The Lost Dog Cafe

I long refrained from writing this review because I work at the lost dog and I may be slightly biased. But in all honesty, I deemed it my favorite restaurant in Binghamton over 3 years ago long before I started working there. Since beginning my employment at the dog love and appreciation for the restaurant has only grown. I have made some wonderful friends who have become like family to me and have eaten some amazing meals at the dog. The restaurant has definitely helped inspire my career path, which I am truly thankful for. I am sure most of you don’t care much about that mushy stuff though…. So let’s try and look at the dog from an objective lens…

The atmosphere at the lost dog is second to none in greater Binghamton. It has a charm that mixes funky colors with local art and beautiful architecture. The building itself is a historic building that was once a cigar manufacturing facility. The windows are huge and the exposed brick and raw beams that run through the space are reminiscent of a converted loft. One reason the lost dog is such a great restaurant is its comfortable atmosphere. It’s a place where students and professionals can mix and be comfortable together. People of all ages and demographics come to the lost dog making it one of the most diverse places in Binghamton. Which I think is quite beautiful and inspiring.

Both lunch and dinner offer a variety of very attractive food selections as well as attractive employees… **wink**wink** But in all honest they the food and service is fantastic. My personal favorite lunch item is the voodoo tuna sandwich. It is blackened with some cajun spices and seared on a cast iron skillet. It is served on a kaiser roll with a great honey hot sauce: delicious! Not to boast, but it is important to note that the Lost Dog was voted the number one restaurant to eat lunch at in the southern tier by the press and sun bulletin (2009).

My personal favorite appetizer is the asparagus cakes which are fried and made with two wonderful sauces that paint the plate artistically. The first sauce is a roasted red pepper coulis while the other is a garlic and herb sauce, both marry together nicely with the asparagus cake. The rigatoni ala vodka and Greek chicken are by far our most popular dishes and are outstanding. Personally, I like the Amore which is a penne pasta dish made in an asiago cream sauce, it is rich and savory... To be frank, I like almost everything on the menu. In addition to the quality food, the prices are extremely reasonable. All lunch items are below $10 and all of the sandwiches come with a side of your choice. Most dinner entrees hover around $15 which is comparable to the terrible chain restaurants like TGI McFunsters on vestal parkway. The dog also has some of the best coffee and desserts in the area. The house brew is a nice strong French roast but they also have flavored coffees and lattes if you’re into that sort of thing. My favorite dessert is probably the Geisha, which is a cheesecake that is deep-fried and served with 3 different dipping sauces: caramel, chocolate and raspberry… It is phenomenal, you must try it! If you haven’t been to the lost dog you should definitely check it out. It is by far the best restaurant in Binghamton.

Atmosphere: 5 out of 5 stars
Service: 5 out of 5 stars
Food: 5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 5 out of 5 stars
Price Range: $10-$20

Website: The Lost Dog Café

Binghamton, New York
The Lost Dog Café
222 Water Street
Binghamton, New York 13901
Tel (607) 771-6063

Monday - Saturday
11:30am - 10:00pm

Closed Sundays

P.S. Restaurant: One of the better upscale eateries in Binghamton

I first heard about P.S. about 2 years ago and I haven’t gotten around to eating there until this past Thursday. One reason, that has deterred me from eating at P.S. is its horrific location. It is attached to a Giant supermarket off of vestal avenue. P.S. is an upscale restaurant that competes with Number 5 and the Kilmer in terms of clientele. The major issue that I have with P.S. is that their atmosphere is just too old for my taste. P.S. has a pastel carpet floor, a mirrored wall so you can spy on your neighbors and an awkward bar that is completely segregated from the rest of the restaurant. The windows all have curtains that block any view of the outside world from the customers. This is not surprising since the windows look out onto a parking lot where people are buying groceries and liquor. But P.S. has been owned by the same family for about 20 years and they have made a sustainable business in a location that is less than desirable.

This being said, the staff is excellent and the food is a notch up from anything else in the area. The bartender let us sample numerous wines, the maitre d' was pleasant and our waitress was extremely knowledgeable and personable. The menu is a mixture of French Continental food and Thai cuisine but there are very few fusion dishes. We started our meal with some raw blue point oysters, which were a special that night. They were very fresh and briny tasting as oysters should be. We decided to also have some Fois Gras to start with. From my experience this is the only restaurant that carries the wonderful duck/goose liver in Binghamton. The Fois Gras was made in a ginger, fig, lime and butter sauce that was very delicate and delicious. For dinner we had tuna steaks and roast duck. The Tuna was made with some crispy won-tons a mango pure, cilantro and a ginger cream sauce. They were cooked perfectly (rare) and were very tender. They married well with the mango but I thought the ginger cream sauce had a bit too much mayo for me. The duck was wonderful. Moist dark meat was surrounded by crispy duck skin that played with the berry sauce nicely. Both entrées were served with mashed potatoes and ratatouille. The potatoes were great, strained very finely to create a super smooth texture. But the ratatouille was a bit too acidic. We had a crème brulèe for dessert, the clustered part was nice and rich but the thin crispy layer at the top was soft and disappointing. I initially went to crack it open with my spoon only to have my utensil slide to the bottom of the ramekin. I am pretty sure they didn’t use a cooking torch, they probably just threw the dessert under the broiler…

Overall, the food was very good. You could tell that the chef really cared about what he/she was serving. One major issue that I have to address is the pricing discrepancy between the online menu and the in house menu. I am not one to nitpick on prices but almost everything online is $3-$5 cheaper than the in house menu. Clearly, they need to update their website.

Atmosphere: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Service: 5 out of 5 stars
Food: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Overall: 4 out of 5 stars
Price Range: $20-$30
Website: P.S. Restaurant

Address: 100 Rano Blvd # 8
Vestal, NY 13850-2798
(607) 770-0056
Dinner Hours: Tuesday-Saturday 5:00 p.m.-Closing

Sake-Tumi Baby!

I was really excited when Sake-Tumi first opened about a year ago. I have always loved sushi, maki, and sashimi… Anthony Bourdain once said that his last meal would either be a piece of roasted bone marrow with a warm baguette or a raw piece of really high quality yellow-fin tuna…. Yummm!With that being said, lets take a look at Sake-Tumi.

The interior of Sake-Tumi is really nice. They are part of the new restaurant movement in Binghamton that seems to embrace chic decor and modern style. Most things in the restaurant are white, black or red… kind of like The White Stripes. The restaurant is split between the first floor and the basement. Ground level contains a dining area and sushi bar, while the basement has a liquor bar, kitchen and secondary dining area. The bar on the first floor is very awkward. It’s really high and uncomfortable; whoever designed/constructed this monstrosity didn’t have a clue about functionality. But, overall the feel to the restaurant is positive… Plus they have a wonderful bathroom =)

I have eaten there 4 times since opening. The service has been awkward and slow except for one time. I am pretty sure they have a high turnover of wait staff because they always seem to have different people working there. The first time I ate there I had their small sashimi platter ($22), the tuna and salmon were very fresh but the red snapper seemed a little dated but nothing to be worried about (I ate it and was fine). I have also eaten some fusion maki rolls and some Americanized rolls like the Philadelphia ($5.5), California ($5.0) and Rainbow ($14.5). They were all decent but I definitely felt like I was paying too much for what I received.
My most recent experience was just a few days ago. I split the following fusion maki rolls with a friend of mine…

Sake-Tumi maki: Hamachi, tuna, cucumber, chili daikon wrapped in salmon crab and avocado on top w/ wasabi red sauce, spicy mayo $14.50

Seaworld: Spicy crab salad, asparagus, shitake mushroom roll wrapped in shrimp, scallop, crab w/ eel sauce and wasabi red sauce: $13.00... (I forgot to take a photo of Seaworld)

Cuper crunchy: Tuna, asparagus, chili daikon, tempura flakes roll w/ masago and potato crunch topping in spicy mayo, red sauce $12.50

Spicy tuna remix: Chopped tuna in a special spicy sauce, shiso leaves, radish sprout roll w/ spicy mayo, red sauce. $11.50

The rolls were all very beautiful and presented elegantly. My major complaint was that every piece of sushi had a dot of sriracha (Thai chili sauce) on it, which made the rolls all taste the same after a while… Honestly, I couldn’t believe that all four rolls that we ordered had this garnish. I guess it was partially my fault for not realizing that the “red sauce” and “wasabi red sauce” meant sriracha... next time I will tell them to paint it on the plate rather than putting it right on top of my food. But overall the meal was enjoyable… Although, I really felt like I was paying a very high price for sushi… Fuji San definitely gives better value for your money. My last complaint about Sake-Tumi is that they don’t have a web site. I know this may sound silly but its 2009! They should rent a computer science student from the university. In my opinion, they need to do four things to improve…
1. Shorten their menu
2. Hire and TRAIN a solid wait staff
3. Slightly lower their prices
4. Build a web site


Rating: 2.5 out of 5 stars
Price Range: $10-$30
Website: Sake-Tumi Facebook Page
Address: 71 Court St
Binghamton, NY 13901-3311
(607) 238-1771


Update 2/2/10
Sake-Tumi has recently created a website which, like the restaurant, is pretty stylish. You can visit them at saketumibing.com. A source tells me that the owners of Sake-Tumi have been informed about this blog post. I think they are strongly considering some of the above comments and are making efforts to revamp some aspects of their restaurant. It is always encouraging to hear that a restaurant is attempting to improve itself. Being content and stagnant in any industry will almost insure long term failure. So I applaud Sake-Tumi's efforts and wish them all the best. I will let you know how my next dinning experience at their establishment goes.

Tranquil: Improving Steadily

Tranquil Bar and Bistro is another restaurant that is relatively young. I believe they opened about 2 years ago. I have eaten their about 5 or 6 times for dinner and I had lunch there at least 4 times within the last 6 months. In my opinion everything about dinner at tranquil is superior to their lunch. But the décor and space is slightly bohemian and industrial yet feels very cozy. Local art is displayed in front of an exposed brick wall, while naked steel beams hold the interior intact. The lighting is elegant and the bar looks like it could assimilate to a NYC space with ease. It is modern, clean and sharp all elements that I am fond of. Needless to say, I enjoy Tranquil's interior.

Lunch is okay. The menu is decent, although elements of it seem to have been lifted off of menus that I have seen elsewhere. Service during lunch is almost always slow and inconstant (they usually only have one server on the floor). The curried coconut soup is pretty good, it’s mildly spiced (for a curry soup) and the dumplings are textually gooey in a fantastic way. My biggest complaint about the soup is that I wish it had more dumplings! I have had the spinach salad with goat cheese, walnuts and cranberries. It was light and fresh with a real classic flavor combination. The Blackened Tuna sandwich is okay, it was cooked perfectly but kind of bland and I didn’t think the olive tapenade married with the tuna. I would definitely recommend the Lost Dog’s tuna sandwich over this one. The crab cake sandwich is not worth getting, it’s bland and the crab cakes have too much filler… The steak sandwich is decent, I ordered it rare in a wrap and I came out just as I asked. It comes with an ancho chili sauce that gives the steak a nice smoked flavor. I would stick with the salads during lunch and expect to take your time.

Dinner has definitely improved since their opening. They used to carry a tuna steak dish as well as a lamb chop dish, fortunately both have since disappeared. The lamb chops were tiny. Normally, I don’t complain about portion size (unless it is in excess) but I felt like I finished my lamb in 5 bites. Again, the tuna steak was cooked nicely but was simply bland and basic. Tuna steaks can really handle BIG flavors, its sturdy fish and should be treated as such... They need to get a little more aggressive with Tuna as an ingredient. The current menu offers a number of dishes, I have had the gorgonzola cranberry stuffed chicken breast, the flat iron steak au poivre (pepper crust) and the Chilean Salmon with a sweet cider reduction. All three dishes are excellent… the chicken was rich and moist… the steak was cooked perfectly and served with fresh sautéed vegetables and roasted potatoes… the Salmon was not fishy at all and the sweetness of the sauce played nicely with the fish and root vegetables. Lately, I have been really impressed with the quality of their dinner entrees. The service could still use some improvement but for the most part I have enjoyed my recent dinner experiences at Tranquil.

Atmosphere and Service: 4 out of 5 stars
Lunch: 3 out of 5 stars
Dinner: 4.5 out of 5 stars
Overall:4.2 out of 5 stars
Price Range: $10+ for lunch $20+ for dinner
Website: Tranquil Bar & Bistro
Address: 36 Pine St # 1
Binghamton, NY 13901-3052
(607) 723-0495

Moghul, Not Your Typical Indian Restaurant

A Traditional Tandoor oven used to make bread and roast meat.


I may get a lot of heat from my Indian friends for this review but I can’t lie, I think Moghul is fantastic. The location is not ideal. Given the fact that it is located in University Plaza it has a kind of strip mall feel to the exterior. But once inside you are greeted with a very chic modern Indian décor. Moghul is definitely not your traditional cramped Indian restaurant. It is very airy and comfortable with a feeling of casual sophistication.

I have eaten at Moghul about 6 times since its opening and the food has just gotten better with time. The only complaint that I have with the restaurant is the service is slightly inconsistent. All of the Indian servers that have waited on me have been wonderful, knowledgeable and very pleasant. Unfortunately the American wait staff is not quite as good as their Indian counterparts. I will give you some examples... The worst waiter I had at Moghul was way too casual. He stood about 7 feet away from our table while taking our orders. It was if he was afraid we had some kind of contagious disease or something. We ordered chicken Tikka Masala (there most popular dish) and Palak Paneer with some homemade naan. Both were outstanding, especially the Tikka Masala which is basically a tomato and yogurt based Masala (curry) that is a British adaptation of a traditional Mughlai dish. It has a slightly sweet creamy texture that is balanced nicely with a little heat from the spices. But the oddest part of that meal was the fact that our waiter boxed our food tableside, right in front of us. It kind of broke up our conversation as he slowly transferred our rice and curries into plastic containers, literally between our line of vision.

Since then I have had a number of other dishes which have all been excellent. For a nice starter try the Keema Samosas. They are homemade and are textually wonderful. They come with a red and green chutney that are equally tasty. Their curried mussel appetizer is also surprisingly good. I have also had their Lamb Vindalo (spicy tomato curry usually made with potatoes), Lamb Korma (tree nut based curry) and chicken saag (spinach curry). I have no complaints about any of these dishes but if you are a first timer I would stick with the Tikka Masala. Don’t forget to order some garlic Naan. All Naan and bread at Moghul is made fresh to order in a traditional clay pot called a tandoor. It is awesome and well worth the extra $3. I highly recommend Moghul and give it 4.5 stars. Casual dress is fine and expects to pay between $15-$20 per person.

I will also try and compare Curries of India to Moghul soon within the next week.

Here is a link to Moghul’s web site: Moghul