Last week, 22 years after finishing grad school and moving away from Ithaca, I returned to spend a week as a guest instructor at Cornell. My spouse accompanied me, and together we had ambitious plans to eat our way through the shining city on Cayuga’s shores. So few places remained from my time in Ithaca, but of course old standbys like Collegetown Bagels and the Greenstar Coop persist. What follows is an account of our adventures, as far as I can remember them, the good, the bad and the delicious. I’m not a fan of pulling out a phone during dinner, so there are few photos but I’ll paste in what I have from the week, even if many of them are not of food.
Our first night, we made the drive out from Boston and arrived famished and overwhelmed by the number of quick eats around the Commons. It was Saturday night and a number of places were crowded. My only requirement was bar height, as I needed to stand after 6 hours sitting in the car. We ended up at Red’s, which with “gastropub” as a description, lured us in. Unfortunately, this was our only real disappointment of the week. We both ordered burgers, and a brussel sprouts app to share. I admit, I didn’t really look at the brussels menu description that closely, but the soggy, sweet cranberry-laden mess we were served should have caused us to run the other way. Burgers took upwards of 45 minutes, and mine (ordered medium-rare) was charred to a puck and fries were cold. The bartender didn’t check back in til we were close to done, and when she saw my burger which I’d just nibbled at, she ran back to the kitchen to see if they could remake it, but returned and told us they were so backed up that it would be a long wait. Instead, she took it off the bill. My DC’s burger was mid-well, but not as bad as mine, and he might have inhaled it regardless. Luckily, it was all uphill (just like the Cornell campus )from here.
Sunday we explored the Farmer’s Market and had one of the single best things I’ve eaten in a while: the Cambodian pancake bowl is fantastic. It was similar to a Vietnamese banh xeo crepe, with diced chicken, veggies and rice noodles. My DC had a wide rice noodle stir fry bowl which was also really tasty. The owner of the stand also chatted with us while our food was prepared and we learned that he tried having a regular restaurant, but it was too much work and not enough sleep for him, so now they only do the Farmer’s Market. He was a complete character in the best possible way.
Our second night, we went to Mia’s on the Common. I had fond memories of Thai Cuisine in the late nineties, which was my intro to Thai food, and the owner of that restaurant has since opened Mia’s. It’s described as Thai tapas, but I’m not sure why. As at most restaurants, there is an assortment of large and small plates available. We really liked the house-made Thai sausage, and baby bok choi with truffle oil. A half duck was beautifully rendered and cooked, but the sauce was a bit sweet. Most of the sauces on most of the plates we tried were described as tamarind chili, and they did tend to the sweet for my taste overall. I would have liked more sour, hot, and salty, and less sweet. Desserts were excellent- a gluten free chocolate tart, and an espresso creme brulee.
Next up was Maxie’s Supper Club, which opened while I was in Ithaca and holds my loyalty as the site of many a fun dinner back when it was the hot new place. I had a special of blackened catfish with a potato cake and a cream sauce which was delicious. My DC had the fried chicken with grits and collards, which was tasty, but as it was white meat, was disappointingly tough and chewy. We skipped dessert and stopped at Personal Best brewing which has a fantastic sour on tap and a lovely beer garden. This was our favorite drink of the week and I’d love to explore more of their offerings.
For breakfasts, we alternated between coffee from Press, which was right across from where we were staying at the Hotel Ithaca, and Collegetown Bagels, which brews an excellent dark roast from Copper Horse called War Horse. My DC, who was working remotely, wandered over to the hand pie shop in the alley across from the hotel and proclaimed them delicious. I mostly took grab and go salads from Ithaca Bakery which are sold at CTB- I would dearly love to have a $10 salad option as excellent, balanced, and filling near me. Each evening, we wandered over to the Greenstar Coop and restocked on bars and snacks as my DC also spent serious time biking (around the full lake one day- 87 miles and some insane amount of elevation) so he needed to have quick portable calories on hand, and I needed a fun assortment of treats to bring for my students.
Tuesday, we dined at Moosewood, which one should always do when in Ithaca. I had a kale salad and added a piece of smoked trout, and my DC had a really excellent pasta with a mushroom sauce. An app of polenta cakes was noteworthy.
The following night, we sat outside at the Ithaca Beer Company and I had a very good dinner salad with grilled chicken added, and my DC had the fish and chips which were excellent, especially the sidewinder fries- a spiralizer cut that I will now be on the lookout for. The value here was really good, and the food was exactly what I would have expected - tasty, and hit the spot without being fussy.
On Thursday, we hiked up the Cascadilla Gorge trail, ending on campus and then winding back down through Collegetown. There are a plethora of Asian options, many Korean or Korean-influenced. Nobody felt like getting out a phone and trying to track down guidance or reviews, and my DC said he wasn’t in the mood for Korean, so we ventured into Xi An Street Foods and were rewarded with excellent hand-pulled noodles (wheat-based for my DC) and a spicy cumin lamb bowl for me. An amazing value, as lamb is often expensive, and this was a generous portion served over rice with various other toppings for $12. It was unseasonably warm for most of our trip, and we hiked back down precipitously steep Buffalo Street for our nightly re-supply at Greenstar, as well as ice cream at Cayuga Lake Creamery. Sadly, the soft serve window at Shortstop Deli was closed for the season. However, after his earlier bike ride, my DC felt that he needed a second dinner, so he had his inaugural Shortstop PMP with meatballs. I merely watched in awe of his caloric needs.
Our last night in town, we walked over to the Ithaca Baking Company and had excellent sandwiches, plus a truly delicious cream of tomato soup. I love that a little bakery can have such a great beer and wine list, and as much as I love Massachusetts, it makes me rue the cost of liquor licenses here. We loved our sandwiches so much, we returned the next morning for breakfast sandwiches on bagels, and lunch sandwiches wrapped to go for the road. Truly a full week of eating!