The Colgate Inn in Hamilton has put together an incredible feast for February 2nd that will feature game meats, wines and beers.  Stretched out over five courses, dessert and cocktails the staff at the inn have designed a deep and well thought out menu.
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You can check out the complete menu here, but it is obvious that a lot of time was spent picking beers, wines and game meats that not only showcased the flavors inherent in each, but also that showcase many local products too. 
The beer list includes beers from Good Nature Brewing Company, Ommegang and Middle Ages Brewing, all regional CNY breweries.  The wine list features Finger Lake beauties from Dr. Konstantin Frank, and Lamoreaux Landing. 
Local foods enhance a menu that will feature venison, duck, salmon, trout, and wild mushrooms.  Dessert will be a Sherry Wine with Blackberry Compote. 
The dinner begins with cocktails and a meet and greet at 6pm and the meal begins at 6:30.  You should make reservations soon, as this may be one of the best meals served in Central New York all year long. 
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It's a celebration of everything Scotland this weekend as the Brae Loch Inn in Cazenovia hosts its annual Burns Night.  In fact the celebration of the famous Scottish poet has turned into a three day weekend event.
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Friday night the festivities kick off with Scotch tastings, Scottish finger foods and great Celtic rock by the Causeway Giants.  The music begins at 9pm and goes in to the wee morning hours. 
Saturday is the big day when the annual Burns dinner takes place.  There may or may not be a table left for reservations, so give the Brae Loch a call and find out at 315-655-3431.  If you can't make it this year, this an event for your bucket list.  It is a true Scottish celebration including cocktails and dinner at 6pm and the festivities which includes traditional Scottish music, pipers, dancers, poetry reading, stilling minstrels,  and the Address to the Haggis.
On Sunday the festivities wrap up with a Celtic brunch from 11am-2pm.  Enjoy the Brae Loch's famous Sunday Brunch with Scottish favorites while listening to Fiddle and Guitar with Ten Strings Duo.  
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As Madison County Buy Local Week continues, it is time for our top of the line chefs to shine.  Six restaurants in the county will be featuring special locally made dishes for your enjoyment.  Here is a rundown of those local menus.  It will be hot, hot, hot this week so let someone else do the cooking for you.
Circa on Albany Street in Cazenovia will feature :

Local Tomato Jam Crostini
with herbed Meadowood bribis and crunchy frenched onions
Heritage Breed Pork Chop
with red currant compote, new potatoes, and green onion flan
Local Blueberry Compote
over Kimberly’s Vanilla Ice Cream with a Ginger Crisp


  The Colgate Inn on Payne Street in Hamilton:

Mosher Farm Sweet Corn Soup BBQ
Meadows Farm Kobe Short Ribs
with Three Onion Potato Hash and Sautéed Swiss Chard
Mosher Farm Berry Tart

The Copper Turret Restaurant and Tavern on West Main Street in Morrisville
Alambria Springs Fresh Farm Salad
with a creamy green garlic dressing
18 hour Short Rib of Beef
over fresh herb pappardelle pasta
Carrot Cake Ice Cream Sandwich
filled with in-house made cream cheese ice cream
Hunt Country Hunter Red wine

The Hamilton Inn on E. Lake Road in Hamilton
Baked Goat’s Milk Cheese with Garden Lettuces,
Roasted Figs, Pears, and Toasted Almonds
Bacon Wrapped Colby Meatloaf
set on Yukon Gold mashed potatoes
Mixed Berry Mascarpone Napoleon

Ye Olde Landmark Tavern on US Route 20 in Bouckville
Grilled Flatbread
fresh mozzarella, Shiitake mushrooms, arugula
Braised Drover Hill Farm Short Rib
over pickled red onion, crushed new potatoes
Frozen Raspberry Mousse
Fox Run Vineyards Cabernet Franc

Poolville Country Store on Earlville Road in Poolville
Smitty’s Market Farm Field Greens Salad
with “our own” wild blackberry vinaigrette
Pan Grilled Ingallside Meadows Sirloin Steak
with caramelized onion butter or
“Our Own” Herb Brined Pan Grilled Chicken Breast entrée served with roasted root vegetable medley from Common Threads
Homemade Berry Sorbet

Local Producers: Heamour Farm, Fruit of the Fungi, Drover Hill Farm, In-Beetween Farm, Mosher Farms, Alambria Springs, Stone Brook Farm, Gianforte Farm, Fresh Herbs of Fabious, Lively Run Farms, Meadows Farm, Common Thread, Kimberly’s Ice Cream, Smitty’s Market Farm, Ingallside Meadows Farm, Poolville Country Store, Copper Turret
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One of the beautiful things about the internet is I can see how people get to this blog.  One of the most popular keywords lately has centered on the Horned Dorset Restaurant in Leonardsville.  If you don't know, this restaurant is a landmark and one of the best dining experiences I've ever enjoyed.  Unfortunately for aficionados of fine dining in Central New York, the Horned Dorset did not open this spring.  We have received many calls about it and from what we have learned there is hope for a renassiance, but not until next spring.  The owners of the restaurant are busy creating what they are calling an "artist colony" in Leonadsville, anchored by the Horned Dorset.  They tell me that is the focus this summer, and by this time next year we will be back to enjoying the wonderful foods created by their talented chefs.  Until then, we just have to wait.
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A few links to peruse as we enjoy the brand new Central New York Website.  Have a great Wednesday everyone.

It is Canal Fest time in Chittenango (Madison County Courier)
Save 60% on food and drink at Nichols and Beal (syracuse.com deal of the day)
Some people have a hard time grasping the Observer/Contributor category at the Boxing Hall of Fame (Opposing Views)
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Back during the Bouckville Antique Show, a dispute between the owner and operator of the Hamilton Inn forced visitors out of the inn and left them scrambling for a place to stay.  Now the Hamilton Inn on East Lake Road is under new management and that's great news for visitors to the area, brides and lovers of fine dining in Central New York.  The Utica O-D had the following story:

Central New York innkeeper William (Ben) Eberhardt III recently signed a long-term agreement to operate the Hamilton Inn, located on the east side of Lake Moraine, on East Lake Road just outside of Hamilton.
Eberhardt grew up in the innkeeper business in Skaneateles. Over the last 30 years, his father Bill and their family’s company built a network of high quality hospitality venues throughout the Central New York region. Their flagship operation is centrally located at The Sherwood Inn on the north end of Skaneateles Lake.
A combat veteran who left the Army after 14 years of service and an ascent to the rank of major, Eberhardt brought his family and his management company to Hamilton in 2004 to independently lease and operate the Colgate Inn from Colgate University.
Eberhardt explained that with new agreements in place his company will now have operational oversight of both the Hamilton Inn and the Colgate Inn, both located in Madison County but distinctly different in character. His vision for his newly acquired Inn is distinctly different from that of the warmth and vitality of Colgate Inn (owned by the Colgate Inn LLC of which Colgate University is the sole member).
“The Hamilton Inn has an extraordinary reputation that it has earned all on its own. It is a quiet setting outside of the village for a more intimate, private dining experience,” said Eberhardt in a press release last week. “My very logical course of action would be that the Hamilton Inn continues its own pursuit as yet another regionally recognized landmark of first-class food, beverage and hospitality in that venue.”
Eberhardt’s company has had great success over the past six years providing hospitality to the many visitors of the community. He places all credit for these accolades squarely on the leaders within his company and its employees.
“I am extremely lucky to be surrounded by truly great people. They are the entire force behind all our success,” he added.
Additional personnel, as well as the existing Colgate Inn staff, will assist in transitioning the Hamilton Inn into its future role of hospitality and service to the surrounding communities of Hamilton and Madison.
Eberhardt explained that the inn has featured a beautiful setting for exceptional quality dining, comfortable lodging, and an extraordinary weddings venue since 1989. The Inn is currently operating its lodging facilities and Eberhardt anticipates re-opening the restaurant by the third week of October.
The inn will continue to offer a high quality dinner menu, private banquet space and overnight accommodations as well as on and offsite catering, he concluded.
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This blog is a little late seeing how the Hop Fest dinner was over 10 days ago, but the dinner this year was so good, I just needed to share it with you in hopes that if you are reading this next year you will make the decision to come.
This year's dinner was held at Blue BBQ in Chittenango.  This is not your uncle's BBQ joint, at least it doesn't try to be.  The dinner was set in the dining room of the restaurant which was closed to regular patrons that evening.  (The bar area remained open with a full menu)  The dining room is nicely appointed and it features chocolate walls with blue accent lighting. Nice tables and chairs were adorned with cloth napkins, glass goblets for water and five forks.  Even I was curious about 5 forks, but it became clear really fast that we would need them all.
The premise of the Hop Fest paired brew dinner is to discover how various kinds of beers match up with a variety of foods.  Tonight we would be trying 5 beers matched up with five courses.  A young lady from Tri-Valley beverage was on hand to instruct us about the beers we were enjoying.
Now on to the dinner....
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We don't normally play favorites and do our own reviews on this website, but last night I had the chance to visit a landmark Madison County Restaurant and want to share our experience with you, so here it is, and who knows maybe this will become a regular addition to our site.

Last night my wife and I had the opportunity to eat dinner at the legendary Horned Dorset Inn in Leonardsville, NY.  For those of you who are unfamiliar with Leonardsville, it sits in the Unadilla River Valley along NY Route 8.  It is about 20 miles south of Utica and 90 minutes south east of Syracuse.  The Horned Dorset has been hosting diners celebrating the best of life since the late 1970’s and is a place that should be at the top of your list when it comes to your list of places to go in New York State. 

It was a celebration of 7 years of marriage for Lorrell and I and we decided we wanted to do something a little different, and since I had never had the chance to made it down to the Horned Dorset to see for myself what all the fuss was about, it was a perfect opportunity.  I had spoken to the owner Kingsley Wratten many times about programs going on at Madison County Tourism, but we never seemed to be able to connect to meet in person so I could learn about the inn and restaurant.  Boy I am glad we finally got together.

The Inn has four rooms, and while we did not stay the night, I found myself thinking about the next time I want to “get out of town” and making the mental notes that this place would be fun to stay at.  With two queen rooms downstairs in this Victorian home, and two suites upstairs, the inn has very nice accommodations for people traveling to Colgate University, Hamilton College, Cooperstown or points in between.  Kingsley told us that he has plans to renovate several other homes in the vicinity and to be able to rent more rooms in the Leonardsville area. 

The restaurant is right next door to the inn and has been a labor of love for well over 33 years for Kingsley and his wife Roberta.  When they found the property it was caving in, and like many historical buildings in Upstate NY it was real close to being a memory.  First they replaced the roof, and then with a table saw and a lot of ingenuity they piece-by-piece put the place back together.  The amazing thing about both the Inn and the restaurant is that many pieces inside come from historic mansions all over New York State that were facing the wrecking ball, sometimes immanently.  Kingsley told us of the grand doors inside the dining rooms that were minutes from being destroyed when he convinced the demolition crew to go to lunch a little early so he and his wife could remove them and take them home.  There is a lot of sweat equity in this place.
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The Colgate Inn is moving forward with a renovation that will significantly improve and update the facility while preserving the historic character of the building. Construction is expected to begin in June and be completed in the summer of 2011.
Over the years, the Inn’s public spaces have been improved, and this renovation is aimed at addressing the building’s infrastructure, guest rooms and food preparation facilities. As a result, the Inn will be brought up to modern standards with the goal of better serving current patrons, encouraging longer stays and attracting new guests.
"We are excited about the improvements which the Inn will undergo this year,” said Ben Eberhardt, General Manager of the Colgate Inn. “This is a major step as we continue to strive for a better hospitality experience while maintaining the Inn as the front door for the college and the mixing pot for the community."
Improvements to the Inn’s exterior will be focused on the corner of Madison and Payne Streets, where a new outdoor seating area will be connected to the Tap Room, which will be relocated to the space currently occupied by the dining room. Parking will be expanded and the important pathways behind the Inn property will be preserved. The kitchen facilities will be relocated and upgraded for more efficient service of the range of functions held at the Inn and all of the Inn’s guestrooms will be refinished. Overall, the first floor will offer more capacity for banquets and meetings.
“The Inn renovation represents the Hamilton Initiative and Colgate University’s ongoing interest in investing in the Village of Hamilton in a variety of ways, including through the maintenance and improvement of the properties it owns,” said David Hale, Vice President for Finance and Administration at Colgate University. “The renovation plans represent a targeted investment to improve the visitor experience and encourage people to spend more time in our community. This renovation is expected to support the shared, ongoing vibrancy of Colgate and Hamilton.”
This renovation will be the most significant Hamilton Initiative project undertaken in several years. Formed by Colgate in 2000, the Hamilton Initiative is a for-profit limited liability company with a focus on real estate and economic development in downtown Hamilton. Previously, the Hamilton Initiative supported the relocation of Colgate’s bookstore to the heart of the Village, the revitalization of the Hamilton Movie Theater, and an ongoing program to upgrade the facades of Village buildings, among other projects.
The Colgate Inn was built in 1925, replacing the Park House hotel, which had stood on the same site for more than a century. As the project progresses, updates will be posted to the Colgate Inn website at www.colgateinn.com
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Before you know it Mother's Day will be here.  This year we honor Mom on May 9th and she will be expecting something special.  Why go to the same old place in Utica or Syracuse for brunch or dinner when Madison County has so many great restaurants to offer.  Many of them will be offering special mother's day brunches or menus.  We will detail the ones that we know about after the jump.  So come along and plan your Mother's Day brunch right here in Madison County.
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