You can’t go wrong with whatever you choose. For a smaller meal their pizza is amazing and heavy on the sauce. The wings are pretty decent as well. If you get pasta, the house marinara is a must. I often get their cavatelli (small rolled pasta) with broccoli and marinara, linguine with claim sauce, or baked ravioli. A single meatball is the size of a tennis ball and each is made by hand daily.You can order meatballs and sausage with any meal. The fish dinner on Fridays is a very popular spot for locals. They have very moderately priced wines as well. If for some reason you’re still hungry after dinner you can head right across the street to Gannon’s Isle for the best ice cream in Central New York (I’ll post about this later).

So, when you’re in the market for some home cooking, don’t feel like going grocery shopping for a few days, or are looking for a good hot meal on a cold night head to Luigi’s. They ‘ll  take care of you like you’re their own. In a hurry? No problem. They do a great takeout business as well.

 

Location: 1524 Valley Drive Syracuse, NY
Contact: (315) 492-9997

Menu: A small selection of the menu can be seen here, but it doesn’t do the full menu justice.

 

Green Over Red

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Tipperary Hill is a neighborhood located on the West Side of Syracuse. For decades it was well populated by Irish families. The neighborhood is now filled with young professionals from around the Syracuse area, but the Irish roots are still very prevalent. Today there are several bars and sites that you simply can’t miss out on. Here are a few of my favorites.

Coleman’s: A Good Old Irish Pub

Coleman’s is one of the larger and more well-known bars on Tipperary Hill. It’s been in the Coleman family for decades and is a great place for dinner or drinks any night of the week. You can tell it’s an Irish pub from the moment you reach the front door. There’s a leprechaun only phone booth and entryway. The large bar area has mugs hung around it with the names of many of the original regulars. There are plenty of Irish sayings posted along the walls. The dinner menu has traditional Irish foods like soda bread and corned beef and cabbage as well as more America ones like Buffalo wings. Every Thursday, Friday and Saturday night there’s a live band. When the weather is nicer the band often plays outside in the parking lot at “Tipperary Square.” There’s always a large young crowd there from around the Syracuse area.

Coleman’s has several annual events that are a must do. Many of them are coming up (including a great one this Sunday)! To read more about these events check out the events section later in this post. Here’s an interesting fact. The Coleman family doesn’t just celebrate St. Patrick’s Day in Syracuse. The same family owns the Dubliner in the District of Columbia. In 2012, President Obama stopped by the Irish pub for a pint of Guinness to celebrate the day.

Weather you go for dinner, drinks, or a daylong celebration you’ll definitely have a good time at Coleman’s.

The Upside Down Stop Light

And now for the namesake of this post…A few blocks up from Coleman’s is the infamous upside-down stoplight. When stoplights were first installed in the neighborhood decades ago, rebellious Irish youth were angry that the British red was above the Irish green. They began throwing stones to break the lights. Eventually the stoplight was reserved to its current position with the green on the top. You can see the light and statues to commemorate the famous stone throwers that put the Irish on top.

Cashel House

Looking for a special gift for someone? The Cashel house is right across from Coleman’s and has imported Irish goods, jewelry, Tipperary Hill souvenirs, and every kind of shamrock clothing you can imagine.

Blarney Stone: Best Burger Bargain in Town

The Blarney Stone is a small Irish bar in the neighborhood. You can order bar food and sit anywhere you find a seat. For $3.50 you can get a “Blarney Burger” ordered anyway you like.  The burger even made the Best of CNY Burger Battle top 5 in 2012.  Burgers aren’t the only thing good to order. In 2011 the Blarney Stone won the Best of CNY Chicken Wing Showdown for the best Buffalo-style wing. There are specials every day of the week that are sure to make any college student excited.

Twin Trees

The Original Twin Trees is a casual Italian restaurant. You can’t go wrong with anything you order and the pizza is one of the best in Syracuse. The crust has more dough than a New York style pizza, but it’s still crispy. The price isn’t too bad either. For $12.99 you can get a large cheese pizza that’s big enough to take home some leftovers. If pasta is more your thing, the prices are reasonable and include a salad.

Tipperary Hill Events

Tipperary Hill puts on a lot of great events throughout the year. Here are a couple of events you just can’t miss!

Green Beer Sunday at Coleman’s

Coleman’s annual Green Beer Sunday event is this Sunday, February 24. This festivity marks the arrival of the celebratory green beer! Join the bar for a short parade and plenty of green beer to mark the beginning of the St. Patrick’s Day season. Festivities start at noon.  Be sure to dress warmly. For more information visit the event’s Facebook page.

Shamrock Run

The Shamrock Run is a 4 mile race throughout the Tipperary hill neighborhood on March 2. Register by February 22 for a discounted fee. For more information visit the information and registration page.

St. Patrick’s Day at Coleman’s

Chicago may have the green river on St. Patrick’s Day, but Syracuse has Coleman’s. There’s music, food, good beer, and great company all day long. If you plan to head down to Coleman’s for St. Patty’s be sure to dress warmly. The party goes on both inside and out.

Music Festival

The Tipperary Hill Music Festival is a great place to enjoy the beginning of the Fall weather. It’s a free celebration with great music and good food. Bring a lawn chair or something to sit on. The 2013 Music Festival is on September 21 at the Pass Arboretum. For more information visit the event’s website.