Syracuse dishes it out
By Randy Garbin
Though we travel extensively and have visited most regions of the country, our hearts will never leave the great historic industrial cities of New England and the Mid-Atlantic. What can I say? Like most Americans, I love the underdog.
While the South and West continue their ascension, demographically, economically, and culturally, a good historian remains mindful that all things in nature are cyclical, and that too many people remain committed to this region who also see a bright future ahead once this old machine is either fully repaired or replaced. In the center of all that lies Syracuse, and its efforts typify the struggle of all our great East Coast urban centers.
Every city seems to have its own nickname, and people here call Syracuse the Salt City, after its long-defunct salt making industry located on the shores of the Onondaga Lake, but the city also holds the title as “The Heart of New York,” alluding to its location relative to the whole Empire state. Not surprisingly, we find many similarities between this town and our home base of Worcester, known as the Heart of the Commonwealth. Both cities began as trading outposts in the new frontier, but truly began to grow after the initial development of canals. Economic expansion for both towns went into overdrive once the railroad came to town. Neither city rests upon any major natural waterway, yet both became economic powerhouses through the growth of extremely diverse, highly advanced (for their era) industries. Syracuse’s factories produced steel, automobiles, glassware, air conditioning, chemicals, and more.
The city’s decline paralleled all those like it. By the 1970s, some of the larger factories survived, though just barely. Carrier, General Electric, and Bristol Meyers still maintain a major presence in Syracuse, but the rise of the suburbs came at the expense of the core city. Downtown Syracuse has largely lost its place as the region’s retail center, and with the opening of the Carousel Mall in 1990, the final nail seemed to hit the coffin. Ironically, downtown Syracuse is also the home of mall developer Pyramid; their offices are in the old Post Office building. In the 1960s, the interstate highway system drew and quartered the city, creating some bleak wastelands close to the core. Population decline remains a major problem, currently at 167,000 but down nearly 20,000 people in the past 20 years.
Yet, much still remains to enjoy here, and without much difficulty, you can have the perfect Roadside experience in this city. Syracusans still take great pride in their town, and many understand the tremendous value in all the great local history. Those that built Syracuse did so with pride and an unrivaled workmanship. Built for the ages, its civic monuments, homes, and urban core have withstood the ravages of neglect much better than any of the post-war construction ever will. Enlightened developers seemed to have taken notice of this, and everywhere, one finds the signs of revival.
This story really begins about a year ago during a return trip after another Thanksgiving Day visit with family. While still within range of one of the local public radio stations, we picked up a business roundtable discussion lead by a speaker whose name we unfortunately forgot. We will never forget, however, the message he spread. Simply put, Syracuse was learning its lessons. While its problems remained formidable, the city was making progress through attention to the details. Instead of milking dry the businesses that made it great, civic leaders recommitted themselves to helping them stay and grow. Instead of clearing the city for some new “big box” developments, it was exploring ways to make downtown a neighborhood again and a scene of round-the-clock activity. Instead of warehousing its poor in unseemly isolated developments, it worked to strengthen its existing neighborhoods.
Although the trends might indicate otherwise, Syracuse is obviously seeking to redefine itself, attracting not those who have already fled to the suburbs, but instead the growing numbers who seek a more traditional, closely-knit, and densely developed neighborhood that allows transportation by car or food or transit. Syracusans seem to appreciate the value of preservation, as indicated in the emergence of the Armory Square shopping and residential district as well as the cleaning and promised rebirth of Onondaga Lake.
Our round-up spotlights only a few of the great established and future cultural institutions in the Salt City, so come on out for a visit and explore for yourself.
Syracuse Diners
It’s the diners that draw us to just about anywhere. Tell us that your town has a great diner, and it won’t be long before you see us at the counter. Syracuse is one such magnet for us, and Mario’s Little Gem (a 1957 Fodero) remains the shiniest, and probably the best-known example. We last called your attention to Mario’s back in 1992 after only one memorable visit. Since then, we’ve made Mario’s a requisite stop for any trip into the region. Never closed, Mario Biasi had told us that he didn’t even have a key! True to their heritage, Mario, his son Joe, and his wife Lucretia make the Italian specialties the real stand-outs here. Their spaghetti sauce and meatballs are homemade, so don’t miss them if you stop in for lunch or dinner.
The Redwood Diner, a rare Ward & Dickenson in East Syracuse, popped up on our radar only a couple of years ago, and on our sole visit last summer, the diner’s menu challenged me to eat the frittata, a literal pile of eggs, sausage, ham, bacon, cheese, onions, peppers, tomatoes, and potatoes. What I love about small diners such as this is the close rapport the customers have with the staff and owner. So, whenever one orders this mega-breakfast, it attracts the attention of the whole diner. A meal that dares you to finish it, an order for the frittata seems to bring back the delivery trucks for a quick re-stocking. Well, I climbed this scrambled egg mountain, and I didn’t have to eat for another two days. I also really enjoyed the joking banter between the customers and Nick, the diner’s owner, usually at Nick’s expense.
On the southside of Syracuse, the Liberty Diner, one of the many Sterling diners across upstate New York, continues to attract a growing following in an area the city had seemed to write off not that long ago. People from the area frequently told us to avoid the south Salina Street area. However, we found that, in the diner at least, people made us feel quite at home. Again, here you’ll find the big basic meal, well-prepared in front of your eyes.
However, if you’re like us and are growing tired of eating your meal with someone else’s cigarette smoke, you will be disappointed here. Of all the diners we visited, only the Liberty had a smoke-free area, and that consisted of one table located about as far back in the diner’s addition as you can get.
Brews and Barbecue
This may come as a shock to some, but no, I don’t only eat in diners. About as often as I’m in the mood for a good piece of apple pie and a cup of coffee, I’ll also look for a good, wood-fired barbecue joint. The wood-fired part is an important distinction, because to true aficionados, unless the meat is heated slowly and indirectly and over real wood, it isn’t real barbecue.
Out on the road, the sight of a real cooker and a pile of wood behind a shack offering barbecue pulls me off the road as fast as any 1941 O’Mahony. Though not exactly a shack, the Dinosaur Barbecue otherwise has all the outward appearance of a great joint, and happily, the offerings live up to the promise. With its gritty but friendly, down-home, off-road atmosphere, the Dinosaur stands out as one of the city’s finest culinary attractions–just be prepared to get your fingers dirty. I recommend the pulled pork sandwich with the beans and fresh-cut fries. No, you definitely won’t find much on the menu for anyone with a heart condition, but if you’re still healthy, get here early. The lines begin about 5 P.M. and last until the bands start playing upstairs later in the evening.
While we seem to have lost so much in terms of diversity and quality in our culture, one comeback still stands as one of the happiest trends to hit our country since universal literacy–the resurgence of the local brewery. Before prohibition, just about every major city had at least one brewery, meaning that you could travel from town to town, from Boston to Chicago, and never have to have the same beer twice. This wonderful situation has largely returned to our culture thanks to the “craft brewing” movement, and Syracuse participates strongly. The city currently hosts two brew-pubs, the Syracuse Suds Factory and the Empire Brewery. Though I liked both places, I give the edge to the Empire here, mainly because of its superior menu, better beers, and more polished atmosphere. And if you see gumbo on the menu, order it. You will not be disappointed.
Now that’s good coffee
In 1890, Hyman Smith, Polish immigrant by way of South Africa, opened the Smith Crockery Store on Grape Street, selling china and cookware to the growing population. Five generations later, you can still go to his store, now known as the Smith Restaurant Supply Company on Erie Boulevard, and now housed in an Erie-canal era warehouse building.
Upon entry, you’ll quickly find that this is not your typical restaurant supply store. We usually find such places distinctively unfriendly to casual retail trade, preferring to cater specifically to the hard-core restaurant business. Fifth generation owner and operator John Kupperman, Hyman Smith’s great-great-grandson, steered the company more towards the general retail trade in the 1970s, and gradually redesigned all the floor space so that it now welcomes browsers. Today, the retail trade accounts for 20% of his business and seems to be growing. So as not to alienate his bread-and-butter restaurant trade, John assigned for them a special order desk. Now, you too can shop with the pros, and make your kitchen as heavy duty as any real diner.
As coffee fiends, we also quickly warmed to the company’s Coffee Pourium, where the Smith Company partakes in the growing trend of on-premises retail coffee roasting. It’s extremely well-stocked with just about every kind of coffee paraphernalia and coffee blend you could possibly imagine. John’s skillful sense of the changing markets combined with an appreciation for his family’s heritage and history make his place a true winner. Call and order coffee for Christmas and tell ‘em Roadside sent you.
The Ball Game
During our first visit this year back in July, I experienced what I can only describe as the perfect Roadside day. Breakfast at the Redwood Diner, a little downtown shopping, a tour of the majestic Landmark Theater and then the Erie Canal Museum, lunch at the Dinosaur, all topped off with a game at the brand new Skychief Stadium to watch the city’s triple-A minor league baseball team.
Designed to pay homage in some form to Boston’s Fenway Park, like all new baseball stadiums these days, you can watch a game at Skychief Stadium in an intimate atmosphere, on comfortable seats, sipping locally brewed ales. Admission is only four dollars. For two dollars more, you can sit in the box seats below, but a seat in the upper deck also affords you a great view of the Conrail mainline that runs behind left field. Long freights passing by at 50 miles an hour must pass by every 15 minutes, so if the game is slow, or if the Skychiefs are losing, train buffs get a great view of another kind of action.
Baseball traditionalists wince at the sight of the artificial turf, and in fact, this was the first time I ever saw a professional game played on the stuff. A knowledgeable fan sitting behind me overheard my rants and explained that since this was a Toronto Blue Jay affiliated franchise, and because the Jay’s also play on plastic, their farm team had to share the misery. It’s never a perfect world, I sighed.
I Got Rhythm
Ah, but the day wasn’t over yet. Still relatively young, I felt the urge to do some nightclubbing, and again, Syracuse comes on strong. Buoyed by the great Syracuse University crowd, Syracuse nightlife knows how to party, and again, Armory Square was a perfect destination. Reminding me of a smaller (and as yet undiscovered) version of the Flats of Cleveland, the Square comes alive once again on the weekend, and the premiere club here for the perennially hip is Styleen’s Rhythm Palace. Loaded with the prerequisite retro-cool Populuxe furnishings and decorations, Styleen’s packs packs the place. Low cover charges and a good beer selection give the place even higher marks.
If you would rather imbibe in a more sedate atmosphere, I heartily recommend Clarke’s Ale House, where they offer 25 beers and one great sandwich, which happens to be roast beef. Find Clarke’s right behind the Landmark Theater, the gloriously preserved movie palace on South Salina Street. Formerly known as Loew’s Landmark, the local preservation community rallied behind the theater when faced with demolition several years ago. Now, the theater plays host to musical acts of all types.
Move Over Federal
One food-related trend that has closely paralleled the resurgence of craft-brewed beer has been coffee. Now, the ubiquity of the coffee shop has reached almost ridiculous levels, especially in the Pacific Northwest. If the town doesn’t yet have at least one Starbucks, it will have at least one pretender to the throne, and again, as the trend swells, we have begun to find losers among the glut.
Thankfully, Starbucks has kept its hands off Syracuse thus far, so the city’s indigenous cafe culture has been able to develop its own identity. Two cafes stand out for us–Happy Endings and Federal Espresso. Happy Endings in Armory Square certainly lives up to its name, thanks mostly to its array of homemade desserts (yow! what a piece of pie I had there!). However, for the purposes of becoming a regular hang-out, we would choose Federal Espresso.
Or is it Ex-Federal Espresso. Located in a seemingly remote section of town on the other side of I-81 from downtown, the cafe’s owner, Anna Dobbs, pointed out to us the Columbus Bakery only three doors down. I had wondered why I kept seeing a stream of people going in and out of that small storefront, and been puzzled about the origins of a great bread-baking aroma. Anna (and her partner/brother Dave Ruston) benefit from the exposure provided by Syracusans making almost habitual stops for fresh baked bread in what is almost literally a hole-in-the-wall outfit.
This cafe also has its own roaster, so you know you’re getting fresh brew. Also, Anna and Dave did an excellent job renovating and decorating the space. The stained-glass coffee cup window design made us feel quite at home. In a classic case of making one’s own location, I expect that years from now when the neighborhood becomes fully gentrified, people will point to Ex-Federal Espresso as the initial catalyst.
The name confusion stems from Anna and Dave’s ongoing legal problems with the big overnight shipping outfit. Anna appeared nonplused at the prospect of battling such a huge corporation. As it happens, the name-controversy was no accident. They chose it conscious of the prospect of being sued. What could make for better publicity, right?
The strategy paid off. Though they actually lost their initial fight, Anna and Dave merely tacked on the “Ex” to the rest of the title, thinking that the publicity stunt had done its work. But FedEx wasn’t quite satisfied. I’m no trademark lawyer, but given that FedEx and Federal Espresso are in two distinctly different lines of business, and that Anna and Dave did change the name enough to completely change its meaning, and that this is a classic David versus Goliath story, FedEx can’t have much of a case here. To make matters worse for FedEx, Anna and Dave have retained the services of the lawyer who had just won a big case against the state of New York on behalf of the Attica inmates, and he’s working pro bono.
Great story, but what about the coffee? Suffice to say, we found a winning formula in operation here. I’d like to see more baked goods in the display case, this being one of the best cities in the country for bakeries, but coffee shops are also about ambience, and here you can sit at the stained-glass window overlooking the street, reading from a selection of magazines the cafe makes available. You’ll find several copies of Alaska Magazine on the counter because Anna lived there for 17 years. She said she returned to Syracuse “for the weather.” I think she’s the only one in the city who could say that! Sure, summers are sultry and warm and autumn explodes in color as vividly as any village in Vermont, but Syracuse winters freeze the soul. Syracuse also ranks number one for total average snowfall.
So what better place to thaw hunkering down over a hot cafe mocha than at the Federal?
Syracuse Bakeries
As previously mentioned, the aromas emanating from the Columbia Bakery will make your mouth water. The breads that produce them seem to provide the very essence of life.
There’s no shortage of baked goods in this town, and the fierce rivalries between the bakeries have produced about the best there is to offer. We’ve heard several reasons for this, one actually explaining that Syracuse’s altitude makes for the perfect baking environment. Just as likely are the convergence of the right mix of immigrant groups from countries famous for their baking abilities, notably the Polish and Italians.
From Syracuse originates something known as flat loaf, which resembles a large fluffy pita. About 10 to 12 inches in diameter, flat loaf all by itself makes an excellent snack during a long car rides. We’ve munched on pieces torn off from the whole for entire day trips.
Besides the Columbia, you’ll also find the Lyncourt Bakery on Teal Avenue (on your way to the Syracuse factory outlet) in another tiny building, and here a wide variety of delights await you. You can find half-moons almost everywhere, but here they are a specialty.
In Syracuse, life is good, but as in many such places, it is often those who live in it who appreciate it the least. I often judge a place by asking myself this question: If I woke up one morning and found myself suddenly transported to this place, would I panic and find a way to get home?
No. Not if it were Syracuse.