Please The Palate |

Hand + Foot Restaurant in Corning, NY

Walking into the restaurant Hand + Foot, you might think that you were in any major city, not in the small town of upstate New York. But, it is in the charming town of Corning, population 11,000. Exposed brick walls, low lighting, a long bar filled with small craft brands and a communal table in the center of the room, this restaurant could be in Manhattan, Brooklyn, San Francisco, Los Angeles.

Owners Dan and Laurie Morton worked in bars in Orlando and New York City before moving back home to Corning. They took over an Irish bar that was covered in sheet rock and housed a golf simulator to create the warm and inviting Hand + Foot. My first thought when I heard about the restaurant was that they were on trend with the nose to tail movement, featuring whole animal cuisine. After all, what else would hand and foot mean? Well, actually it refers to a card game, similar to canasta, that Dan's family has been playing for generations.

12 October, 2015

Cafe Clover NY: Where Good Food and Healthy Food Go Hand-in-Hand

We can eat healthily at home but when we go out, we don't want to think about how much butter might be in the dish or how much cheese. We just want to enjoy. Going out to eat can be a good excuse to just let go and be a bit decadent. After all, who wants bland food when they go out to eat? So, wouldn't it be nice to be able to go out to eat for a delicious, flavorful, filling meal that happens to be health-conscious at the same time? When you think about health-conscious eating, California is probably the state that comes to mind. With the stereotypes and fads that people like to jump on here, this is a normal conclusion. But, I not talking about the newest raw-food, vegan, juice bar. I am talking about the new health-conscious restaurant in New York - Cafe Clover. Featuring an American cuisine, there was not a single thing that didn't look good on the menu. The menu is diverse and creative but it's also healthy. As my friend and I looked at the menu and tried to decide what to order (or rather what items we had to leave out of the order due to our eyes being bigger than our stomachs), instead of a basket of bread, we were served chips made from flax, chia, sunflower and pumpkin seeds and served with butternut squash hummus with berbere.

Butternut Squash Hummus and Seed Crackers

06 April, 2015

Smoked, Charred, Raw and Chilled at Maysville NY

I traveled to New York for a big Italian wine conference in the heart of this brutal winter. After canceled and delayed flights, I finally landed in NYC. An entire week in NY sounded great but I was committed to a conference all week (yes, filled with drinking wine) and little free time. But, with one night free, I ventured out into the cold to meet up with friends for dinner. With so many restaurants to choose from in New York, I am lucky to have a local foodie friend who always has a list of places to try. This doesn't mean that we will be going to the newest restaurant. This means that we will be going somewhere that is bound to have delicious food and that I would never have found on my own. On this outing, we went to Maysville in the Flat Iron district. This isn't just a restaurant, it is a whiskey bar as well. Maysville is actually a Kentucky port town that is the birthplace of bourbon.

Maysville has an extraordinary whiskey list that consists of over 150 American Whiskeys. Even better, the whiskeys, which come from distilleries across the country, are all available in both 1 and 2 ounce tastes. On a cold night, a little taste, or two, was in order.

17 March, 2015