Smorals: Comfort food and good service = relaxing night out

Smoral's is a restaurant that seems like it is in the 1950s. I mean this in a very good way. It has an old fashioned air about it. I just love it.

It's not like one of those fake 50s diners where they have waitresses in poodle skirts and jukeboxes, but more the quality of a family restaurant where people go to eat tried and true good food. It's fancy enough for a nice dinner out but not so formal that you can't bring your kids or that you have to dress up.

The food is kind of typical old style family restaurant/steakhouse - steaks, shrimp cocktails, seafood platter, some pasta and chicken dishes. That's why it reminds me of the 50s - there's really no fusion food or innovative new tastes. It strikes me as something that would have been cutting edge in the 50s. I can imagine someone saying "I went out on a date last night and he took me to a restaurant with crab stuffed mushrooms and I had a lettuce wedge salad!" but now we have become more sophisticated with our celebrity chefs and gourmet cooking shows. Smoral's harkens back to a simpler time, and I like that.

The food is well prepared. Steaks are tender and you don't need steak sauce. Clam chowder (Friday only) has big clams.

Pies are the desert specialty here. They are made on the premises and the crusts are perfect - nice and buttery. Pie selection varies by what they have on hand, and sometimes they run out. If there is a particular type of pie you want, order it when you order dinner so no one else gets it!

There is also a bar, with a bar menu of appetizers and light meals.

The wait staff is friendly and competent. I've only had good service and good meals here.

This is what we had last time we were here: fried seafood platter and chicken Avery. The chicken dish is in a wine cream sauce with mushrooms - my husband loved it. I actually think the broiled seafood platter is better than the fried one, but this night I was in the mood for fish and chips!

These are the salads that come with dinner.

So if you are looking for comfort food in an old fashioned place with good service, head over to Smorals.

Taste of Syracuse festival

Today I went to the Taste of Syracuse festival for lunch. This is a festival where a lot of restaurants and some community organizations have food. Most booths just have a few things, like they will have a smaller fair version of some typical food from their restaurant. Many places also have a tiny sample portion for one dollar. Mostly people will eat small amounts of food from several different places, kind of like eating at a tapas or small plates restaurant.

This is the scene as seen from the Chase Building, at lunchtime on Friday.

At first it is overwhelming because there's so many things to try. I was in the mood for Asian food so I went to the New May Lai booth which is in the area near the main stage. I had the Cold Rolls (3.50) which were ok. They are spring rolls with a dipping sauce. They tasted fine but were not wrapped tight enough so were hard to eat. They kind of fell apart. Luckily I had also gotten the Tofu Curry Noodles (3.50) which was excellent - pad Thai style rice noodles with big chunks of tofu and vegetables. The curry was mild and sweet and not overpowering. I recommend this one!

My husband got some red beans and rice from Ruby's Soul Food. He liked it but it was a bit too much food Then he got kielbasa from Eva's European Sweets, which he said was tender and succulent, despite not being the hugest fan of kielbasa. That was just a small dollar size sample which included a small slice of bread, several slices of kielbasa and sauteed onions and peppers.

One of the problems with taste of Syracuse is there's not that many places to sit. We did find a bench to sit on to eat at first but it's kind of hard to eat without a table. Then a space cleared at a nearby picnic table so we grabbed it. For the last leg of our meal we went in an enclosed eating space with tables.

This year, you need to have a special wrist band to get alcohol, and for most drinks you need to purchase drink tickets. The small wineries sell drinks for cash too. Of course you can still go to bars downtown if you wish - there's Wild Will's and Kitty Hoynes nearby.
There are a lot of non-food vendors and businesses, including phone and insurance companies, the New York State Lottery, jewelry, clothing and several radio stations.

You can get a map and a complete list of vendors and information at the official Taste of Syracuse site

The festival starts at lunchtime on Friday and continues on until it ends Saturday night. There's no festival on Sunday.