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Cooperstown Hoffman Lane Bistro Formerly the Terrace Café, this was
reopened in 1999 by Mark Loewenguth, a The pair did most of the renovations
themselves, painting three dining areas on three levels a soothing taupe
with white trim and hanging the walls with the local photos of
father-son photographers Milo Stewart Sr. and Jr. Striking colored glass
bottles, obtained at a Regulars return again and again for
the meatloaf, the chicken potpie and the spaghetti with meatballs and
marinara sauce. But there’s far more than comfort food here. The
pan-fried crab and crawfish cake with wilted spinach and creole mustard
beurre blanc is a signature appetizer. Another good starter is
maple-glazed lamb tenderloin on a skewer grilled with grapes and served
over arugula with red pepper and blue cheese. Main courses range from
tuna steak au poivre to boneless duck breast with ginger-orange glaze to
coffee-encrusted ribeye steak finished with pepperwood pinot noir sauce.
Dessert could be a classic crème brûlée, chocolate mousse cake or
black raspberry cheesecake. Similar inspiration mixes with the
traditional on a lunch menu priced from yesteryear. In season, customers spill from the
main-floor bar area out onto a 50-seat dining terrace enclosed by a
fence bearing grapevines hand-painted by a local artist. (607) 547-7055.
www.hoffmanlanebistro.com. Entrées, $12.95 to $19.95. Lunch daily in
summer,
Among the area’s hottest seasonal
dining tickets is this seasonal lakeside establishment with the odd name
(taken, co-owner Michael Moffat says, from the local Indian tribe of
Blue Mingo who appeared in the works of James Fenimore Cooper). Featuring the creative grill cuisine
of a chef from New York’s famed Arcadia Restaurant, this started
simply in 1987 as a hot-dog stand called Dot’s Landing behind Sam
Smith’s Boatyard, about two miles north of Cooperstown. The hot-dog
stand’s founders, Sam Smith’s daughter Cory and husband Michael, now
run the restaurant and boatyard (plus several retail ventures) in
partnership with another daughter, Robin, and her husband Jaime Butchard. Here,
two Adirondack-style dining porches open off the marina store. The
Moffats polyurethaned the tables with local memorabilia, hung watery
artifacts on the walls and dressed the place with linens and flowers at
night. Diners look across the lake to the landmark The blackboard menu of
contemporary/fusion fare changes twice a week. Expect main courses like
grilled salmon with red pepper marmalade, grilled lobster with roast
corn butter, roast duck with chipotle sauce, and coriander-crusted The lunch menu ranges from the Mingo
Cuban sandwich and catch of the day on a kaiser roll with orange-wasabi
tartar sauce to the (607) 547-7496. Entrées, $18.95
to $29.95. Lunch daily except Wednesday,
The casual American grill on the
lower level of the Otesaga resort has leapt into the forefront of local
dining favorites lately. As compared with the fancy upstairs
Dining Room and Lakeside Patio, which are considered special-occasion
places and rather stodgy, the grill fare is more contemporary and the
decor casual. It’s immensely popular with people who like the Otesaga
cachet, the lakeside setting and the reasonable prices. They speak
highly of such dinner entrées as Eastern salmon fillet with dill-cream
sauce, grilled sea scallops with spinach-butter sauce, roast half duck
with sundried cherry sauce or lamb chops with juniper berry-merlot
sauce. You can settle for a burger, a sandwich, a caesar salad or a
risotto, or graze on appetizers like an onion blossom, a trilogy of
smoked seafood, or oriental pork dumplings. Sandwiches, salads and some
of the dinner appetizers are available for lunch. Like most resorts of its ilk, the
Otesaga’s upstairs is a local favorite for a summer lunch or Sunday
brunch on the outdoor terrace or in the beautiful, chandeliered dining
room all in pristine white with red accents. We headed here for lunch,
until we found they weren't serving outside on a mild September day and
the lunch buffet in the dining room cost $14 for an array that looked
like a glorified salad bar with seafood newburg, rice and green beans at
the end. The fancy setting lends itself less
to a quick weekday lunch than to a leisurely Sunday brunch. The extra
tab for brunch ($19) yields omelets, salad and meat platters, and
steamship round, and the venue is usually on the outside terrace
overlooking the lake. The printed dinner menu (prix-fixe,
$32) changes daily. Au courant choices are mixed in with traditional
fare. They offer a range from fresh fruit cup with cointreau to jonah
crab au gratin, chicken consommé to chilled midori melon soup, prime
rib with horseradish popover to grilled swordfish with three-mustard
sauce. (607) 547-9931. Hawkeye Bar &
Grill, entrées, $12.75 to $22. Lunch daily, Dining Room, lunch or brunch on
Local consensus anointed the old
Terrace Café as best in town during its heyday. Now relocated to a
larger, more historic structure with a Greek-like pillared portico
several miles south on a former hops farm, this enterprise seems to be a
case of out of sight, out of mind. People mention it when prompted, but
seldom volunteer it in their list of dining favorites. Owner Robert Paul and
Baltimore-trained chef Lynn Hathaway have maintained the Terrace’s
culinary tradition in a trio of nicely restored upstairs dining rooms
and a downstairs tavern with a stone fireplace. “We try to do things
nobody else around here does,” says If not exactly cutting-edge, A tavern menu offers lighter fare. (607) 547-1819. Entrées, $14.95
to $22.95. Dinner, Tuesday-Sunday 5 to 9 or 10. Wood Pond Press E-mail feedback to: Home
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