By: Marcy Neumire

In the heart of the Finger Lakes region of New York State, an area that’s earned it’s place in the wine world, Geneva is earning its own reputation among foodies.  With national recognition from industry experts such as Wine & Spirits Magazine and USA Today 10 Best Reader’s Choice Travel Awards, the city of about 13,000 has competed, and won, against foodie meccas.

The ascent began in 2006 with the establishment of Red Dove Tavern, a locally sourced eatery serving octopus, quail and foie gras, alongside more standard fare, in a locale that had previously not afforded its residents such a delightful stretch of the palate. In 2015, the tavern was joined by Kindred Fare, a “modern farmhouse” style restaurant with dishes such as black garlic cauliflower soup, braised pork and greens and black garlic ice cream. The following year, FLX Table hit the scene with a tiny 12 seated single dining table that won USA Today 10 Best Reader’s Choice of 2017 with flavors such as found in its Chicken Royal, featuring burgundy truffle, puffball, chanterelle, quinoa, black olive and dukkah.

To round out the enticements of this up and comer in the list of best foodie cities, Geneva sports the Microclimate Wine Bar, which showcases regional wines, as well as Twisted Rail Brewing, Lake Drum Brewing and WeBe Brewing Company, all of which are scoring four plus or five out of five stars on Trip Advisor and Yelp.

Food and beverages are not the only recommendations of this visionary city. In 2018, the governor put his stamp of approval on Geneva’s efforts with substantial funding from the FY 2018 Executive Budget for a new Welcome Center featuring I Love New York kiosks, a Taste of New York gift shop and a future walk of fame memorializing famous New Yorkers. In February of this year, the first unit of the Lake Tunnel Solar Village was placed, a trendy 20 home, low maintenance living community with no heating or electric bills and townhomes starting at $149.5K and villas from $225K.

While perusing foodie destinations for this year’s get-away, you may want to steer your Googling efforts toward the little foodie city that’s building up steam.