Empire Brewing Company - Syracuse, NY

Empire Brewing Company is a great micro brewery in the Armory section of Syracuse.  The Armory District has obviously gone under a renaissance in the past few years. The area has lots of really good restaurants and at least one very good brewery-restaurant.

You descend down into the Empire brewery through a set of stairs on the sidewalk. It sits below a barber shop.  A real working micro brewery sits behind glass behind the bar. The boil vessels are copper. My bartender told me that they are very old but she couldn't remember exactly how old or where they came from.

The brewery is literally "award winning." There are award after award hanging on the walls around the brewpub. Many of which where from the Great American Brew Festival spanning over several years.

Empire brewery is a brewery first and a brew-pub second. I think that this might be the first triple D restaurant that I've been to that did not advertise the fact in any way.  There was absolutely no evidence of the food network having ever been there; no pictures of guy, no"Guy ate this" notation on the menu. Nothing.

I ordered the elk burger; medium rare with sweet potato fries. I have no complaints about the burger whatsoever. It was fine. But, the food is a second act to the beer.

The first beer that I ordered was a Black Magic Stout. You can read my Untappd review of it here.  My second beer was hey Waldorf Honey Ale. My bartender explained that the brewery has an arrangement with the famous Waldorf Hotel in new York city. Evidently the Hotel has bees on the roof of the hotel and the hotel supplies the brewery with honey and in exchange the brewery supplies for the hotel with beer. You can read my untapped review here.

I was chatting with one of the bartenders and her boyfriend waiter who are also home brewers. They were quite enthusiastic about the brewery, Their own homebrew and beer in general. So, it was a very nice conversation.

I would rate Empire Brewing Co. a 9.3.  I will go back when I'm back in Syracuse again.

Empire Brewing Company

120 Walton St

Syracuse, NY 13202

315-475-2337

http://empirebrew.com

Byblos Mediterranean grill - Syracuse, NY

Byblos Mediteranean was a nice neighborhood restaurant with really good quality mediterranean food.

It's tiny.  There are just a few tables and a bar at the window.  It would be tough to bring a large group here.  Although the delivery dude came in.  So, it probably would be good to cater a larger party.

I got the hummus with honey and shish kabobs.  I don't know how they did it but, both dishes just seemed more flavorful and fresh than the same thing that I've had elsewhere.  The beef had a nice smokey flavor like it was cooked on a charcoal grill but, I don't think that it was.  The salad that came with it was similar.  It had more of a citrusy punch.  Maybe they had a genie in back.  Who knows.

I'd give it an 8.5. Well worth checking out.  Everything is really healthy, too unlike most DDD restaurants.

223 N. Clinton St.
Syracuse, NY 13202
Phone: (315) 478-3333

http://www.byblossyr.com

Pastabilities - Syracuse, NY

Get the duck pizza!  What else can I tell you that you really need to know?  The duck itself tastes like a succulent bacon only less pungent and more greasy, but in a good way.

I was chatting with a woman on the takeout line. We both had college freshmen draining our bank accounts. She was a local and gets takeout from here very often.  She was the one that sold me on the duck pizza.  I'm glad that I took the advice.  

They bake raisins on top also which cuts that slightly greasy sensation with the acidic sweetness from the raisins. The sweet and succulent sensations are nicely offset in a complimentary kind of way.

It's not just the pizza that made this place special for me.  They serve fresh made bread with their own spicy hot tomato sauce/oil.  If you are looking to avoid carbohydrates then this is not the place for you.  It is hard to stop eating bread because it is so good.

The restaurant was not a diner, a drive-inn or a dive.  So, even though Guy put his mark on the wall above the cash register here, it doesn't really fit into the DDD scope.  It is however well worth the visit.

I have to take away points just for being outside DDD scope but, I'd rate Pastabilities a 9.1.

311 S Franklin St,
Syracuse, NY 13202
(315) 474-1153
http://pastabilities.com