Great list , RosemaryHoney!

IMHO
Mother's has great food, but I don't really understand the appeal of the bar there. To many 'manthers' for me.
Colter Bay has a great tap selection, but their food is just OK- not great.
Double Thumbs Up on Snooty Fox, Hardware, Gabriel's Gate

May I also add...
Founding Fathers: Nice low-key tavern
Ulrich's: Buffalo's oldest continuously operating tavern
Laughlin's: Not a terribly busy place, but still has a good bar and decent food.

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Ulrich's Tavern
674 Ellicott St, Buffalo, NY 14203

Gabriels Gate Restaurant
145 Allen St, Buffalo, NY 14201

Laughlins Beef & Barrel
333 Franklin St., Buffalo, NY 14202

Allen St Hardware Cafe
245 Allen St, Buffalo, NY 14201

Founding Fathers Restrnt
75 Edward St, Buffalo, NY 14202

Snooty Fox Lounge
445 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY 14202

I've done supermarket bacon in inexpensive Evan Williams Bourbon, and was pleased with the results. I will do this again using better bacon, and a higher-end bourbon.

I recently tried doing browned butter with vanilla bean in aged rum, and was pleased with that as well. A note - butter does not completely separate from the booze like bacon fat does in the freezer. It was more difficult to separate and strain through coffee filters than the bacon fat.

jonathan_obrien: What bar do you work at? What was the vehicle for avocado?

Both r0xyyyy and jmoryl make some fine points. "Best" is so personal. No two people will have the same list.

Here are a few of my suggestions...

Keuka Lake:
Dr Konstantin Frank - Rkatseteli
Hunt Country - Late Harvest Vignoles and Valvin Muscat

Seneca Lake:
Chateau LaFayette Reneau
Anthony Road - Vignoles
Hermann J. Wiemer - Riesling
Lamoreaux Landing - Chardonay
Earle Estates Meadery - Honey meads, melomels, and pyments

Cayuga Lake:
Bellwether Cidery - awesome varietal ciders

I'm sure I am forgetting more favorites and a few friends, my apologies.

To Eat
Ithaca NY:
Just A Taste, or Maxies
Trumansburg:
Hazelnut Kitchen

If time allows:
the Corning Glass Museum is wonderful.

Search this board for more threads. Also there are a few tourism sites like
http://www.fingerlakeswinecountry.com
http://senecalakewine.com/jc/
http://flcb.org/web/

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Just A Taste
116 N Aurora St, Ithaca, NY 14850

Maxie's Supper Club & Oyster Bar
635 W State St, Ithaca, NY 14850

Hazelnut Kitchen
53 E Main St, Trumansburg, NY 14886

Hi Kathryn;

I have not yet been to Death&Co, and Elettaria was not open long - so I did some guesswork, and trial-and-error at home, to try and duplicate this. I may have gotten it completely wrong, and it may be totally different from what they are doing at D&C. Regardless, the drink recipe I provided above is delicious.

A 4 oz glass sounds reasonable, just halve the recipe.
I believe Elettaria used Herradura 100% Agave Silver as the base.
I've used Lunazil Agave Silver in the past, because it is inexpensive,
and with premium tequila, I would indeed serve this in a small 4 oz. coupe.
But my wife and friends can go through this drink quickly, so now I use
cheapie Sauza Blanco, and our larger cocktail glasses.

BTW:
I never properly thanked you for all the advice you gave me on the "Inventive Cocktails in Lower Manhattan" thread.
Our group had a whirl-wind tour of eateries and pubs, and I only managed to visit Pegu Club, and Painkiller, and had wonderful experiences. I plan to hit the other establishments in that thread as time goes by - it is a great reference. Thanks again for your help.

Jerry

Hey, Look! I've started a new blog...
http://buffalodrinks.blogspot.com/

"...Maybe something a little less sweet? Seagram's 7 can be a little cloying to me..."

I think it is the soda pop, not the whiskey, making your drink sweet.

Perhaps, you could find a less sweet brand of soft drink. There are all kinds of bottlers out there making better soft drinks with cane sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup. Fever Tree makes a Bitter Lemon soda.

Or perhaps, you could add a squeeze of lemon to your drink to balance out the sweetness of the soda pop. Personally, I don't drink 7-up or Sprite without added lemon juice. It is just too sweet for me to be refreshing.

Or perhaps...
you should branch into whiskey sours, if you like whiskey with lemon-lime flavors.

Or perhaps...
you could try rye whiskey for mixing. Rye has a more 'spicy' character than a blended whiskey. Old Overholt is a good rye brand for mixing.

I just did a story on my blog about Plymouth Sloe Gin. ( I hope you are using Plymouth. )
http://buffalodrinks.blogspot.com/201...

Try these three cocktails...

San Francisco
3/4 oz Plymouth sloe gin
3/4 oz sweet vermouth
3/4 oz dry vermouth
1 dash Angostura bitters
1 dash orange bitters
Shake in iced cocktail shaker and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a cherry.

Blackthorn
2 oz Plymouth sloe gin
1 oz sweet vermouth
1 dash orange bitters
Stir with ice and strain into a chilled cocktail glass. Garnish with a lemon twist.

Real Sloe Gin Fizz
1½ oz Plymouth sloe gin
½ oz gin
¾ oz fresh squeezed lemon juice
1 egg white
1 teaspoon sugar
Shake all ingredients hard, in a shaker, first without ice, then with ice. Strain into a tall glass and top off with soda water.

Unfortunately, Buffalo does not have a dedicated cheesemonger.

Premier Gourmet, Wegmans, and the Lexington Co-Op were all once good places to get quality cheese, but the economic slowdown has led to decreased turn-over, and therefore a smaller selection. It is quite noticeable. You should still be able to find Swiss and Gouda at any of those stores.

We are lucky to have Farmers And Artisans in Williamsville, a local-vore market that has very unusual local cheeses you will not find anywhere else. If you like cheese, it should be a destination.

http://farmersandartisans.com/

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Farmers and Artisans
78 E Spring St, Williamsville, NY 14221

No, I've never done it.

But, at one time I wanted to figure out the ingredients and attempt a re-creation of Benedictine, my favorite liqueur. I eventually gave up. Some things are still secret, even with the flow of information on the interwebs.

According to this article Campari is made from a blend of equal parts of alcohol, sugar syrup, distilled water, and an infusion flavored with oranges, rhubarb, and 60 other secret herbs and spices. The red color used to come from a dye made from insects, but in 2006 was replaced by an artificial food dye.

http://www.saveur.com/article/Wine-an...

I've been to Fat Bob's perhaps 4 or 5 times, and was continuously unimpressed by their BBQ. I haven't been back in years. Perhaps the bar is the appeal of the place? They have a patio?

As long as we're talking about bars, we can expand the discussion a bit.

Mother's has a very nice bar. A bit older clientele. Their bar staff seems to know how to mix a drink, and the selection behind the bar is passable. They have a nice patio.

Scarlet is just ok. I don't understand the appeal of that place, they are not a wine bar, their beer selection is just ok, they don't do cocktails well ( too many flavored vodkas ) and their prices are not cheap, so I don't know what niche they are trying to fill. Theu seem to be busy, though.

Frizzy's is alright. Not a dive, but more of a neighborhood place, I guess. That is another place I don't "get", other than their prices are reasonable. Oh, and bubble hockey.

Across the street, Gabriel's Gate has a nice bar. The food is good.

The bar at Colter Bay is good. They have a large selection of taps, always have a good selection of craft ales, and the bar tenders know their way around mixed drinks. Their food is just passable. Don't expect much.

Snooty Fox has a nice cocktail bar. I've only been there when they were incredibly busy and slammed and the bar maid still made us good cocktails, considering. I wish they had bitters behind the bar. I need to go back when they are less busy.

Stillwater is just ok.

Rosenmary, have you been to K Gallaghers , 256 Allen, Mohawk Place, or Irish Times? Those may also appeal to dolphin146's more, depending on their definition of 'dive.'

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Frizzy's Bar & Grill
140 Allen St, Buffalo, NY 14201

Scarlet
26 Virginia St, Buffalo, NY 14201

Snooty Fox Lounge
445 Delaware Ave, Buffalo, NY 14202