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 quieter 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!
Our kids are pizza lovers and I bet that they would eat it every day of the week if we were to let them indulge. Whether it’s Wegmans after hockey practices, Thursdays during the summer at The Fayetteville Market for Via Napoli, Toss ‘n’ Fire’s pizza truck when it visits Empire Brewery in Cazenovia, scarfing slices from Owera Vineyards between runs down to the apple trees, or right down the street at Ironwood in Manlius, Thing One and Thing Two can put down some cheese pizza like they are in a professional eating contest. With thoughts on what do to after dinner already in mind, we packed up the kids and our “restaurant survival kit” of activities for them to do while they wait for food. A quick drive later and we arrived at our first stop of the night for the best pizza in Downtown Syracuse, and ranked #2 in New York, Apizza Regionale. As you might have seen from the five prior pizza slingers, Apizza fits our kids’ mold for great pizza - it has to be from a wood fire pizza oven.
The stars must have been in alignment on Friday night because we were able to get a parking spot right in front of Apizza and we only had a five minute wait for our table. Those of you with children know that a dinner out is all about the timing. There’s a limited window between when the enthusiasm for being in a new place wears off and the food comes and thankfully, our server knew all about the window and was not only attentive to our two crazy little ones, but also to Chris and me to bring out our appetizer and our drinks as soon as possible. Starting the night off, we easily downed the zucchini fritte, which you’ll see as we continue through the weekend, might have been the last vegetables Chris ate. Perfectly cooked to a light and crispy outside and not a mushy inside, the frittes were brightened by a lemon caper aioli, much like our daughter’s laughter brightened up our evening. Next, Chris and I shared their pizza special, the Affumicato, which had roasted chicken, scamorza, peppadew, red onions, balsamic, basil, grana, and olive oil. The pizza had a great balance between sweet with the roasted peppers and the balsamic reduction and savory with the smokey cheese. The younger members of our dinner party ordered their usual pizza: plain cheese with tomato sauce and no basil. We had to smile when our server knew exactly what they would order and didn’t tease us for being food bloggers with children who lack adventurous palates. While the dessert menu looked fabulous, we already had a plan in place for dessert and our children eagerly anticipated one of their favorite places in Syracuse, Glazed and Confused.
A short walk took us directly to our next destination, where the music was blaring, the disco ball announced that Friday night was finally here, and Paul Valenti was there to welcome us with open arms. No strangers to Glazed and Confused, our daughter ran right up to greet “Mr. Paul” and our son walked up to the glass case of doughnuts to scope out the goodies. While we waited for our “No Sleep ‘Til Brooklyn” and “Boom Boom Berry” shakes, we danced and marveled at our daughter’s ability to crush a Carnival donut while asking when her shake would be ready. The shakes were pleasing to the eye and even more to the palate. It was the perfect ending to a very long week and all of us left with a spring in our step and a smile on faces.
My German heritage makes Oktoberbest pretty much mandatory in our family. We used to celebrate at our favorite German restaurant in Springfield, Massachusetts with my grandparents growing up and I was thrilled to see that Empire Farm Brewery was hosting a family friendly Oktoberfest celebration this weekend. While we didn’t have the appropriate lederhosen or dirndl to don while enjoying our pint glasses, or in Chris’ case a glass boot, plenty of brewery goers dressed the part and enjoyed all Empire had to offer. We enjoyed a few beers, the Peach Buzz is my new favorite and Chris had the tried their new Space Witch., while our children happily played with friends and then painted and carved pumpkins. While Chris didn’t feel that his Wednesday workouts with November Project Syracuse had prepared him for the Keg Toss, nor that his photography skills would translate into more artistic works with the pumpkin carving contest, he did feel that after the one year anniversary of WeEatCNY and eating all around Central New York, his particular skill set was best suited for the Bratwurst Eating Contest. After hearing that last year’s winner was only able to muster three of the delicious sausages, the consensus within Team WeEatCNY and friends was that he had a fighting chance. And we couldn’t have been more wrong! The winning Wiener Warrior, Empire’s term, not ours, took down SEVEN brats in 5 minutes. Nevertheless, the kids had fun cheering for their dad and everyone in the crowd had a good time watching the competitors try to shove as many sausages in their mouths as possible. Empire Farm Brewery is one of our favorite spots to bring our children any time of the year, but Oktoberfest and all the fun activities for everyone in our family made it even more special.
We ended our night at the First Annual Syracuse Burger Battle at NBT Bank Stadium, where Chris had been asked to be a guest judge to help determine the best slider among seven vendors. In attendance at the Burger Battle were: Jake’s Grub and Grog, Dino’s House of Burgers, Chef Four Rent, Limp Lizard, Spectra Food Services at NBT Bank Stadium, Oompa Loompyas, and Peppinos, all with different burger recipes and intent on impressing both the crowd and the judges. While all of the Burger Bandits put up a good fight with many original flavor combinations, one winner stood above the rest! Dino’s House of Burgers captured the judge’s crown with a sweet and salty burger that was cooked to perfection, had a sweet and tangy sauce, a salty punch from the bacon, and topped off with some creamy mac and cheese! It was one heck of a packed slider and I could see Chris’ face light up when he took those first few bites! After the judging was over, Maisie was all about going to Skippy’s Ice Cream Truck and had to have her usual, a chocolate and vanilla twist with whip cream and rainbow sprinkles. That girl sure loves her sweets, probably as much as her dad loves eating a week’s worth of meat in an afternoon.
On Sunday we took our annual trip to Critz Farms in Cazenovia for pumpkin picking. We met some friends there and had a fantastic time enjoying the beautiful weather and watching the children play in the fresh air. They had so much fun playing with their friends and climbing on the pirate ship playhouse and the tractors, riding in the cow cars, and checking out the farm animals. The apple fritters and cider donuts were the perfect start to the fall season, especially when you get them hot and fresh, right out of the fryer. It’s also fun to watch the team at Critz bring in the apples, shred them through the machines, and then see the cider press in action! To kick off the fall, Critz was also hosting a band and had the pizza oven cranking to feed those that were interested, along with their grill going with burgers and hot dogs, nachos smothered in cheese sauce, and plenty of other snacks. While we didn’t partake in any of the hard cider tasting this visit, we will definitely be returning throughout the fall to enjoy the many varieties of hard cider in the tasting room. You can’t beat Cazenovia in the fall!
It was a beautiful weekend of weather to open the Fall season and we had some fun adventures around in the area. All of the activities definitely wore us out and I think we needed a weekend from the weekend.
We can’t wait for more fun Fall activities and sharing our favorites! What are your favorite fall activities? Leave a message below in the comments and tell us your favs!