New York Cork Report

Niagara Restaurant of the Year: Carmelo's Restaurant

By Bryan Calandrelli, Niagara Region Editor

I’d love to say that deciding Niagara’s Restaurant of the Year was a difficult one, involving dozens of meals and a few days of intense deliberation. In reality it was the opposite. Carmelo’s Restaurant in historic Lewiston wins hands down in Niagara Wine Country, USA – and it would be hard not to declare it restaurant of the year in Western New York in general.

The fact is there’s no other restaurant that comes close in matching the effort chef Carmelo Raimondi makes towards sourcing local ingredients and local wines.

The result is an ever-evolving menu that not only highlights the chef’s ability to blend Italian-inspired dishes with the best local produce and meat, it’s a menu that puts a spotlight on the individual farms and wineries he’s partnered with.

The cuisine here has been top notch as long as I can remember but only in the last five years or so has the focus been so dramatically local. Today you will find Niagara wines, both red and white, on the wine list and, more importantly, on his wines by-the-glass chalkboard menu above the bar.

The local wine options are as diverse as the region itself. I’ve seen local syrah, pinot noir, chambourcin, pinot gris, chardonnay, cabernet franc and Meritage blends on the restaurant’s list. The bottle prices are completely reasonable and the servers are helpful in pouring samples upon request.

This past summer the restaurant also added three taps for craft beer, focusing on regional selections. The first tap beer menu I saw included Flying Bison, Sixpoint, and Great Lakes Brewing.

The great local food, wine and beer menus here surely make it an option for restaurant of the year but the service and hospitality of the staff clinch it for me. No matter how busy or how late, the staff is always friendly and accommodating. Need a high chair for the little one? Carmelo’s has them. Want to just come in for a drink and an appetizer? No worries, try the local pork belly.

In the past couple of years, the Niagara region has become increasingly self-aware of its bountiful farmland, burgeoning wine industry and its growing community of locavores. Carmelo’s has worked hard to bring it all together in what is ultimately the region’s most satisfying dining experience.

Finger Lakes Restaurant of the Year: Red Newt Bistro

By Evan Dawson, Finger Lakes Editor
Photo courtesy of Seneca Lake Wine Trail

We can all agree that dreams are strange things. There is no controlling the content and there is often no explaining it, either. This year I have found one consistent theme to my otherwise unpredictable dreams: Rhubarb-Chevre Ravioli.

For that I blame (or perhaps thank) the dynamic Deb Whiting, chef and co-owner of Red Newt Bistro on the southeast side of Seneca Lake. The bistro is our Finger Lakes Restaurant of the Year.

Beyond the ravioli - and really, do you need another reason? - here is a list of reasons that we selected this outstanding restaurant for the honor.

Focus on local

Before locavore was a word or a movement, Deb Whiting was practicing it intuitively. The beef often comes from Autumn's Harvest Farm, a 20-minute drive north. The fruits and vegetables come from Finger Lakes growers. And remember that ravioli I was telling you about? The rhubarb and the chevre are local, too.

Not only will you find a menu heavily tilted toward local food at Red Newt Bistro, you'll find a staff that boasts of the local connections. They're proud of it. They should be.

Creative food

Chef Whiting is becoming famous for her clever food creations. They are almost always seasonally inspired. In my book I refer to Deb's highly sought fig biscuits; they're technically called fig turnovers, consisting of Gorgonzola, garlic cream cheese, shallots, apple, and kale in puff pastry with a maple verjus glaze.

Here's a set of sample menus from recent lunch and dinner lists.

Outstanding wine list

Chef Whiting and her husband Dave (co-owner and winemaker of Red Newt Cellars) have composed the most thorough list of high-quality Finger Lakes wines in western New York. Red Newt bottlings are featured but hardly the only option. In fact, Dave is constantly seeking the best wines from his colleagues to add to the bistro list.

The result is a joy for wine lovers: You can find recent releases as well as aged bottles for reasonable prices. This summer my wife and I spent $46 for a bottle of 1999 Red Newt Riesling. It was a bargain.

Stellar service

The Whitings have instilled a culture of friendly, quality service. Their staff is knowledgeable and attentive without being pushy. 

For setting such a fine standard, we salute Red Newt Bistro, our Finger Lakes Restaurant of the Year, 2010.

The New York Cork Report 2010 Restaurants of the Year: The Concept

By Lenn Thompson, Executive Editor

One of the goals for the New York Cork Report is to shine the spotlight on the people, places and things that we are excited about in the New York wine community. Our "Wines of the Year" program was born of this goal and in discussing our goals going forward, the other editors and I have decided to add "Restaurants of the Year" to the site as well.

As with the wine program, this series of awards isn't strictly about the best restaurant in each region."Best" is vague at best and fact is, none of us claim to have eaten at every restaurant in any region.

But, our love of food, wine and everything local does result in us meeting many chefs, eating in their restaurants and understanding their style.

Based on those experiences, each of our regional wine editors has idenitfied a restaurant that shares and embraces many of the beliefs we ourselves have -- local ingredients, local wines and local community.

With 2011 bearing down on us quickly, come back tomorrow for posts from me, Evan and Bryan as we tell you about our restaurants of the year from Long Island, the Finger Lakes and Niagara respectively.