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Saturday, January 19, 2013

Weekend Cooking- A Visit Back Home


This post is part of Beth Fish Reads' Weekend Cooking.  If you have anything related to food, cookbook reviews, novel or non-fiction book reviews, recipes, movie reviews, etc., head over to Beth Fish Reads and add your post. Or, if you want to read food related posts, head over to read what some interesting people have to say about food.



My husband got a job in New York City seven years ago and so we packed up and moved from the only place I had ever lived. My family still lives in Auburn, and we go back home to visit family and friends at least twice a year.

One of my husband's favorite activities back home is planning where we will eat. He always looks forward to making a list of restaurants and getting his favorite meals.

Our home was close to Nino's Pizzeria and on the way back from baseball games, we always stopped in to get a half cheese, half pepperoni pizza and mild charbroiled wings. (Their cold turkey subs were my favorite.) We got a pizza on our first night there and even though we live in NYC, the home of amazing pizza, we still love our Nino's.

Lasca's Restaurant is probably Auburn's best-known restaurant, and people frequently come from Syracuse (30 miles east) to eat there. We love to get take-out from there; I get the Lasca's Chicken, which is two chicken breasts stuffed with ham, broccoli and Swiss cheese and covered with a cream sauce and a little spinach on the side. I get it with rice, but this time they told me they don't make rice anymore. What??? I found that strange. But still, it was mighty good, and there always leftovers for another meal.

My husband gets the Veal and Jumbo Shrimp, served in a champagne cream sauce with a baked potato, one of his all-time favorite meals. Everyone else loves the Chicken Parmigiana, and their salad with house Italian dressing is a winner. It's funny, the restaurants in Auburn all have delicious homemade house dressings.
Chicken Parm from Lasca's
Parkers Grille & Tap House is located downtown, and we would stop in for lunch on our errands when we lived in Auburn. My husband is crazy for their Combo Platter of mozzarella sticks, chicken fingers, and potato skins, and I get the Beef-on-a-Weck, roast beef on a Kimmelwick bun. It's a fun place to go, and whenever we stop in, we always see someone we know.

We stayed at the new Hilton Garden Inn and met friends at the BeauVine Chop House & Wine Bar for drinks and snacks. I love that they specialize in Finger Lakes wines, there are so many wonderful wineries in the region. I highly recommend a winery tour if you ever find your way to the Finger Lakes.

I found a new Pino Grigio, Il Giardino, that I really enjoyed and will be looking for at my local wine shop. My friend suggested we share the Truffle Parmesan Fries served with Garlic Aioli and Homemade Ketchup and we shared a burger. Both were very tasty and they gave you so many fries, it was plenty to share. My son enjoyed the filet mignon he had, pronouncing it one of the best steaks he has had. We had breakfast there as well, eggs, homefries, bacon and toast and it was tasty and quickly prepared. The Hilton Garden Inn is a wonderful new addition to Auburn, and the atmosphere at the Wine Bar is relaxed and enjoyable. It the perfect place to meet up with friends and have a conversation.

And of course, I made several trips to my beloved Wegman's. How I wish we had one here in the city! We missed some of our other favorites on this trip- Michael's Restaurant, Rosalie's in Skaneatles- but we'll be back in August.

What are some of your favorite hometown restaurants and foods? Share them in the comments section below. 



20 comments:

  1. How fun! We always have a stack of restaurants to try when we visit my parents in Ohio. We're currently in such a small town that after 30 years we've pretty much eaten everywhere multiple times.

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  2. Wow! My mouth is watering and watering at all your descriptions. I'm really craving a good pepperoni pizza and chicken parmesan now.

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  3. Hi Diane...You started your blog by saying you've been gone 7 years and I have read that over and over thinking..."it can't be" LOL. Has it honestly been 7 years? Wow..time flies! Sounds like you had a funfilled and food filled tripped back home. I think of you when I see your old home as I take my walk.

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    1. Debbie- actually, Scott is starting his 7th year in NYC next month. I've been here full-time 5 1/2, but yes, time has flown.

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  4. Great choices Di! My favorite breakfast spot since moving to Camillus is Nesticos Too. Small, friendly atmosphere. They make an amazing Greek Scrambler with spinach, feta, roasted peppers, kalamata olives and seasoned tomatoes served with fresh fruit and wheat berry toast. A close runner-up is the veggie frittata, always made with fresh tasting vegetables. The only drawback is the waiting time on weekends due to the popularity (especially with the post-Church crowd). They recently won the CNY Battle of the Breakfast on syracuse.com in December. Great breakfast spot!

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    1. Eric- you are going to have to take us to Nestico's in August!

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    2. Definitely..looking forward to it!

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  5. Sounds like a really nice culinary trip!

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  6. I'm glad you know exactly where to go in your hometown. Interesting to me is how much you love these restaurants despite living in the greatest restaurant city in the world. Yes, interesting.

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  7. Yum! I come from such a tiny place that the restaurants I remember from my youth are all gone now. And my tastes have changed so much that I problem wouldn't like them anyway. Well, maybe the chicken-fried steak....

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  8. My neighbours have a restaurant in Kitchener, Ontario called Kypreos. I love going to eat there not only due to the tasty food, but for the homey feeling. They make all of their guests feel like friends even when it's their first visit.

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    1. That sounds like such a wonderful place; atmosphere is as important as the food.

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  9. We used to have a long list of old haunts to visit every time we went back to Wisconsin, where my husband and I grew up. Both of our parents have since moved away, so we rarely end up back in Madison these days--most of our old favorites are probably long gone, now. Luckily we have lots of wonderful dining spots to choose from in our current hometown.

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  10. I've moved around a lot and have a list of places in my head from various locations where I have lived. Sadly, some places move off the list because times change and restaurants close, but I'm amazed at how many remain open (even from when I was a kid). Great post! I need to do one like this - I'm going to steal your idea.

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  11. This week's Weekend Cooking is making me soooo hungry! I'm so glad you had a nice trip back home :)

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  12. My grandmother and uncles live in Skaneateles, and I've been over to Auburn many times for dinner. We've tried Moro's Table and Bambino's recently - have you been to either of those restaurants?

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    1. We have not been to either Moro's Table or Bambinos, but we hope to get to both of those when we return for a week in August. We are actually staying in Skaneateles.

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  13. Fun trip, what a nice selection of restaurants you have too. When ever we go to Philadelphia (where I grew up) I love looking for cheese steaks and real Italian pizza joints,

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    1. My son loves cheese steaks and the Philadelphia Eagles and he wants to visit there next football season.

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