Restaurants

"One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well." Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own

Canton

A-1 Oriental Kitchen – 43 Main Street -- Basic Chinese-American menu.
Best Western University Inn and Lounge – 90 E. Main -- Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Pretty basic hotel food, with service that is often slow. These days many SLU students hang out in the bar.
Brewer Bookstore –Park Street -- Best coffee and espresso drinks in the North Country. Good biscotti, cakes, pies, etc.
Cindy’s Cake Shop –2738 State Hw 68 ( ½ mile past SUNY Canton) ---Good place to order cakes for special occasions. Has some cakes on hand as well as various party accouterment. Cindy is REALLY good about handling last minute orders. Good cake-like brownies, too.
Doggybag Deli –1 Hodskin Street – Open for lunch. Very good Boar’s Head deli meats and cheese. All kinds of sandwiches, including panini. The horseradish sauce is particularly nice with roast beef. Ruebens are also very good.
Glass Onion – 25 Court Street – Nice atmosphere. New American cuisine. Good place to take candidates! Lunch is mainly sandwiches and wraps, and dinner gets fancier, but lunches tend to be better than dinners. Full service expresso bar. Reservations: 386-2500
Josie’s (Upstairs)/Sylvia’s Lounge (downstairs, with full bar) 25 Main Street – Pizza (including Bianco and others with unusual toppings, for example Mexican Pizza), pizza rolls, salad. Ben and Jerry’s ice cream by the pint. If you ever want ice cream delivered to you, call Josie’s and order a pizza with a side of ice cream (Ginny Schwartz perfected this technique)
Larry’s Fish Truck – Comes to Canton every Thursday morning with fresh seafood. Stops at the corner of Park and Main, across from the Post Office. Also in Potsdam on Thursday afternoon, at the corner of Market and the Rt 11 bypass, across from Stewart’s (not bad for ice cream itself!).
McCarthy’s – Route 11, toward Gouverneur -- Open for breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with breakfast available all day. The best time of year to visit McCarthy’s is in early summer when fresh strawberry shortcake is available. The rest of the year, there are many different pies each day. If you want more than dessert, there is a salad bar with soup and daily specials. Basic American food, including veggie burgers. Great pie.
Meadows – Russell Road (what Park Street turns into after the village)—Breakfast and lunch. Good, diner-type food, including veggie burgers. Good fries, good blueberry pancakes, with real maple syrup available. Nature’s Storehouse – 21 Main Street – Wholesome vegetarian soup and wrap available for lunch, with the kind changing each day.
Partridge Coffee Den – 77 Main Street – Bagel sandwiches and espresso coffees. Hidden in a cute nook under the Pear Tree (yes, the owners are related), the sandwiches are good, but service is sometimes slow.
Phoebe’s – 5994 Route 11 – Right outside of Canton on your way to Potsdam. Nice menu.
Sergi’s – 31 Main Street – Basic Italian food, including pizza and calzone. Pasta, veal, chicken dishes. Fast service, good food. Wine and beer.

Potsdam:

Angelo’s – 43 Maple-- Best place to get well prepared seafood in the area. Angelo is a true restaurateur who enjoys creating new dishes and finding out what his customers like to eat. He also really knows seafood. Lunch menu includes deli sandwiches, fish, and unique offerings like Salmon B.L.T. Dinner menu includes fried fish and shrimp, wonderful scampi, fresh fish, calamari, and pasta-seafood dishes. Small vegetarian menu. They’ll make anything you request: try the pan-fried trout served with rice and veggies or the Salmon Oscar. Beer and wine are available. Good selection of retail seafood, and delivery available in Potsdam. Reservations:265-9227.
Bagelry – 9 Market St. – New York Water Bagels, made fresh every day. Sandwiches, muffins, soups. Open for breakfast, lunch, dinner, or a late night snack.
Cactus Grill and Cantina – 11 Raymond -- Basic Mexican/Southwest with good homemade salsa, nice lime-tinged shrimp quesadilla, full bar. Prices are reasonable. Converted warehouse setting means it’s loud, especially on weekends when it’s crowded.
Caroline’s Diner – 124 Market -- Absolutely Good pancakes, including chocolate chip (with chocolate syrup and whipped cream if you’re premenstrual!). Also basic lunch selection.
The Fields – 2A Market Street -- Coffee bar and smoothies, bagels, desserts, soup, and wraps, salads, and sandwiches. The Hop – 3 Market -- Short-order grill with awesome milkshakes, good breakfast.
Mama Lucia – 1 Constitution St.—Fun atmosphere. Family style Italian restaurant. With good wood-fired pizza. Take a group!
Maxfield’s – 15 Market -- Lunch includes unique wraps, salads, sandwiches. Dinner menu includes a range of appetizers, meal-type salads, pasta, burgers, and seafood, steak, and currently some Asian influenced selections. Great beer selection, including a lot of microbrews. Nice a place to relax with reliable meals in a nice atmosphere. Beautiful deck overlooking the Racquette River open in the summer. Reservations: 265-3796.
Mom’s Schoolhouse –809 Rte 34, West Potsdam (about 10 minutes from downtown Potsdam toward Madrid)—Breakfast, lunch in an old-fashioned soda fountain/restaurant. Sandwiches, grinders, homemade (and absolutely wonderful) coleslaw, milkshakes, sundaes, fresh pie. A real treat!
Scoops—167 Market St—Ice cream by the scoop, sundaes, milkshakes, scones, muffins, ice cream cake, coffee and espresso drinks. Great little spot to dine in, out, or drive-through.
Sergi’s (10 Market), Josie’s (13 Market): Menus are pretty similar to their Canton counterparts.
Taste of India – 38 Market -- Very nice menu, including tandoori dishes, large vegetarian menu, and chicken, lamb, and seafood dishes. Great bread selection, Sunday brunch buffet, good lassi drinks. Beer and wine. Reservations: 265-4972.
Tardelli’s – 141 Market -- Has its 1950s menu on the wall featuring $1.45 pasta with “olio and aglio”! Still on the menu, slightly more expensive. Great minestra, good pasta and other standard Italian fare. They advertise the best veal in the North Country. Wednesday special is a deal: Pasta, salad, and garlic bread for the price of pasta only. Good prices overall. Reservations: 265-8446.
Village Diner—Market Square Mall—Breakfast and lunch fare, with specialties such as an egg, cheese, and grilled tomato sandwich. Home of the “largest pancake” contest that evidently has area college students competing for the carbohydrate gold.

North of Potsdam – Norfolk to Massena

Angelo’s – 240 E. Orvis, Massena -- A decent Italian restaurant, casual. They usually have some good specials, both appetizer and dinner. Excellent puttanesca, possibly the only place serving it in the county! Great homemade dessert. Reservations: 769-9701.
Bob’s Bake Shop – 428 S Main St, Massena – Basic bakery (one of few in our area) with great donuts, but also has fancy homemade cookies, cannoli, and good bread.
Hotel Grande – 9 South Main Street, Norfolk – Good Tex-Mex menu, with nice shrimp fajitas, chile relleno, burritos. Val also likes the Montezuma Pie; Marta likes the deep fried corn. When they have it, the tortilla soup is also good. Basic menu, nicely done. Sopapilla served at the end of every meal. Good place to bring kids.
Violi’s – 209 Center Street, Massena -- By far, the nicest Italian restaurant in the area. Great caesar salad, roasted sweet pepper appetizer, perfect escargot. For pasta, try salmon affumicate, pesto, and penne arrabiate. Other dishes we like are St. Peter’s Fish, steak, and lasagne. Extensive veal menu. Save room for outrageous desserts, like Almond Cream Pie, Pannacotta, and Tiramisu. Nice wines by the glass or bottle. Upscale casual and on the expensive side. Reservations: 800-650-7077.

Ogdensburg

China Star –981 Ford St. Ext. (In strip mall across from WalMart)—Basic fast food Chinese. Sauces can be a little sweet, but the crab rangoon is yummy.
Simply Sandwiches-- 981 Ford St., Ext. (In strip mall across from WalMart)—Good sandwiches.
Stone Fence Inn – Riverside Drive -- A little pricey, but very fine dining and atmosphere.

Brockville

The Issac Brock -- 59 King Street West -- A pub type place with Shepherd's pie and other traditional pub foods. Pippins -- 32 Apple Street -- Rather upscale. Great food, though not a whole lot for vegetarians. However, chef will accommodate.
Sackett’s Harbor/Watertown Area:
The Apollo – 1283 Arsenal St Stop 7, Watertown (same shopping center as Staples)-- A strip mall setting but worth stopping for. Basic family-style Greek menu with specialties like spanikopita and good Greek salad. They also serve really good hummus and fluffy pita bread. Sacket’s
Harbor Brewing Company – 212 W.Main St. , Sacket’s Harbor--Brew pub on Lake Ontario with great burgers, sandwiches, huge onion rings. We also like the beer. And dining al fresco while you can is a must. Other than Lake Placid, this is the closest microbrewery in the area.
Tin Pan Galley, 110 W. Main St. Chef-owned restaurant which features fresh, seasonal food, always well-prepared. Nice, large salads and good bread make for a decent meal in a great spot on eastern Lake Ontario.

Adirondacks:

There are many wonderful places to eat in the Adks., some featured in the Mountain Lake Public Television program, Roadside Recipes—www.mountainlake.org – follow links to Roadside Recipes. This show also features places in Ontario and Quebec, including bakeries, chocolateries, and other microscale specialty food producers.

The Wawbeek, Panther Mt. Road, Rt. 30, Tupper Lake (just down the road from Canaras). Fine dining; another good choice for a special meal. The menu includes local, seasonal game and fish. The Wawbeek is a resort in an old Great Camp. History, news, rates, and menu: www.wawbeek.com
Paradox Lodge, 76 Saranac Avenue, Lake Placid. French-American, chef-owned restaurant. Great steak au poivre, fish, dessert. Very small dining room with open kitchen (chef close enough to chat while he’s preparing your meal!) located on first floor of four-bedroom lodge.
Oscar’s Smokehouse, Main St., Warrensburg. A family-owned smokehouse featuring all kinds of meat, cheese, and fish. Pick-up andouille, chorizo, smoked trout and salmon, chicken sausage, variety of bacon….anything a bacon vegetarian desires! Pack a cooler if you’re driving to or from Albany.
Rock Hill Bakehouse, Rt. 17N, South Glens Falls (about ½ mile off Rt 87). Awesome bakery: crusty loaves of paisano, baguette, farm bread, rye, wheat, pane bello, cinnamon raisin…plus true butter scones. Unassuming storefront in a strip mall on the way to Glens Falls.

Clayton:

Clipper Inn – State St. Route 12--Just on Rt 12 as you enter the village. Mainly seafood menu that is not terribly fancy, but the food is well-prepared.
The Riverside -- 506 Riverside Dr-- Awesome clam chowder made with tomato and cream, not the gloppy chicken-broth based stuff typically claiming the same name. Good sandwiches and salads. Deck looks over the St. Lawrence River.

Lake Placid:

La Bistro Laliberte – 51 Main Street (Below EMS) -- Chef-owned restaurant. Food is excellent. Sea bass in coconut – saffron bouillabaisse under pastry was both beautiful and tasty. For dessert, we had chocolate cake with a creamy interior topped with ice cream. The baguettes are perfect. Expensive, but worth it for an occasional treat.
Nicolas Over Main – Main Street --Mediterranean food that you can see prepared in an open kitchen. Wood fired pizza oven. Excellent selection from appetizers to salads to pizza to pasta to main dishes. Food is always prepared well. Good wine selection and dessert selection. Pretty expensive, and can get noisy.

Long Lake:

Long Lake Diner-- Lake St. – Don’t fly through town without a stop here for breakfast or lunch. Standard fare but really well done. Homemade potato chips (sweet and regular) and great homemade cinnamon rolls. The cook really likes to experiment and offer a couple of interesting main or side dishes on a regular basis.

Saranac Lake

Casa del Sol—157 Lake Flower Ave. (just outside the village, toward Lake Placid). Wonderful Mexican food with a wide variety of beef, pork, chicken, and vegetarian options. Excellent mole sauce.

Ottawa

This is our mini-guide; check out a more comprehensive one covering a wide range of cuisines and prices on the Web: http://www.ottawastart.com/eat.shtml. Also, in general, Byward Market is a great place to head---lots of different restaurants and shops. Amber Garden – 1 Richmond Rd – Cuisine of the “ancient European Amber Route.” I don’t know what the Amber route was, but this place has what I would call eastern European food: Hungarian, Polish, Czech, Russian, Slovak, and Ukrainian. Quite tasty and filling.

Bakery Stop – 434 Preston -- Small retail storefront near Italian Delight on Preston, this bakery seems to bake most of the bread and rolls you’d eat in area restaurants. Loaves are crusty and fresh, hard rolls for Canton sandwiches later in the week remind you how close you are so you can return the next weekend for a fill-up!
Cafe Henry Burger -- 69 rue Laurier— The most expensive and incredible restaurant, actually in Hull but you think you are in Paris: Cafe Henry Berger, just across from the musee de civ. VERY expensive, but you dine for 3 hours with your every wish anticipated by the tuxedo-clad wait staff. Expect caribou, and the most incredible creme brulee ever made.
Café Indochine, 105 Clarence St. (Byward Market-cross street is Dalhousie). Very fresh, tasty Vietnamese fare, including nice vegetarian options.
Café Sharfali, 308 Dalhousie St. (Byward Market—they also have a small take-out stand in the enclosed market within Byward. Bring a cooler and take a meal home). Very good Indian; even SLU students who’d never before eaten Indian food liked it!
Canal Ritz and other Ritz restaurants – Good, basic Italian food. Since they are located in a few places in the city, they are always good if you’re not sure exactly where you want to go. Some seasonal items using fresh vegetables in sauces and pastas.
Chateau Laurier High Tea – 1 Rideau St. -- If you are in the mood for high tea in an elegant setting, stop at the Chateau Laurier. Tour the rest of the hotel too! Beautiful antiques and an Art Deco-era pool that’s great at an aerial view (which you can easily do!)
Clare de Lune – 81b Clarence St. French and Belgian--We had an interesting and tasty meal here recently, including a warm beet soup and a nice asparagus appetizer to begin! Since they are located in a busy area of the market, a reservation is advisable. 241-2200
Domus Café – 87 Murray St.-- “Imaginative, Unusual food” (To Market, To Market, 1996-1997). Domus also has a seasonal menu, featuring regional Canadian ingredients. Excellent Sunday brunch. We’ve had perfect risotto and roasted chicken, in addition to soups, salads, and desserts. Restaurant is attached to a nice housewares store in the Byward Market. Reservation necessary.
Eggspectations – This Canadian chain serves wonderful breakfast, brunch, lunch and dinner, with a definite breakfast emphasis.
Festival Japan – 149 Kent Street – Good Sushi and easy parking!
Fratelli – 749 Bank --The shrimp in a vermouth cream base appetizer is wonderful. Other dishes are also very good. Reservation is necessary, particularly on weekends. Fairly wide variety, from sandwiches to main dishes.
Haveli – 194 Robertson Rd., Village Mews, Bells Cors.; also 39 Clarence St. --Indian Restaurant where you oddly and unpredictably-yet-often have a good chance of seeing someone from SLU. Excellent Northern Indian cooking. Dishes such as Kadai Paneer and dal makahni are two of our favorites, but everything is good. Sunday buffet is available for lunch and dinner.
Horn of Africa – 364 Rideau – Good Ethiopian food. Juniper Wine Bar and Restaurant- 1293 Wellington St.-- Chef-run restaurant with seasonal menu. Table d’hote menu always available with 2-3 choices for each course. A recent menu included chilled cucumber soup, salad with maple vinaigrette, brie fritter with mango chutney, asparagus salad with chevre-raspberry dressing, Salmon in Moroccan spices. Desserts are also seasonal and excellent. Nice atmosphere. Reasonable prices – Dinner for two with wine and dessert came to about $75.00(US). Reservation necessary. 728-0220
Kettelman’s Bagels – 912 Bank St. -- A 24-hr bagel shop selling Montreal bagels and Montreal cream cheese. Here’s the difference: Montreal bagels are baked in a wood-fired oven and taste more like soft pretzels than the hard-crusted NY-style bagel we’re used to. They’re a little sweeter and smokier at once. The classic is sesame. Montreal cream cheese has a high fat content; hence, it’s creamier and spoils faster, so buy it, take it home, and eat a lot of bagels quickly! Share with your friends who don’t or won’t make the trip; they need to experience the northern bagel difference.
LaPointe’s Seafood Grill and Deli --55 York St., Byward Market Square--Nice seafood menu. If you are ever in the area when shrimp bisque is on the menu, stay for dinner. They also have a very nice selection of wines by the glass. 241-6221
Light of India-- 730 Bank St – Best Indian food in the area, in our book, in terms of both quality and variety. Everything is absolutely fresh, brought to the table on small chafing dishes to keep food warm. Plan for a long dinner.
Pasticerria Gelateria – 200 Preston St.-- Espresso bar and gelato place with real pastry-chef sweets: cake, tarts, cookies, biscotti, napoleon, éclair. Recently added light lunches to the menu and will be offering bread soon, but no reports from that front yet. They also have the best espresso that we’ve had in the city and that Val has had since visiting Italy. The gelato, though, is nowhere near as good as in Italy.
Pub Italia, 434 ½ Preston St. (small Italian strip). Half Italian, half Irish pub. Good salads, pizza, extensive beer and wine list. Great place to get a lunch before the Sunday matinee at the Great Canadian Theatre Company (www.gctc.ca -- located at 910 Gladstone, near Pub Italia. Wonderful regional theater with a pay-what-you-can ticket deal for Sat. and Sun. matinees).
Royal Thai – 272 Dalhousie at Murray St. – Excellent Thai food. I Vineyards Wine Bar, 54 York St. (Byward Market, across from enclosed market). Excellent selection of wine and beer to sample; food is secondary, though appetizers are decent. Hundreds of wines by the glass. Jazz on Wednesdays.
Starbuck’s, Second Cup, and Grabbajabba – If you feel urban coffee-bar withdrawal, you’ll find a coffee shop on many street corners. Starbuck’s is the cornerstone of Chapters bookstore, also on many street corners.
Tratoria Zingaro – 18 Beechwood Ave., Unit 10, Vanier-- Expressive Tuscan Seafood-based, Italian menu changes daily. Excellent food with beautiful presentation. Wines by the glass available. Reservation necessary. 744-6509
Wilfrid’s (Chateau Laurier). Wonderful Sunday breakfast buffet. Ottawa Citizen recommends it for all meals. The buffet is part of a weekend bed-and-breakfast deal that is a reasonable treat!

Kingston

Windmill’s Café – 184 Princess Street –Eclectic cuisine, great sauces and preparations. Examples include veggie sushi appetizer, spring rolls with a great homemade peanut sauce, caesar salad, and grilled trout. A number of appetizers are put together on a tapas menu so you can sample much at a reasonable price. They also have a take out around the corner, so if you want a quick meal at home after a trip to Kingston, stop and pick it up.
Chez Piggy – 68-R (rear) Princess Street -- Similar menu as Windmill’s but a little pricier. Nice setting for a meal, though, in a courtyard. Nice wines by the glass.
Cook’s-- 61 Brock Street (613-548-7221) – Wonderful (though fairly expensive) gourmet food store carrying loads of fun imports from England. They roast coffee everyday, including that served at Chez Piggy. Aged extra sharp cheddar is excellent.

Syracuse

A good web site to check out is http://dinesite.com/city/city-3597/?&t=8574/, a dining guide for Syracuse.

Aunt Josie’s -- 1110 North Salina Street – Good Italian, with homemade sausages.
Brick Alley Grille House, 317 Montgomery St. (downtown). Fantastic Sunday brunch options, including homemade sausage patties. Good place to dine before Sunday matinee at Syracuse Stage, another great regional theater (get the theme here?).
Dinosaur Barbecue – 246 W. Willow St.—If you ever crave good barbecue or blues, drive to Syracuse (also one in Rochester). This is bikers’ haven, with all you’d expect from a place pushing its honky-tonk credentials. And it’s great to boot! Don’t forget to look for their cookbook if you want to dabble with ribs at home…and check local grocers for their few frozen meals, which actually taste good and aren’t full of additives.
Erawan – 2724 Erie Blvd. E – Decidedly un-fancy Thai restaurant, with excellent and inexpensive food. Made us tofu panang addicts! Plan drives down south with this lunch or dinner stop in mind.
Lemon Grass -- 238 W. Jefferson St. on Armory Square-- Thai food prepared fresh with unusual curries and sauces. We had sea scallops in a coriander-coconut red curry paste that was phenomenal, both to look at and eat. They also make wonderful tofu satay appetizer, using a dried tofu that’s grilled to perfection…a tofu rarity, and in a restaurant yet! Desserts are architectural masterpieces, reaching skyhigh and decorated with panache. They’re edible and worth the trip…plan your trip through Syracuse with this place in mind.
The Mission, Columbus Circle (downtown, in former Wesleyan Methodist Church). Mexican and South American cuisine. We had an assortment of appetizers, tapas-style, including a variety of great homemade salsas. Good fare following Sunday matinee at Syracuse Stage, before the not-quick-enough jaunt home