Spike behind the bar of the venerable and affordable Chanticleer (Photo: Casey Martin)
and distant cliffs. When it comes to lakeside dining in general, the Boat Yard Grill on Cayuga Lake rather splits the difference between the Switzerland Inn (on Keuka Lake) and Seneca Harbor (in Watkins Glen). Like the Switz, parts of it are literally hanging over the water, but like Seneca Harbor it is located at the south end of a lake in the West End neighborhood of Ithaca. Like that of Seneca Harbor the Boat Yard lunch menu is weighted toward seafood with a smattering of beef and chicken dishes. The dinner menu is more extensive and adds a number of different cuts of steak. Unlike the Switz and Seneca Harbor, the Boat Yard Grill serves a separate brunch menu on Sundays between 11:30 a.m and 2 p.m.
Best Ethnic Restaurant | Hawi Ethiopian
A lot of people have been waiting for an Ethiopian restaurant to open in Ithaca. For a few years you could get it at the Congo Square Market, but last year Hawi opened in what had been an apparently cursed location on South Cayuga Street. So far they seem to be doing quite well. Finger crossed. Well, except when you’re there of course, when you’ll have to use your fingers to eat. Our restaurant critic Peggy Haine loves the place: “Having discovered Ethiopian restaurants in D.C., Toronto and Rochester, we’ve been longing for an Ethiopian place closer to home, so we were pleased when Hawi opened its doors. The restaurant is on Cayuga Street, in the same location that spawned the successful Daño’s—now on Seneca—and we hope it will similarly prosper. “An Ethiopian meal at Hawi arrives
on a large platter meant for sharing, though you can order single portions if you like. The platter is lined with injera, and colorful mounds of meat and vegetable stews are scattered about on top. The injera, a large crepe-like pancake whose batter has been fermented and is pleasantly sour, is made from teff flour, ground from a tiny, gluten-free grass seed. Your injera serves as plate liner, napkin and spork; tear off pieces of it to scoop up the various vegetable and meat stews and convey them to your mouth. This might be awkward for a first date or job interview, but for dining with friends or loved ones, it is delightful and fun—think Tom Jones, the 1963 movie whose oyster-eating scene titillated audiences awakening to ’60s sensuality, clips of which are available online. “Try the appetizers, but beware of eating too much injera early on—it can fill you up long before you’ve managed to transmit every other thing on your plate to your mouth. We’ve enjoyed the yater kik fitfit appetizer, a lemony combination of injera bathed in butter and mixed with yellow split peas and jalapeños, served with even more injera. The avocado salad—fresh tomatoes, onions and avocados mixed with a house dressing served with injera—was tart and refreshing.”
Best New* Restaurant | The Rook
The Rook opened restaurant in Ithaca’s downtown, near the intersection of North Plain and West State streets, in Fine Line Bistro’s former location. The restaurant is named for a type of crow—Corvus frugilegus means “foodgatherer” in Latin—not the chess piece. T
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