Ithaca, The Local Scene

Our excitement grew as we took the exit to Ithaca’s visitor center; we had wanted to see this town for a long time.  There were gray clouds hanging overhead as we entered the city of Ithaca.  An attendee from the visitor center helped us to plan out our day–she gave us all the inside tips and got us excited to see this cool town. From our visit to an amazing waterfall and the well-supported farmers market, this trip proved to be just what we wanted.

Downtown Ithica was full of antique shops, bars, and a lot of restaurants. The famous farm-friendly restaurant Moosewoods is in the heart of the downtown area.  Moosewoods is a cooperative that has been a staple in Ithaca’s culture for thirty-three years. This funky vegetarian spot is attached to the large red brick building that is crawling with dark green ivy and is known as Dewitt Mall. Along with most everything else in the small area, the mall is filled with a collection of locally owned shops. Local in Ithaca is much more then a fad but more like a well-worn belief.

Another showcase of the area is Ithaca’s farmer’s market that is nestled under a wooded canopy, surrounded by trees, and sits on the waterfront, so picturesque! Stands sell produce, crafts, clothes, wine, and wonderful authentic food. The normal market fair: tomatoes, corn, and local cheeses can easily be found; what really makes Ithaca’s market special is its lunch offerings!

One food booth offered a simple vegetarian menu, another sold burritos, and a good-smelling food stand served toasted Cuban sandwiches filled with pork and pickles. We ended up eating at a Vietnamese booth called Asian Taste that reminded me of what we would find when we visited downtown Flushing, Queens for authentic Chinese food.

First we had the shrimp summer roll–white rice paper held a mix of light green cabbage, crisp bean sprouts, and beautiful pink shrimp. The summer roll had amazing texture–crunchy, a little sticky from the rice paper, and tender as you bit through a shrimp. We dipped each bit in a sweet plum sauce that had bits of peanuts in it.

Next we shard a pork steamed bun, which is one of my favorite things to get when we go for dim sum.  The bun has a soft airy dough which encases a deep red pork center. The lightness of the bun is like biting into a cloud, it is slightly sweet but does not have a very strong flavor itself, and becomes a vessel for the pork that brings out the sweetness and the hearty earthiness of the meat.

The main part of our lunch consisted of grilled warm chicken on top of cold vermicelli noodles. The little strips of seasoned chicken was great on the cold slippery noodles that were tossed with bean sprouts, strips of cabbage, and green onion. Atop this mountain of food were flakes of chili and a hearty helping of a sweet vinegar and fish sauce, chopped peanuts, and cilantro– yum!!  Such a fulfilling meal for less then ten dollars!

While at the market we also got to sample some local wine from Sheldrake Point Vineyards. We had a great tasting–they have a wonderful variety of wine and have been awarded Winery of the Year in New York for the past two years.

From the wine tasting, we loved the 2009 Luckystar white wine, so we bought a bottle for our host family, the Kreiritzers. It is a great table wine made up of four different grapes from the lakeside vineyard including Riesling, Pinot Gris, and Chardonnay.  This is a fresh summer wine that had a balanced full flavor of crisp apples, as though the apples were freshly picked off the tree and I was eating them in a warm open field with the sun shining down on me.

After our big lunch and relaxing wine tasting we took hike at nearby Taughannock Falls. The warm afternoon sun was shining down on us as we walked the late-summer trickling stream bed that lead to the falls. As the path brought us closer the falling water, the sides of the gorge got steeper and steeper. I kept thinking how I would not want to be caught here during a storm for fear that the stream bed would quickly overflow!

We arrived on a bridge that seemed to lay dangerously under the falling water. Being the end of summer, the water was not rushing over the edge of the gorge that is three stories higher then its neighbor Niagara Falls. It was quite a sight to behold!

The town easily lived up to our hopes of a cool college town and more. The natural wonders of Taughannock Falls, and I am sure the other nearby falls as well, are so beautiful and well-maintained that they are worth the trip alone. A single day full of great food and adventure, what more could you ask for!