We hope everyone will join us
this Thursday, February 26, from 2 to 5 p.m. for another delicious Pathfinder
Produce fresh fruits and vegetable market.
We’re glad to accept payments in the form of personal checks, SNAP, or
Visa, MasterCard or Discover credit cards.
Close to home, convenient, and with our great prices, our friendly
market can’t be beat!
****
This past week my son was off
from school, and thus the Graces took to the open road. Despite Visit Ithaca’s clever campaign advising us to go someplace
warm, we decided to hit the Southern Tier city that is home to Cornell, Ithaca
College, spectacular waterfalls and gorges, and some great local eateries.
After kicking about town for a
while, we stopped for dinner at the famed Moosewood
Restaurant in the DeWitt Mall, an old school
that has been converted to some funky shops, boutiques, and restaurants. For those who haven’t heard of The Moosewood,
it was started in 1973 by a group of investors/foodies who were committed to sharing
the possibilities of delicious vegetarian cooking. Forty years later, it is a mainstay in the
college town, 13 cookbooks have been published, and the restaurant has been
credited as “one of the thirteen most influential restaurants of the 20th
Century” by Bon Appétìt magazine.
The Moosewood is casual, and
serves distinct menus daily for lunch and
dinner; the entrees change depending on
produce availability. It is best to
arrive early as they don’t take reservations and they do fill up fast. We arrived at about five, got on the seating
list, and then meandered around the mall’s book store and guitar shop for 20
minutes as the staff completed its dinner preparations.
The restaurant has a bar area and
a cozy main dining area, which shows off an array of colorful artwork (very
similar in feel to some of the art produced by Pathfinder’s artists), moose
art, huge plants, and other novel objects.
Music plays softly in the background, and the whole atmosphere is
conducive to conversation.
The menu is affordable, but in truth we overdid it as
we wanted to sample everything, including some of the craft brews and
wines. We all enjoyed some fresh
guacamole and chips, tempeh bacon, and salads for openers … the greens were crisp
and colorful, the vegetable toppings added new flavors and textures, and the
house-made dressings (lemon-tahini, creamy spinach-basil, honey-dijon) were
light and delicious.
That night’s dinner menu offered
all types of vegetarian/vegan entrees, but the restaurant also regularly offers
fish and dairy items to satisfy all tastes.
I ordered the Mushroom-Cheese Enchiladas … they came with a side of
crunchy red cabbage slaw, and short grain brown rice, which had a slightly
nutty flavor. My carnivorous 14 year-old
tried a satisfying Roasted Vegetable Ciabatta Sandwich (Portobellos, eggplant,
caramelized onions with provolone); my husband and daughter tried the Salmon
Cakes, topped with a lemon-herb aioli sauce, also with a side of cabbage slaw. We sampled one another’s entrees and savored
each bite.
As we were splurging, we tried
the desserts too … I had the ginger cake (dark, spicy, and yet not heavy), which
was garnished with fresh pear slices and a slight dusting of powdered
sugar. Tom had the to-die-for banana
cake, topped with cream cheese frosting.
Andy tried one of the restaurant’s signature fudge brownies. True, this wasn’t a low-cal excursion, but it
was heartening to see how delicious artfully prepared vegetarian cuisine can
be. I’m sure before the winter is out,
I’ll be buying one of the cookbooks to try the recipes at home.
Until next time, try something
new and be well!
Lori
