The Post-Standard/WEEKEND
July 29, 2004

By Yolanda Wright

If celebrating summer with good food and service in a onetime farmhouse with a hilltop view of Skaneateles Lake sounds like a midsummer night’s dream, The c.1820 House is making it a reality.

Weather permitting, guests can enjoy dinner under big umbrellas on an outdoor deck with a front seat for sunset over the lake.

But on a recent cool, rainy Friday evening, four of us were glad to be in one of the small indoor dining rooms.

The single-page a-la-carte dinner menu, printed daily, is not for the bargain-hunter. It offers nine soups, appetizers and salads ($3 to $7) and 11 entrees ($18 to $24). Two of us started with cocktails ($7 each), and during dinner We had a bottle of Spanish Damon Bilboa Rioja ($19) and a California Danzante pinot grigio ($18).

Appetizers were slow in coming but worth the wait. A generous house salad ($4), built on fresh baby greens with carefully composed vegetables on top and dressing on the side, got "an enthusiastic welcome". And a traditional Caesar salad ($5) got clean-the-plate approval. A basket of white dinner rolls was a nice addition.

A shared crab dip with crackers ($7) arrived warm and flavorful in a gratin dish and tasted like a resurrected vintage recipe. Combined with chopped spinach, cheese and real crab taste and texture, the colorful dip

Yolanda Wright’s weekly “Dining Out” review is based on an unannounced, anonymous visit. An A-to-Z listing of many of the reviews is available at www.syracuse.com/dinlng/.

The restaurant: The c. 1820 House, 1715 E. Lake Road (Route 41), Spafford. 673-2778.
Credit cards? Yes.
Access to disabled? Yes.
Hours: Dining room open Wednesdays through Sundays 5:30 p.m. until closing; tavern from 4:30 p.m.
Cost: Dinner for four, with three appetizers, entrees, coffee, desserts, two cocktails, two wines, tax and tip, was $238.56.

and its cracker partners could have served three easily.

Creative entrees were remarkably good and generous, with interesting “why-didn’t-I-think-of-that” twists.

Baked haddock ($21) delivered a snowy, moist 8-ounce fillet with golden cracker-crumb stuffing gilded with lemon butter. The still-crunchy and buttery crumbs were perfect with the mild fish, and seasoned rice and colorful wilted fresh spinach were good partners here.

Five grilled lamb tenders ($21) took a clever turn with blueberry “ketchup” adding a new dimension to the flavorful meaty strips. Spinach again added contrast, and, even better, splendid mashed potatoes laced with roasted pancetta and green onions were super surprises.

Other veal piccata recipes pale compared to veal and lobster piccata ($22) here. Thin and tender veal, usually without any distinctive flavor, mates with chunks of assertive lobster, tomatoes and capers for a quick

saute in lemon-butter sauce, and the result is delicious. Served over angel-hair pasta with a side of spinach, the combo is memorable.

One of two entree specials, a pair of beef tenderloin medallions with small twin lobster tails ($26) were special from the first bite.

Grilled to a perfect medium rare, well-seasoned and tender, the steaks got even grander when eaten with the rich tails and accompanied by caramelized onions, grilled yellow and green summer squash and those potent pancetta-onion mashed potatoes.

Coffee ($1.50 each) panied four irresistible homemade desserts ($6 each), and we were too busy enjoying them to name a winner. An old-fashioned apple crisp, served with ice cream, was first-rate, and a Bourbon-banana bread pudding added a spirited touch to an old favorite.

Served warm with Kahlua ice cream and whipped cream, a rich, dense chocolate “mud” cake was easy to play with, and a warm rhubarb streusel tart with ice cream was a summer treat.

Service was friendly and attentive from a young waitress who offered coffee refills, removed used dishes promptly and was thoughtful to bring extra plates so that each of us could sample all four desserts.

Although the exterior of The c. 1820 House needs work, its kitchen is a welcome culinary addition to the area, and its dining rooms and barroom seem popular already.