#KeyBankAssists Launches in Syracuse to Provide Support for Small Businesses, Non-Profits and Families

Starting on Giving Tuesday, KeyBank is teaming up with Chris and Kate Johnson from WeEatCNY to support local restaurants and surprise people across Syracuse. KeyBank will surprise patrons at several local restaurants with gift cards, as well as with gift cards giveaways on the influencer’s social channel. The gift card purchases will deliver
support to small businesses and individuals as the community continues to recover from the economic impact of the pandemic. KeyBank will be donating $5,000 to The Samaritan Center to support their efforts to help families in need this holiday season. Additionally, KeyBank and Chris Johnson will donate $5,000 to The Food Bank of Central New York.

Chris JohnsonDecember 2, 2021

Finding Joy With Mackenzie-Childs

Our home is at its best during the holiday season. As soon as Thanksgiving is over (and I will freely admit that I only wait because Chris has such strong feelings about this), the lights go up, bows get tied, and our otherwise neutral decor is alive with color. It’s a stark contrast to my usual preference for black, and I have to say that there is a definite boost to my mood when I look around and see all of the pretty decorations throughout the house. It occurs to me that I should probably make more of an effort to surround myself with items that bring me such pleasure regularly and not save them only for the holidays.

Our six-year-old daughter is an expert in surrounding herself with items that bring her joy. The act of dressing for her is an adventure of self-expression; every item she wears and each item in her bedroom is curated to highlight all of the essentials: sparkles, pink, rainbows, and anything fancy. She happily presents herself to the world each day. This can be exasperating on busy mornings, but there is also a longing for her unquenchable desire to find joy in the little things. I have seen her entire mood change with a simple glance at her bracelet adorned wrist, and I often feel that I have traded that sparkle for a more minimalist approach to life.

Katharine JohnsonFebruary 1, 2020

Restaurant Week at Turning Stone Resort Casino

The beginning of the year is always a bit a of let down after the holidays. We are coming off of celebrations, gatherings with family and friends, and the harsh reality of all of the shopping we did while we were in the holiday spirit! While we do tend to cut back on our spending and eat more at home, we still love our date night. This time of year we tend to have a drink and an appetizer instead of dinner, but Turning Stone Resort and Casino is making it more affordable for a dinner out during their restaurant week. With six restaurants featuring introductory menu options, you are sure to find something to suit your fancy. We enjoyed dinner at three restaurants to preview their Restaurant Week menus, each featuring three courses with two choices for each course.

Katharine JohnsonJanuary 12, 2020Turning Stone Resort and Casino

Date Night in CNY

In Gretchen Rubin’s book, The Happiness Project, she writes about one of the Secrets of Adulthood, “The days are long, but the years are short.” I understand the poignancy of this statement as I shed a tear over the baby pictures that pop up in my Facebook memories, and even more so on those long days when the kids are fighting and it seems like bedtime is hours away! The one thing that gets me through those long dinners filled with requests for more water, fewer vegetables, and complaints about anything and everything under the sun, is knowing that Friday night is coming and I won’t be in charge of dinner. Our Friday night date nights are something I look forward to each week. The challenge, however, is finding great places to enjoy a meal. I’ve previously written about how we used to be stuck in a restaurant rut and frequented the same places over and over again. We don’t really have that problem anymore, but we do have some favorites for date night. We were recently asked about making a Top 5 Favorite list in CNY, but there are just too many variables involved. I prefer to feature our favorites in different categories to showcase more of the restaurants we love. So, here is our list of favorites for date night!

Katharine JohnsonMay 5, 2019

Game On: A ‘Wild’ Night at Sky Armory’s Pop Up Dining

It’s no surprise that we love checking out different restaurants in the area, but it’s the variety of food events that really gets us excited. These events are usually a low stress and entertaining way to try new cuisine and experience a restaurant or event space in a more intimate way. I’ve written before about my love of wine and desire to learn more about it, so I was thrilled when Chris and I were invited to the January Pop Up Dinner at SKY Armory featuring Orin Swift wines. I will admit that I was slightly apprehensive when Chris forwarded me the menu and I saw that the theme was Wild Game, but I remembered the incredible eleven course culinary experience we had at the Chef Challenge at SKY Armory back in July and felt confident that Chef de Cuisine Jae Longo and his team would make it palatable.

Katharine JohnsonFebruary 3, 2019SKY Armory

Bits, Bites, and Booze - WeEatCNY's Guide to Holiday Food Gifts

The holiday shopping season is upon us and big box retailers are bustling with the crowds swiping cards, everyone looking for the season’s hot new item, and Amazon packages delivered by the millions. While that might be great for some, we looked to stay a little closer to home and shop a little smaller this year for our friends and family. We have loved being involved in the local food web for the last 15 months and met wonderful chefs, mixologists, and restaurateurs, sharing their hard work through our social media accounts and blog posts. But we haven’t done our due diligence and shown everyone the great artisans we have here. Salts, spice rubs, sauces, sweets, and spirits, we have a thriving group of craftsmen and women that are making delicious items that we love. So we thought, what better way to celebrate these great food makers, than putting together a guide to help YOU go and support them?

We are thrilled to bring you our 1st Annual “WeEatCNY Local Holiday Gift Guide” with 11 of our favorite local artisans making those great bits, bites, and booze! Now, we’re not going to just tell you who these 11 are and give you a little bit of their backstory, we’ve got 3 recommendations for you from each, to help jump start your holiday brain and pick out the best gifts to give! So read through 11 of the many local small businesses you should get out and support this holiday season and beyond, then click the button at the bottom of the story to download our recommendations for what to get at these great spots!

Gift Guide, Buy LocalChris JohnsonDecember 2, 2018local, salt, rubs, sauces, hot sauce, chocolate, olive oil, vodka, ale, salsa, whiskey, holiday gifts, gifts, buy local

Salt City Battle Chefs - Who Will Reign Supreme in the Syracuse Cuisine Scene

What happens when you take two seasoned chefs, put them in a restaurant kitchen, provide them with secret ingredients, and give them one hour to create something amazing? Well, when you add in the consummate host, Chance Bear, we can tell you that you have one fantastic time! This is exactly what we experienced Monday night when we visited The Ridge in Chittenango for the Salt City Battle Chefs throw-down. After watching many seasons of Iron Chef on the Food Network, it was exciting to see something similar a little closer to home. John D’Amore (aka Chef Broccoli) of Strada Mia 313 and Jason Jessmore from The Chef & The Cook battled it out to create two dishes using the secret ingredients: strawberry grouper and chioggia beets.

Food EventsKatharine JohnsonNovember 18, 2018

Kasai Ramen - More than Just Noodles and Broth

Not many Syracuse restaurants have future patrons chomping at the bit for when they are going to open their doors like Kasai Ramen. Through the last few weeks, we’ve been at Kasai Ramen three times - once for a private tasting/photo event, once for a pop up dining event, and most recently for the Farm to Fork 101 “All Hallows Eve Dinner”. During our tasting, people were continually coming to the door and looking to see if it was open. People who hear us talking about our amazing experience with Kyle and his team always ask two questions, “When is it opening?” and “Have you seen the menu?” Our response hasn’t changed, “It’s not opening soon enough.” and “Yes, we can’t say anything about it, but we can tell you that it is going to be epic and we will eat there all the time.” While we can’t reveal all of the menu items, we can show everyone more of a sneak peek of the deliciousness that they have been serving through all of these visits!

Falling for Syracuse - The Season's Opening Weekend of Fun

Our Friday nights are usually date night since our children spend the night with my mother-in-law, but this weekend she was out of town. It’s been a little hectic around here since we are back at school and it often feels like we barely see each other during the week. The kids have been exhausted at night and our family dinners have been a lot more quiet than usual. While we love our Friday nights to ourselves, it was pretty nice to have some family time this weekend. So, of course, with discerning palates in mind, we took advantage of the incredible weather and all Central New York has to offer. We are often asked about family friendly restaurants and activities, so we crammed as many as we could into the weekend!

The Chef & The Cook - Dualing Menus with Choices for Every Palate

The running joke with my friends is that I rarely leave my ten mile radius on my off time. A trip to Baldwinsville seems so far away (it really isn’t), but we ventured outside our little bubble to visit our friends at The Chef & The Cook on a date night. Chris interviewed Deanna Germano on Episode 5 of WeEatCNY: The Podcast while the restaurant was still in its construction stage. Actually, we ended up sitting at the very table where the conversation took place! It’s wonderful to see how far Deanna and her partners Mark Germano and Jason Jessmore have come in just a few months.

Restaurant Visit, Date NightKatharine JohnsonSeptember 10, 2018oyster, champagne, greens, duck, wings, lobster, local, poke, rissoto, gnudi, ribeye, steak, beef

our journey.