Saturday 31 May 2025

A reasonably relaxing day today as we headed out to the huge shopping mall for a look. It was almost deserted which was strange for a Saturday. Anyway, a relaxing day. Off to Webster’s Bistro and Bar tonight, in Tonawanda North.

This is a restaurant run by a travel agent, who was currently overseas and it is based on her trips to France, so the menu is French inspired American. We started the evening with a Negroni while we studied the food options. Glancing about, we noticed the portion sizes were smaller than last time we were in the US but still larger than we are used to. There is a strong culture of doggy bags here. Plenty of brown paper bags going out the door tonight.

A shared starter of grilled octopus was soft and flavoursome and the Kendall Jackson, Californian Chardonnay was likewise excellent. Would have been a generous single serve, though. To satisfy her meat craving, Lady P ordered the rack of lamb. Flashy wanted the beef short rib Bourguignon but some dude on another table beat him to the last one. He hoped the bastard choked. So, the smallest steak at 8oz was the eye fillet, which he ordered. Both mains came with garlic mashed potato and green beans. A Rhone Valley red by the glass was also very good.

Lady P’s lamb was eight cutlets long. Would have fed Christopher or Andrew. Flashy’s fillet, complete with a magnificent Cognac sauce was, like the lamb, perfectly cooked. They did defeat both of us, leaving a small portion to be wrapped and bagged. By this stage we were in discussion with our server, who had just returned from a whirlwind tour of NZ and Australia. Then the owner’s husband came over for a chat and he discovered that Flashy, like his good self, was a Bourbon fancier. Well, not long after that, a glass of Jeffersons Ocean Bourbon appeared, along with a crème brûlée to share. Neither were ordered and both were free. A gift from the owner. It was a great night. The food, service, wines and ambience matched our expectations. Plus, we have leftovers for tomorrow.

Sunday 1 June 2925

After packing our nice VW, we departed back to Tonawanda North for breakfast. Now, this part of the US is very Democratic and Christian. Consequently, there are more US flags and bunting than we’ve seen so far. They are everywhere. And there’s lots of churches too. The café was the only thing open in town (it being a Sunday in good old God-fearing NY) and as we sat down to a decent egg and bacon bagel and coffee, the queue was out the door.

Refreshed, we head off for the 4.5 hr drive, east to Cooperstown. Google alerts us to the presence of state police cruisers on three occasions, which is just as well, as one of our drivers was cruising at 75 mph. This is barely keeping up with everyone else, including some of the trucks. The posted speed limit is 55 mph.

The Hickory Grove Motel is our home for the next two nights. It’s basic but clean, warm and with good hot water. It also has a fridge, microwave and coffee maker. Marvelous!  We are right on the shore of Lake Otsego and it’s a little bit reminiscent of New Zealand. 

Dining in our room tonight. We have microwave beans, fresh cob of corn, tiny potatoes and the lamb and steak doggy bag. We also have a nice table and chairs, some souvenired condiments from the shopping mall, plastic cutlery and our supply of gin, tonic and red wine.

One Negroni and one Vesper.
Octopus starter.
The mains.
That's a rack, baby!

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