Page 22 - AAA Magazine – AAA Ohio Auto Club – September 2019

S’mores Taste, Rochester Carmello’s Restaurant, Lewiston Saratoga Springs Food Tours
and why Syracuse is known as the Great Central Depot of the Underground Railroad.
Oswego Food & History Tours – In the mid-1800s Oswego was the fourth-largest city on the Eastern Seaboard and many thought it would become as big as New York. Most of the industrial buildings are gone but the historic feeling of the downtown still reflects that era. Guests of this tour experience a taste from a restaurant that was instrumental in turning downtown into a destination, not just a place to drive through. Among the stops is LaParrilla, featuring chef Ray Jock, who served as personal chef to comedian Jerry Seinfeld. These tours are offered all year long, Thursday through Saturday, with seven tastings in historic downtown Oswego. Tastings reflect a progressive dinner from soup and salad to main course and desserts. A shortcut tour with less than half a mile of walking and six to seven tastes is available.
DESTINATION: THE FINGER LAKES
Ithaca (165 miles southwest of Albany and 58 miles south of Syracuse) was established in 1821 and is known as the home of Cornell University and Ithaca College. It has three state parks, an award-winning farmers market and is home to the world-renowned Moosewood Restaurant.
Ithaca is Foodies Culinary Tours: Downtown Ithaca Food Tour – Their flagship tour delves into the heart of Downtown Ithaca with stops at beloved restaurants and notable landmarks in The Commons area. This weekly Saturday tour goes from 11:30 a.m. until 2:30 p.m., May through October, and offers six tastes and a peek behind the scenes of some of their partner restaurants. Guests walk away satiated, with a better knowledge of Ithaca’s history and current culinary perspectives.
Ithaca is Foodies Culinary Tours: The Science of Taste Tour – This special Ithaca is Foodies’ winter tour, running February through April, is an exploration of the five basic tastes: sweet, salty, sour, bitter and umami. The tour offers five tastings designed to help guests rediscover these building blocks of culinary delight, while learning about the science behind them and how they work together to allow us to experience an infinite number of flavors.
DESTINATION: WESTERN NEW YORK
Rochester was established as a city in 1834 and lies about 84 miles west of Syracuse and 90 miles east of
Lewiston. It sits on the southern shore of Lake Ontario. Rochester was first known as the Flour City because it was the center for milling and shipping of flour during the early days of the Erie Canal, serving as the largest exporter of flour anywhere in the world. When that industry moved to the Midwest, the city changed homonyms and became the Flower City as nurseries boomed in the area, creating a new agricultural center for seeds, plants and flowers. Rochester is home of the popular Lilac Festival every spring.
Lewiston, formed in 1818, shares a border with
Canada and Niagara Falls. Legend has it that the original cocktail was created in Lewiston by the owner/bartender of Hustler’s Tavern, Catherine Hustler. One day, Hustler took a gin mixture and stirred it with the tail feather of a cockerel bird, and the cocktail was born.
Flower City Food Tours – These food tours are offered in three of Rochester’s most popular neighborhoods: Pittsford (on the Erie Canal), Park Avenue and the Neighborhood of the Arts. These fun, three-hour culinary adventures offer something for everyone with seven delicious tastings and cultural points of interest highlighted along the way. Different tours are offered at various times depending on the day, Wednesday through Sunday.
The Roaming Table Food Tours: Classic Lewiston Food Tour – Guests of this tour sample food at six unique restaurants (including places that were featured on Travel Channel’s “Man v. Food” and Travel Channel’s “Best of the Road”) all while learning about Lewiston’s rich history, including connections to the Underground Railroad and War of 1812. The tours are offered Wednesday through Sunday, late May through October.
The Roaming Table Food Tours: Lewiston Prohibition Tour – “Happy Hour” style, this new tour offers four unique libations paired with food while traveling back to Prohibition times. Tours are offered Friday and Saturday evenings throughout the summer.
For more information on each of these tours, email info@upstatenyfoodtourtrail.com or visit upstatenyfoodtourtrail.com.
Amy Koren-Roth is the founder and chief guide for Taste of Troy Food Tours LLC.
For travel planning assistance, visit your AAA store or AAA.com/travel.
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Photos provided by upstatenyfoodtourtrail.com