Restaurant.com is saving my savings

This is a little bit late notice for it to be useful for anyone, so really I'm just bragging.  Restaurant.com has this amazing promotion right now that you can get $25 gift certificates to all kinds of restaurants for $2.  Yeah, two dollars. 

I just spent $11, and got gift certificates to: Delilah's, Kyushu, Bluestone, Crossroads, Scale House, and Rogan's Corner.  $120 worth of food coming my way!

The deal expires at midnight, but for anyone who's interested:
Go to Restaurant.com, search for whatever restaurants you want.  Make sure to double check the fine print because the gift certificates have different stipulations, like the minimum you have to spend for them to apply (most are $35 or $40, so well worth it, but trying to spend $100 to get $25 off at a pizza place might be a little tough).  Then type in the promo code "TASTY," and everything gets 80% cheaper.  And then they send you a $10 credit in your email also.

Thanks, Dealmap.

An addendum to this post:  I recently tryied to use one of these gift certificates at Bluestone, and it was rejected.  Apparently the restaurant is in a dispute with Restaurant.com over the gift certificates and their ability to be used more than once.  I wonder if this is the case at other places?

And going back to #49: The Connection

            The Connection benefits from its (new) location—about four steps from the Chapter House.  While the Chapter House’s free popcorn is delicious, it’s not exactly a fully balanced meal, so after drinking there all afternoon for my friend Sarrah’s birthday the other weekend, The Connection’s extensive menu was calling my name.  I was curious to see how such a hole-in-the-wall could offer a full menu of Mexican and Italian fare, plus burgers and fries, soft pretzels, wraps, salads, wings, ALL the desserts, and something called “The Aphrodisiac”—a 10 inch heart shaped brownie with ice cream, whipped cream, and a chocolate rose.  Sounds more like The Emetic to me.

            Being the most indecisive person in the world, I sat staring at the menu for so long I missed the rest of Sarrah’s birthday, but finally ended up with one of the chicken wraps.  And, it was good.  Which was shocking.  Then again, by the time I finished reading the menu I hadn’t eaten in days--they could have handed me a week old Aphrodisiac and it would have been good.

            The bottom line?  After a night of popcorn and beer, you should probably order a salad.

Skipping ahead...#51!

Buffalo Wild Wings.  I know this is a chain, and it's not that exciting or unique to Ithaca.  But I've never been to one, and for Ithaca getting any chain franchise is a BIG DEAL.  We only got Target in 2006.

Just looking at this meal makes you fat.

The overall experience of Buffalo Wild Wings was excessive.  Too many TVs, too much deep frying.  The only thing they didn’t have enough of was waiters—one poor guy who looked like he was about to collapse was waiting on the entire restaurant, while 3 or 4 bartenders stood around watching March Madness.  I assume the bar experience of BWW is more reasonable, since you’re not trying to fill up on chicken nuggets and mozzarella sticks, and you don’t have to wait for the one waiter to get to you.  And presumably if you’re a sports fan, you’re pretty excited about all the televisions.   

They have more flavors of wing sauce than they do televisions, which seems impressive until you taste them (sauces, not televisions).  Turns out mild and hot aren’t actually different flavors—my roommate Jennine burned her tongue on the mild and I was unimpressed with the hotness of hot.   But the Caribbean jerk was at least an interesting combo of sweet, spicy and tangy.  Delish, but I think I’d rather have a cup of the sauce than the breaded fried nuggets it came slathered onto.   They could have fried my dog’s dental bones and I probably wouldn’t have known the difference.

So, go there to drink cheap beer, watch 47 different sports games at the same time, and snack on wings with even more choices of sauce than that.  Just be prepared to leave feeling ten pounds heavier—and with a nice 25 minute drive back up Rt. 13 to get home.

 

Guess what's closed?

First and foremost, Benchwarmers (link to a nicer review than mine, here).  I'd only been there once for drinks, and I really wasn't looking forward to going back so I'm not too distraught over the closure.  Also, for all I know it could have happened months ago, since no one I know has ever returned there after going once.  After being kicked out during the final few minutes of whatever important sports game they were watching, my friends decided it was worth the drive to the Plant for the next important sports game.  And now that Buffalo Wild Wings opened on Rt. 13, it was only a matter of time until Benchwarmers was driven out of business.  I would be sad to see a local company pushed out by a chain, except when said local company kind of sucked.

Next, Wildfire.  It was only open for 10 minutes, at which time it had no customers and then closed.  Now, the space is filled with what is rumored to be a cupcake-and-beer-bar, Delilah's.  Okay by me.

Finally, Lehigh Valley House.  According to my sources (ahem, the internet) it was the oldest restaurant in Ithaca, and dated back to the town's "railroad heyday," which must have been a lovely--if slightly mythical--time.  It was an old Ithaca landmark, though, and lots of townies (and even a few cultured Cornellians) were sad to see it go.

Anyone know of closures I've missed? 

The Ithaca Eating Project

I've been complaining lately that there aren't any good restaurants in Ithaca.  After driving around for a little while doing errands yesterday, I realized that there are a lot of restaurants that I've never even heard of, much less been to, here in town.  Most of them are Chinese takeout.  I got on the interwebz when I got home, and discovered....162 restaurants currently in Ithaca, to be exact (and not counting McDonalds, Subway and the like).  I also came upon this website, www.eatingithaca.com, and they're in the midst of eating at every restaurant in Ithaca from A to Z.  They're also chatting with chefs and a little distracted by other foodie-related things, but I like the eating part, so I'm in.


I counted up the restaurants I've been to already, and got to 42 yesterday.  Apparently drinking on the Commons clouded my memory of some of the pizza places that I've been to down there, because I realized today that I can check off Ameritalia and Sammy's.  How could I forget Sammy's, with it's famous-Republicans-eat-here window art?

A different kind of pizzeria....is it?

For a list of the restaurants, and where I've been, check out the google doc: The Ithaca Eating Project