14850 Dining

Pay a visit to the tiniest rail car diner ever -- a hot dog stand in a 70-year-old diesel engine. They serve hot dogs and white hots from Central New York's own Hofmann Sausages, and that's about it. Open seasonally, closing for the winter sometime in October, depending on weather.

Our expectations aren't that high when we go to a fast food outlet, but this Burger King sometimes fails to reach even that low bar. Whether the food's not hot, or we've gotten where we're going only to realize we've got a different item than the one we ordered, this BK misses the mark just a little too often for comfort. When they get it right, though, a Whopper with onion rings can sure be satisfying.

This Collegetown eatery, in new digs across from the Dryden Road parking garage, offers healthy, fresh, design-your-own wraps, salads, and smoothies. The custom wrap and salad menu (starting at $6) features no fewer than 35 ingredients to choose from, not counting the tortillas and meats (grilled chicken, tuna, or eggs), plus a couple dozen dressings. Or pick from one of the $6 pre-designed salads or wraps. Check it out from lunch through late-night if you're tired of bagels, pizza, and cheeseburgers.

This legendary College Avenue eatery moved to much roomier digs on their current corner in the mid '90s, and has expanded way beyond their bagel roots. With a wide variety of sandwiches handmade to order from fresh ingredients, including many vegetarian options and lots of top-notch bread, this flagship CTB location also makes fancy espresso drinks, serves brewed fair-trade coffee, offers smoothies, and has a bar at the back with a few draft beers and carafes of sangria.

Collegetown Pizza has moved down Dryden Road to the former location of Mama Teresa's Pizzeria. As with most pizzerias, the slices that have been sitting out for a while are only appetizing at 2am, but the freshly made pies aren't bad.

No surprises at this franchise pizza shop. They have the advantage of being cheaper than the local pizzerias, but that's about it. Their poor food and service is made worse by the fact that they are extremely poor neighbors, and are rude to people who live and work near them. Go next door to Napoli, or call Papa John's if you want chain-pizza prices.

This non-profit, volunteer-staffed cafe on the corner of Routes 13 and 38 in Dryden is open Monday through Saturday for breakfast and lunch, plus has a weekly Thursday night all-you-can-eat pasta night. Stop in for coffee or espresso drinks using beans roasted by Cortland's Coffee Mania; fresh pastries or breakfast sandwiches in the morning; and soups, quiches, sandwiches, and paninis at lunchtime. Check their Facebook for daily specials.

At the Shops at Ithaca Mall, Easy Wok looks like any other mall food court counter with a steam table laden with already-ready food, but look closer. In addition to the fairly-good combo meals you can have in an instant, Easy Wok offers a nice selection of dishes made to order, even featuring shrimp and scallops alongside the typical mall fare like General Tso's chicken and pork lo mein. We love the Singapore mei fun.

Now open across from the State Theatre, in the former home of the Prize Diner, Gorgers offers soups and gourmet subs on homemade bread, with locally sourced ingredients wherever possible. At $3 for soup, $6 for salads, and $7 for subs, the price is definitely right. Try the coconut shrimp po'boy, served with pickled vegetables and a Thai sweet chili sauce on a homemade sub roll, or make any of the subs vegetarian with eggplant instead of meat. The potato salad, made with a balsamic vinegar reduction, is a tasty side dish. Ready for a challenge?

This natural foods grocery has prepared foods including a hot and cold salad bar, packaged entrees and sushi in a cooler, and a deli counter where they'll build whatever sandwich you'd like, with or without meat. GreenStar also provides excellent catering services that showcase the superb local produce and meats available at the store.

When I told a friend in Florida I was going to visit the Ithaca Bakery, she exclaimed, "Oh, I love bakeries!" I had to stop and think for a moment, then explain that our Meadow Street "bakery" doesn't just do bread and pastries. They do bake the fresh bread, rolls, donuts, cookies, and cakes for a number of hotels, stores, offices, and other eateries around the region, but I was there to visit the eatery part of the business. Any time of day, you can satisfy your appetite at the Ithaca Bakery for just a few bucks for a bagel sandwich or deli sandwich, or spend $8-12 for a full meal.

They're not rocket science, they're sandwiches. But Jimmy John's focuses on doing decent sandwiches and doing them quickly, and they've gotten very, very good at it. You can have french bread or seven-grain wheat slices, or go the "unwich" route for a low-carb sandwich wrapped in lettuce. We love the Vito or Italian Night Club, though we can't imagine why they put oil & vinegar and mayo on a sandwich. We usually remember to ask them to skip the mayo.

On the north edge of Cornell University's campus, Louie's Lunch has a history that dates back almost a century to a Greek immigrant named Louis Zounakos who pushed around a food cart. These days it's more of a diner on wheels, open lunchtime to late night on Thurston Avenue near the north campus dorms, with breakfast sandwiches, burgers, wraps, sandwiches, and even salads. During the summer and other school breaks, Louie's is just open for lunch.

Call it Mexican food or southwestern food, Moe's is all about putting food in tortillas in various forms. Moe's welcomes visitors with an assembly line, very much like That Burrito Place or even Subway. The place is colourful and full of energy, a perfect match to the southwest-style pseudo-Mexican fare. You can get a well-stuffed taco for three bucks or even less, or an overflowing salad in a big tortilla shell, or a burrito or quesadilla. Try fajita steak, ground beef, or chicken in any of the above, or even veggies or tofu.

After twenty years operating popular gyro and falafel stands on the Ithaca Commons, at the Ithaca Farmers Market, and at countless area festivals, On the Street now has its very first brick-and-mortar location, right next to Maxie's Supper Club in Ithaca's west end. They serve overflowing pitas including gyros, falafels, chicken, pork souvlaki, and even cheeseburger and cheesesteak pitas, plus breakfast gyros and Greek salads. Free delivery in town, $2 delivery farther out.

Papa John's makes one of the best traditional, round pizzas in town, thanks to a focus on fresh ingredients despite their chain status and their surprisingly affordable prices. It's a little dry unless you ask for extra sauce, which they'll gladly provide at no extra charge. We've always been a fan of the garlic dipping sauce and hot peppers that come with each pizza, and the slices-and-soda lunch specials are a good deal. 

Pizza Hut offers their own style of deep-dish pizza that's perfect when it's fresh and hot. This location, in the Cayuga Mall in the Village of Lansing, has a decent lunch buffet featuring pizza and salad, and sadly, like most Pizza Huts across Central New York, doesn't serve beer.

Formerly the Corner Store, this unassuming, little red shop on the edges of Ithaca's downtown neighborhood is a deli and convenience store, but they also serve foot-long hot dogs, 1/3 pound burgers, and a seriously good fish fry. Stop in and grab a freshly fried haddock dinner, served with fries and cole slaw for less than ten bucks, or just have a fish sandwich for under $5.

This pizza shop at the east end of the Ithaca Commons is perfect for a late-night slice, and delivers decent subs, pizza, wings, and even fried chicken. They're not trying to be culinary artists, but they hit the spot when they've got what you need.

There are a few select entrees from the main Collegetown Sangam Indian Restaurant here at this steam-table counter in Center Ithaca. The food always tastes fresh, and it's always ready when you walk up. There's also a small selection of Indian groceries and videos.

Whether you call them subs or grinders or hoagies or whatever, Shortstop Deli specializes in those long sandwiches on fresh-baked French bread, or smaller sandwiches on kaiser rolls. They've got the usual ham, roast beef, and turkey, but they've also got seafood salad, eggplant, seitan, or prime rib. For the last few years, the Shortstop hot sub menu has had a selection of the famous Hot Truck French bread pizza subs. Supplement your sub with a fresh hot bowl of soup or chili. In the morning, enjoy their own custom coffee roast and a breakfast sandwich.

Central New York's latest food truck sensation is the Silo Food Truck, a locavore truck focusing on mouthwatering fried chicken and hearty macaroni & cheese -- for starters. It's all dark-meat chicken, for optimum juiciness and flavor, and there's an inspiring variety of sauces and toppings to keep things interesting.

Subway has captured lots of attention with its $5 foot-long offers, its weight-losing spokesman, its toasted subs, and, yes, its "Chuck" exposure. What it comes down to is that Subway is a decent place for a decent sandwich made with decent food at a decent price. If you skip some of the gloppy sauces and the potato chips, it's even a healthy meal.

That Burrito Place makes burritos, nachos, quesadillas, and rice bowls to order, on a quick assembly line. Nothing unusual here, just tasty Mexican-style food to go. Watch their Facebook for daily specials. (If you want to eat in the restaurant, you'll be standing up. There's no seating, unless the weather's nice and you hit the bench out front.)

Ithaca has had food trucks for decades -- the Hot Truck and Louie's Lunch -- but, except on special occasions, they're always in one place. Enter the Good Truck, our first entry in the fad of food trucks that pop up in different places around town. Common stops for this taco truck are next to The Shop or The Westy, or at the Food Truck Roundup at Thompson Park in Fall Creek. The locally sourced food is tasty and almost, but not quite, worth the $5 per taco price.

This food truck is using fresh and seasonal local produce to make grilled cheese sandwiches, fritters, fries, and more, as they appear around town at wineries and other locations. So far, they've had appearances at Hopshire Farms, Six Mile Creek Winery, and Argos Inn.

This summer, the schedule is Six Mile Creek Winery on Thursday evenings and Hopshire Farms on Friday evenings for their respective live music series, and Argos Inn for brunch on Saturdays and Sundays.

This Canada-based chain of coffee, donut, and sandwich shops snuck into Ithaca a few years ago thanks to a deal to open a coffee kiosk in most Tops Friendly Markets stores, but we finally have the full experience. Tim Hortons offers breakfast sandwiches in addition to the coffee and donuts, plus the famous Timbits, but in the afternoon and evening they add excellent freshly made sandwiches and soups to the mix. Stop in for a snack or a meal, and pick up a canister of their great and affordably priced coffee for home, while you're at it.

Affordable and unassuming, this taco and burrito eatery provides a limited menu of pretty good if unexceptional California-style Mexican fare. The burritos used to be humungous and cheap, enough for two meals, but the portions aren't what they once were. The soft tacos offer better bang for the buck, and the soup's a pleasant surprise.

What is it they say about the underdog trying harder? Wendy's is dwarfed by McDonald's and Burger King, but we think that, as a general rule, they offer the best-tasting, best-quality food of the three. Despite occasional missteps like chicken nuggets dressed up as "boneless wings," Wendy's has very good burgers, delightful spicy chicken sandwiches, and top-notch (and affordable) side dishes like salads and baked potatoes.

This franchise of the growing "Wings Over" chain offers a chicken-heavy lunch buffet and extensive delivery. The hottest "Afterburner" wings are hot enough for Ithaca, if not Buffalo, and flavourful as well. Vegetarians are basically out of luck, unless they're satisfied with fries and macaroni salad. Poultry-eaters, though, might enjoy the 15 varieties of wings, and those who can't stand bones should try the "boneless wings," excellent hand-battered chicken strips sold by the half pound.