The next day we decided to explore Syracuse before heading home. After checking out of our hotel, our first stop was Mother's Cupboard. We saw this place on Man vs. Food and knew we had to go try it. It's a teeny tiny red building that can easily be missed on the way into the city.
On your way in, you see a sign with the rules of the place:
We looked at the menu and the specials board, not knowing what to get since everything smelled and looked so good. Larry wanted to get pancakes but the menu warned you that you would "hurt yourself" if you tried to eat two, so he decided on just one banana pancake. I ordered half of the frittata (The whole frittata is the challenge that the restaurant has, if you finish it you get a t-shirt and your picture on the wall). When the cook came over to serve us our food, he tried to give Larry the frittata and me the pancake, saying he almost stereotyped us because guys always order the frittata. Little does he know how much I like salt..
Both dishes were HUGE and absolutely delicious. We did all we could, switching from salty to sweet and back again, but in the end this is how much we were able to eat...
:) That pancake alone is worth the 4+ hour drive! Next we went into the city to get our very first pumpkin spice latte of the season!
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| The East Coast Postcard Row... not really |
Our next stop was Middle Ages Brewing Company. We tried just about every one of their beers and talked about future travels with the server. We also got harassed by their extra friendly cat. On our way out, Larry bought more beer.. surprise!
To build up an appetite we went for a walk through the heart of Syracuse. We got to see a lot of beautiful architecture and learn a bit about the area from nearby caches and signs.
By the time we got back to the car we were a little hungry so we went to one of our long awaited stops, Empire Brewing Company. I loved the simplicity of their branding and feel of the place. We ordered an appetizer and a sampler of their beer. It was a bummer because the main reason Larry wanted to come here was for their Cream Ale. He didn't order it because it came in the sampler and he was going to get a growler filled with it but as it turns out they don't do growlers of the Cream Ale, something to do with it being nitrogen instead of carbonation. The Amber beer was very good so we decided to take that to go instead.
After eating it was getting a bit late and we had to leave for home soon, but just across the street from Empire was The Blue Tusk. The Blue Tusk is a bar that has just about every beer you might want on tap, plus a long list of wines, AND a bunch of Grateful Dead stickers on the walls. We saw the name earlier on a list of "125 places to have a beer before you die" and we knew we had to cross that one off the list.
We took our time enjoying our last drink before leaving. We said our farewells to our great bartender, got our final growler filled and hit the road. I was sad to leave, but now we can start planning the next trip! The trip ended much like LatFJCCT, with rain. it took us a little over 4 hours to get home and the feeling was nothing like the sadness felt after the tour of the country. We felt optimistic and excited for all there is too see and plan in the near future before out next big trip LatFJ95T (Larry and the Family Jules' I-95 Tour). We will be doing a trip of Connecticut and Long Island when the next long weekends are found. Thanks for keeping up with us and reading!
