To kick off my first blog post in months, I wanted to mention that The Thirsty Owl winery is now open in Saratoga. The original Thirsty Owl Wine Company is a destination winery, midway up the west side of Cayuga Lake, dedicated to producing high quality wines. They have decided to open a second location in Saratoga which is to our benefit. They remodeled a building that’s been around for a while and it’s beautiful.  We did a tasting and I have to say that the Malbac was a favorite of mine.  The Thirsty Owl is now pouring full glasses of wine as well and they intend to open a restaurant in the front of the building.  If you are in the area, it’s worth stopping in and checking out.  The winery is located at 184 South Broadway. 

The Thirsty Owl

The Charles F Lucas Confectionery and Wine Bar

Right when we walked in, I knew this place was going to be good.  The décor was beautiful with exposed beams and brick throughout the space.

Wine Bar Troy

We took a seat at the bar and were immediately greeted by one of the very nice bartenders.  After hearing about the three wines they had on tap, I sampled the Cabernet Sauvignon and a Malbac from the large wine list.  I went with the latter which was very good but not too full bodied. I should have listened to the bar tender when he recommended the Cabernet Sauvignon.  No complaints though, trust me.

Wine and Beer

After deciding on our drinks, it was time to move on to the menu. The Charles F Lucas Confectionary and Wine Bar specializes in small plates, cheese, charcuterie and confections of course.  We decided on doing the 3 for $12 cheese and charcuterie menu where you get to choose from a wonderful selection of many different types of cheeses all paired with something sweet like Nutella, fruit or chocolate.  The charcuterie selection was wonderful too so it made it very hard to narrow it down. We decided on Shushan Snow cheese which was from the Smooth and Silky section of the menu and that was paired with honey, the Soft Wheel from the Little Stinkers section which was paired with pear paste and Applewood Smoked Duck Breast to round out our third selection.  Our choices were served on a slate board with plenty of fresh bread, mustard, pickles and we even got some figs and fig jam on there too since I told the bar tender about how much I love figs- what a nice little treat!

Cheese, Duck and Bread

The cheeses were incredible and I loved all of the pairings they came with. It really complimented everything so nicely.  The duck was excellent and the portions were very good.  We were toying with the idea of getting a small plate as well but I’m glad we stuck with just the 3 choices because it was plenty.  While sitting at the bar, we noticed lots of glass jars filled with all sorts of fun candy like Bit-O-Honey, Mike & Ike, Gummy Bears and Runts.

Candy Jars

You can order from a wide selection of candies and chocolates and they will serve it to you in a glass dish or you can get it to go! How much fun is that?!?!  I saw that someone had ordered Runts which I haven’t had in years!  Our fantastic bar tender overheard me say how much I loved those as a kid and he gave us a little glass full.

Runts

Yes, this place is truly heavenly.  Sadly, it was time for us to leave but that did mean it was time for the Confections portion of the meal…my favorite!  There was a beautiful display of truffles, cake pops, brownies, blondies and lots of other goodies.

Confections

Truffles

I’m totally obsessed with desserts topped off with sea salt so I went with the salted caramel truffle.  It was the perfect ending to our perfect experience at The Charles F Lucas Confectionary and Wine Bar in Troy.  This has become one of our new favorite places and we can’t wait to go back and try some of the other wonderful selections from the menu.  Put this place on your high priority list.  You will not be disappointed!

Oh and by the way, if you have to use the restroom, just look for the Troylet

The Restroom

Mirror Lake Inn

Everywhere you look, something beautiful and festive just pops up. I’ve been looking forward to this weekend for a couple of months for many reasons, but the two things I really had my eye on were the Abby Ale from the Adirondack Steak and Seafood Company and the house-made granola from Mirror Lake Inn. More on those wonderful treats in a bit. We arrived to freshly baked chocolate chip cookies upon checking in which is always the best way to be welcomed in my opinion. Although they weren’t the best chocolate chippers I have had, I managed to have a couple just to be sure ☺. We arrived around lunchtime and knew that having a little nosh at The Cottage is the only way to go for lunch. It’s a great spot that’s part of MLI and sits right on the lake. We were able to get a cozy table right next to the window where we enjoyed the spectacular views and a Harpoon Winter Warmer.

The Cottage

We decided to get the cheese board which came with a loaf of fresh bread, wheat crackers, grapes, apples, Boursin cheese, strawberry chardonnay cheese and maple cheddar. Boursin is a favorite or ours so we knew that wouldn’t go to waste but the maple cheddar was something new to us. I’ve had a lot of cheese and many varieties but my first instinct wouldn’t be to reach for a maple cheddar. Well I’ve been converted my friends. This combo was excellent!!! I can’t wait for my next get together so that I have an excuse to get it. The maple added just a hint of sweetness but it wasn’t overpowering at all. It was a great way to have a different variation on cheddar. It was time to check out the holiday stroll going on in the village so we walked around and got to eat free Christmas cookies and gumbo samples. This place is truly heaven on earth! As we reached the end of the strip, there was a cute little bakery called the Sugar Shack Dessert Co.

The Sugar Shack

I had to pop my head in to see what they had and the cupcakes looked really good. In the dessert hierarchy, cake and cupcakes don’t usually come in at the top of my list but these looked delectable, so I went with the Sno-Cap cupcake which was chocolate cake with chocolate frosting topped with nonpareils. I don’t want to say that this cupcake was topped with frosting because it was reminiscent of chocolate mousse.

Cupcake

Needless to say, it was excellent and I could have eaten the frosting by the gallon. The light airiness of the chocolate mousse frosting combined with the crunchiness of the nonpareils was so good. The only thing I regret is getting a mini, but seeing as though our next stop was the Lake Placid Brewery, it was probably a good idea. Now that I’ve had my sugar fix, it was time for my beer fix so LPB here we come!

LPB

Beers at Lake Placid Brewery

The cozy ambiance of Christmas lights inside and out made it the perfect backdrop for my Moose Island Ale. Now I definitely enjoy the beers at LPB but one of THE BEST beers I have ever had can be found at the Great Adirondack Steak & Seafood which also has a brewery (Great Adirondack Brewing Co.) located on the main strip in Lake Placid. All of their beers are excellent but the Abby Ale is unbelievable!!!

Abby Ale

I practically have dreams about this beer it is SO good. It’s worth stopping in for a sampler so that you can try all the beers they have on tap but I say just skip to the good stuff and get a pint of the Abby.

Sampler from Adk Brewing

Now that we’ve had a few beers to keep up warm, it was time for dinner. I’ve always been a fan of Milano’s in Latham, so we thought we would check out Milano’s North right here in Lake Placid. We got a great spot in the window (again) overlooking the main strip so we could watch holiday shoppers and strollers wonder about. I’ve been completely obsessed with figs lately so we started with the Fico pizza which had Adriatic figs, roasted shallots, prosciutto, gorgonzola and fontina with a balsamic glaze. (the Latham locations’ version comes with fig jam, not Adriatic figs).

Fico Pizza

It was so good I almost ordered it again as my meal. I loved the sweetness of the figs and balsamic glaze against the saltiness of the prosciutto and cheeses. I would almost drive back up to Lake Placid just to have this pizza and an Abby Ale. Unfortunately, that was the best part of the meal. For dinner I got a pasta dish which had chicken, roasted squash, eggplant, red peppers, tomatoes, spinach, toasted almonds and extra virgin olive oil. Sounds good right!?!?! Not so much.

Pasta Dish

There was practically a puddle of water on the bottom of my plate and everything was soggy and flavorless. Such a huge disappointment after such a great start. My husband’s pasta dish was not much better so we decided that it’s probably best to stick to the pizza. After a fun night playing games at the Inn next to some of the most amazingly decorated Christmas tress, we headed to bed as visions of sugar plums and Mirror Lake Inn granola danced in our heads.

Christmas Tree

The breakfast buffet at the hotel has a decent selection of your typical morning fare but there is one item that is head and shoulders above the rest, and it’s the house made granola. It has huge chunks of oats, brown sugar, cashews, cinnamon and some other heavenly type ingredients along with a TON of butter. I’m going to try and convince myself that it’s healthy because it’s “granola,” but nothing that good could actually be good for you (at least in the quantity I eat it in:). Okay, I would add this granola to my list of items worth making the trip to Lake Placid for. I noticed that the granola is on the room service menu so you might be able to just pop in and pick some up. If not, it’s worth getting the breakfast buffet just for this-it is that good. All in all, it was a wonderfully festive and delicious weekend at the lake. My picks are obvious so enjoy some Abby Ale from Adirondack brewing, grab a Fico pizza from Milano’s and start your day off with the Mirror Lake Inn house-made granola. You won’t be disappointed!

Baked By Melissa Cupcakes

I tried the S’mores, Cookie Dough, Chocolate Chip Pancake, Cinnamon, Peanut Butter cup, PB & J, Red Velvet and the mini of the month which is vanilla cake with fudge stuffing, vanilla icing and a snowflake coconut crunch topping.  They were worth the wait because they were all delicious.  The cake was moist and the flavors were great.  My favorites were the PB & J, Snowball (mini of the month) and Cinnamon, although I really loved all of them.  After my “mini” sugar fix, we headed to the holiday shops in Bryant Park.  I stumbled upon the French macaroon booth which not only got me psyched for more sugar, but looked beautiful as well.  The array of colors and flavors offered by Woops macaroons and cookies was so much fun to look at.

Woops Macaroons

It was a tough decision in terms of what flavors to get because they offered 15, but we went with Nutella and Caramel Fleur De Sel.  Both of them were excellent but the Caramel Fleur De Sel was absolutely unbelievable.

Flavors

It had a rich butter flavor and just enough sea salt to balance out the sweetness.  After working towards a diabetic coma, we figured it was time for lunch.  Not really having an agenda, we walked down 5^thAvenue looking down side streets to see if we could find something that looked interesting.  We found a place called Brinkley’s Station offering up classic American fare from local New York farmers, markets, winery’s and brewery’s.  This is the way to support local businesses for sure!  After grabbing a spot at the bar along with a Six Point Righteous Rye, it was time to check out the menu.  We were given the brunch menu which I thought was a little weird because it was about 2:00 on a Saturday and they also offer a lunch menu but that’s okay.  The selection was still great and after looking things over, I went with the eggplant and chickpea burger.

Eggplant and Chickpea Burger

It came with spicy Tahini dressing and thinly sliced cucumber along with kale on a 7 grain bun with a side of sweet potato fries.  This dish was awesome!  The burger had really great flavor and the fries were served with a very generous dusting of some sort of brown sugar spice mixture.  The dipping sauce was a chipotle mayo as if the brown sugar topping alone wasn’t enough.  I absolutely LOVED these.  Now that I have the fuel to power down the rest of 5^thavenue, it was time to do some shopping.  After seeing the spectacular windows at Saks, and the amazing décor on the outside of Harry Winston and Bergdorf Goodman, it was time to check out the Rockefeller tree. Making our way through human grid lock was worth the pushing and shoving because as always, it’s quite a beautiful sight.  I had one more place on my hit list (involving sugar of course) and it was Momofuku Milk Bar.  There’s a lot of hype around their amazing cakes along with their Compost Cookie.

Compost Cookie

I would consider myself a cookie connoisseur because it’s one of my absolute favorite things to eat and I’ve probably consumed more then the average human being.  When I heard that the Compost Cookie consisted of chocolate chips, graham cracker crumbs, potato chips, pretzels, oats, coffee grounds and toffee I had to get my hands on it.  Luckily there was a location close by so we stopped in to see this work of art in person.

Compost Cookie

I have to say that the cookie looked great but it honestly tasted like a toffee cookie which was a little disappointing.  It was a good cookie, don’t get me wrong, but I don’t really see what all of the hype is about.  Save the calories for one of the other 8 million amazing things offered in New York.  The weather was starting to get cold and windy which meant it was time for a little winter warmer a.k.a. cocktail.  We wanted to go somewhere cozy and Christmassy and the Cock and Bull British Pub was both.  The beer selection was good and I guess they are known for having a couple of rare British beers on tap.  I was in the mood for wine so it was Cabernet Sauvignon for me.  The place was decked out for Christmas and Bing Crosby was keeping things festive.  We figured we would come up with our dinner plans despite the fact that I had already made a few reservations.  My first choice was Mario Batali’s restaurant Babbo, but it’s one of the hardest places to get into. I called the day of to see if there were any cancellations but no such luck.  I decided to cancel our reservations at his other restaurant Lupa along with our reservations at Bobby Flay’s Mesa Grill since they were both a little bit further away and we didn’t want to risk missing our train.  A nice trade off was heading to restaurant row between 8^th and 9^thAve in the theater district.  We didn’t have reservations anywhere so I popped in to about 5 places till I found one with less then an hour wait.  It was a great little Italian restaurant called Lattanzi.  After waiting about 20 minutes, we were seated in a beautiful room with brick walls, a wooden ceiling and lots of candlelight.

Lattanzi

While noshing on bread sticks and sipping some wine, we decided to order the tortellini which was filled with veal and chicken in a tomato sauce along with the Veal Scalopini.

Lattanzi

The food was very good but definitely not out of this world. The tortellini was the better of the two dishes and the potato’s that came with the veal were very good too.  If you happen to be in this area and you’re looking for a place to eat, I wouldn’t cross Lattanzi off of your list, just don’t expect anything over and above the norm.  The day was winding down so we started heading towards Penn Station.  Lucky for us, Heartland Brewery was on our way back so we thought we deserved a beer for all of the walking around we did.

Heartland Brewery Menu

What better way to try a local brewery then ordering the sampler.  The beer was good and the vibe was cool but I think we are spoiled by Brown’s Brewing in Troy.

Beer Sampler

There, I said it! The beer in Troy is better then NYC in this particular case (of course this is only my opinion:).  Our last and final impromptu stop was at Garrett’s Popcorn right next door to the train station.  When I saw that they had gingerbread caramel popcorn, I couldn’t contain myself.

Gingerbread Popcorn

After a day fueled by sugar and wine, I figured lets go for the gusto and finish things off the only way I know how, more sugar!  If you are in the city this holiday season, I highly recommend getting this as a snack to walk around the city with because it was AWESOME!!!

If you’re lucky enough to get to New York over the next few weeks, I hope you get to enjoy a lot of the amazing food the big apple has to offer.  My picks for the day were the Baked By Melissa cupcakes, Caramel Fleur de Sel Macaroon by Woops in Bryant park, and the Gingerbread popcorn at Garrett’s.  Happy Holidays!

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All Good Bakers

Fresh Bread

It was my fault for not checking their hours but they close at 3:00 on Saturday’s and I got there at 5:00.  I should have assumed that a bakery would be closed but it was wishful thinking on my behalf.  Luckily for us, or anyone else who happens to visit them, they are attached to The Cheese Traveler.  This is new shop that has some incredible cheeses from around the world. Eric, the proprietor, is more then happy to let you sample some of his wonderful selections. We tried samples of 2 different types of Gouda, something from Ireland and Parmigiano Reggiano.

Cheese

Every single piece was phenomenal.  I feel as though I’ve been cheated in the cheese world after sampling some of the products in his store.  If you are in the Albany area, it’s definitely worth stopping by his shop located at 540 Delaware Ave.  This Sunday (November 18^th) is their Grand Opening where they will be partnering up with Tilldale Farms for some fun events like a cooking demo and cheese tastings and demonstrations.  The festivities go from 1-6 and it would be a great way to sample a variety of cheeses.   After we made our purchases, we headed down the street to Mingle to see what all the buzz is about.  We sat at the bar where I had a glass of red wine while checking out the menu.  I ordered the Korean Tacos which is two corn tortillas filled with marinated beef tossed in gochujang and stuffed with apple-radish kimchi, Napa cabbage, scallions and Chef’s spicy yogurt sauce.

Korean Tacos

They were everything I had hoped they would be.  The bar tender mentioned that they were spicy and when I first started eating them, I didn’t think they were too bad.  This is definitely a situation where the heat builds because by the end of my first taco, I could feel the spiciness but I liked it.  Mingle likes to support our local community and gives monetary donations along with gift cards and free food to places like Albany Suicide prevention, Senior Services of Albany and Women’s Employment and Resource Center.  If you are looking for a great place to have dinner, Mingle should be on the top of your short list.  While you’re in the area, enjoy some of the other great foods on Delaware Ave. I may pick up some cookies from All Good Bakers then head over to Emack and Bolios  and make an ice cream sandwich out of it.  Or, get some cheese from The Traveler and bread from the Bakers.  Ohhhhh the combos!!

To discover great local food businesses, “Like” me on Facebook and Twitter.  Thank you!