SUMMER DREAMS From Hot Dog Stand, Moffats Grew Blue Mingo Restaurant Into Mecca For Fine Dining By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – There are plenty of places in Otsego County to get drive-thru food. But the Blue Mingo is the only place to get boat-thru food. “On busy nights, we’ll come and serve you on your boat!” said owner Michael Moffat. “We have a lot of people who come and order while they’re out on the lake –…
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Summer Dreams
Glimmerglass Queen Dream Comes True For Captain Paula At 18, She Bore Witness As The Paula Lee ‘Burned To Water Line,’ Had To Replace It By JIM KEVLIN • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – It’s kismet. Or so it seems, that Paula Wikoff was born to be captain of The Glimmerglass Queen. Her grandfather, Alfred Engelman, built the original Lakefront Hotel & Restaurant from Quonset huts he bought at an auction of surplus World War II materiel. At the same…
FINE FOOD • FUN FOOD Falling In Love With Fiesta, Again And Again And Again I have fallen in love three times at Fiesta. The first was the salsa. Each meal is preceded by a bowl of chips and in-house salsa, fresh each day, resulting in salsas with different personalities from night to night. Sometimes spicy, sometimes mild. Don’t let the lightness of this salsa fool you, it is super yummy on chips or dishes. The second was the tacos;…
SUMMER DREAMS Diorama Of Massacre In Trove Of Artifacts At Cherry Valley Site Local Museums Are Full Of Surprises By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com CHERRY VALLEY – In the homesteads of Cherry Valley, even the dogs had to help out with the chores. “We have a dog treadmill from the 1893 Sears & Roebuck catalogue,” said Barbara Bill, director of the Cherry Valley Museum. “It was attached to a butter churn, and you hung a bone up front…
FINE FOOD • FUN FOOD Keep It Simple: There’s Nothing Like A Diner – Or Simple Tuna Melt Editor’s Note: These mini restaurant reviews are prepared by the Summer Dreams staff. Nothing beats a good tuna melt. And I mean a GOOD tuna melt! Plaza Diner in Oneonta has just that. The tuna doesn’t have so many fillers that you can’t taste it. It’s got just the right amount of mayo mixed in. Then it’s topped with melty cheese and…
THINGS TO DO/LIBBY’S BEST BETS Induction Over, But Art Scene Thriving By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com As this week’s cover story on “Possessing Harriet” at the Franklin Stage shows, dramatic, as well as the visual arts, are robust in Otsego County. • Start your weekend off with a farce as Stuff of Dreams production of Ken Ludwig’s “Lend Me a Tenor.” Cost, $17/adult. 7:30 p.m. Friday-Saturday, July 26-27, 2 p.m. Sunday, July 28. Foothills Performing Arts Center, Oneonta.…
FINE DINING, FUN DINING Hot Wings For Hot Weather Pause your stroll through Cooperstown’s Main Street for some of Cooley Tavern’s famous juicy chicken wings on Pioneer St. The skins are crunchy, the meat juicy, and you can take your pick of sauces ranging from mild, to hot, to nuclear, or try Cooley’s Own sauce. A worthwhile stop on your trip through Cooperstown. (Cooley’s Stonehouse Tavern, 49 Pioneer St, Cooperstown.) LARISSA RYAN, Office Manager There comes a time in a…
Summer Dreams Local Connections In Slave’s Escape Fills Franklin Stage Final Performances This Weekend • Check www.franklinstagecompany.org By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com FRANKLIN – For “Possessing Harriet” director Leslie Nobel, it was about helping people witness history. “In her diary, Elizabeth Cady Stanton wrote about meeting Harriet Powell and that the conversation affected her deeply,” Nobel said. “The playwright, Kyle Bass, took dramatic license to imagine that conversation.” “Possessing Harriet,” which opened to a packed house Thursday, July 11,…
FINE FOOD • FUN FOOD By The Lake, By The Beautiful Lake The Blue Mingo never disappoints. This was my first time there this season; now that the rain has stopped, I hope to get there a few more times before Columbus Day. Just walking in is a delight. Smart thinking on their part – you walk through a tasteful gift shop where it seems you just need one of everything! Then starts a delightful lunch sitting outside on the…
Broadway Musicals Are Nation’s Operas, Glimmerglass Staple By LIBBY CUDMORE • Special to www.AllOTSEGO.com COOPERSTOWN – Since Francesca Zambello became general & music director at the Glimmerglass Festival in 2011, one show has been in the back of her mind. “I’ve always wanted to do ‘Show Boat’,” she said. “It’s one that I’ve always had on our docket.” The Oscar Hammerstein-penned musical, which deals with family and racism in post-Reconstruction Mississippi, is set to open the festival season this Saturday,…