Case Study – Resilience: Responses to Climate ChangeThe Past Is Future
Case Study – Gastronomy and HospitalityCase Study – Food: Growing It, Making It…in a Changing Environment

The center of the universe for gastronomy in New York State, it goes without saying, is Manhattan…and its neighboring boroughs as well, they would protest. And yet not so. There has always been the occasional nationally recognized restaurant Upstate, in one town or city, that shone above the rest, that provided more than a veneer of sophistication, maybe even had drawn notice in Manhattan or in the national press. Channeling the Moosewood Café founded in 1973, the collective-owners-founders who introduced America to vegetarian and healthful eating, along the way producing a slew of best-selling cookbooks that have ranked among the top ten cookbooks of all time. The Café is still there, plant-forward is a watchword now of healthful cooking and a well-studied way to eat.

Edmund Wilson voiced his dismay in 1971 over the local restaurant scene, perhaps even more dispirited-appearing well north of Utica, heading to the mountains:

We heard about a place with a big-animal name that was supposedly very popular. Mabel Hutchins said that she thought it was so much in demand that we should have to engage the table. When we got there, it was not inviting and proved to be the very worst of the restaurants we had tried. It had the look of one of those Adirondack places where the bears come in to eat the garbage, and the fancy occurred to me that these bears had taken over the restaurant and were running it according to their own ideas. Bears do not eat meat on a large scale, but the cuisine consisted mainly of huge hunks of pork and beef - no soup, uninteresting vegetables. I became so depressed by the place that I drank the whole of a bottle of very sour white wine. The customers - big rural-type men and women - also resembled bears.

Upstate / Wilson / p 354

But the food scene Upstate has changed, a Rip van Winkle-like transformation.

A 1925 architecturally classic diner that used to feed travelers west of the Hudson, when first constructed, was recovered and rebuilt, moved east of the river and now tempts the passing traveler with classic diner food – true comfort food - local cuisine, locally sourced, replete with local color, from the food to the staff.

On the menu:  breakfast could be eggs, an omelet, a Polish omelet (with that most American road food, kielbasa) or the Molehill - a biscuit, a sausage patty, 2 strips of bacon, 2 eggs, overrun by sausage gravy and cheddar cheese.  Napkins provided.  Lunch could be a burger (a good burger, local beef, grass-fed of course), chicken tenders (tender chicken, local chicken, of course), kielbasa on a roll (neither one local).  A must-stop, a must-eat, in a beyond-classic setting, prepared and served with devotion to the quality of the ingredients.

A narrow hole-in-the-wall eatery, Gerber’s 1933 Tavern, celebrated the end of Prohibition by its founding.  In the original digs with the original furnishings, it honored its founders and its location in the re-energized bistro that speaks to a new, younger generation.

Leaving the Prohibition-era eatery behind, I headed northward, into legitimate black bear territory, where an authentic French bistro nestles along an historic river that powered mills long ago in Saranac Lake and now powers tourism. There, escargot and mushroom and caramelized onion tart in a puff pastry are served waterside.  No bears.  A country-elegant setting, spacious dining area in what was probably a manufacturing space beside the mill stream, with a pleasant, elongated porch, a number of small tables – pleasant on a warm summer’s evening – stretching outside the dining room and overhanging the mill race, the white noise background accompanying the French delicacies.

And of course and always: pizza.  The local food of everywhere.  With all of the variations and toppings.  Clinging to the outskirts, on an approach to the Albany that is reinventing itself, was the pricelessly and shamelessly named Goomba’s Pizza.  Barely a shack by the side of the road, with a steady stream of customers dropping by to eat in the tiny dining space, more likely to grab-and-run, along the delivery services racing off with hot treasures.

It’s humble, it’s filling, it’s satisfying, it’s there, by the side of the road.  A warm welcome to Upstate.  Though perhaps with less aplomb and style than Dan’s Diner.

Culinary inspiration and support for these restaurants (and for restaurants around the world) come from many sources, the Hudson River-based educational establishment, the Culinary Institute of America, serving as the pre-eminent resource.  The CIA began in 1946 as a vocational training program in New Haven, CT for returning World War II veterans, to help staff local restaurants.  The institution outgrew its footprint as its mission expanded.  Support has come from many of the major international hospitality corporations who view the CIA graduates as their future staff and leadership.

The grounds surrounding these buildings provided opportunities for budding chefs, the students, to manage specialized gardens and areas, like an Italian herb-and-vegetable garden.  There is a garden to study both horizontal and vertical growing techniques – the horizontal useful in vineyards, for the Finger Lakes and worldwide, the vertical for massive hydroponic organic gardens, with now many in Upstate, growing highest-quality vegetables just hours from highest-quality restaurants and tens of millions of consumers.  There is an apiary, where students can understand bee culture and plant culture – what should one plant to keep bees happy and disease-free, to produce the highest quality honey.  Hands-on experience with the earth.

A complex of old farm buildings, dating from 1930, now with a restaurant, began life as the Rockefeller family farm with their river estate Kykuit nearby.  The stone barns were restored and reconstructed in the early 2000s into an 80-acre farmland preserve to demonstrate, teach and promote sustainable, community-based food production.  Echoes of the CIA and its demonstration gardens not far away.