Category Archives: local business

Lots of Local on Shop Small Saturday

We have been having an utterly delightful time on Shop Small Saturday, obviously a day tailor-made for Mohawk Valley Girl, a lover of all things local. However, it is the bra off, sweats on, wine drinking portion of the day (full disclosure: I may have been sipping a little wine before it was the official time of day to do so). I will attempt to make some semblance of a Scattered Saturday post.

It’s so pretty!

We drove to Little Falls, NY, parking on Main Street. Our first stop was Joyful Vintage Designs, which boasts many items repurposed in imaginative ways. We also stopped ar Paca Gardens, where we made several purchases, although I foolishly did not take any pictures.

We drove to Canal Place, where we visited Fall Hill Bead and Gems, the Mustard Seed, and Mohawk Valley Center for the Arts. We also grabbed a bite to eat at the Cafe at Stone Mill.

The Mustard seed is part of Chicks Aong the Mohawk.

Next we stopped at Iron Rock Brewing Company, where we drank a glass of wine.

Actually a picture from an earlier visit.

Returning to Herkimer, we visited Mohawk Valley Community Market, again neglecting to take pictures. Then we went across the street to The End Zone.

Us and the bartender

We are now home, watching a Christmas movie at Steve’s request, although I am still longing for Halloween. Then again, as that great philosopher Mick Jagged once observed, you can’t always get what you want. It was a perfectly enjoyable Saturday. I can only hope Sunday is as good.

More Fun at Fratello’s

This past Wednesday my husband, Steve, and I experienced a little indecision as to whether or not we would go to Fratello’s Pizzeria in Frankfort as usual. The reason was we had not seen any Facebook posts about any musical entertainment. Of course, the food alone is reason enough to go to Fratello’s, but we are just so into the local music scene these days. Finally Steve called and found out Max Scialdone would be there. Max Scialdone? Yes, please!

He is fine, yes.

When we walked in, a whole group of women was sitting on my preferred side of the bar. When they noticed me looking at them I explained I seemed to be staring because they were sitting where I like to.

“We like sitting over here, too,” Steve reminded me, leading me to the opposite side. Max Scialdone, who was setting up, told us there were seats on the perpendicular side as well; it was just his stuff in the seats.

“We like this side better,” I said, “so our back’s not to the music.”

We split a grilled chicken sub with French fries. Yum!

Another couple sat near us, and we soon got into a nice conversation with them. Their names were Shirley and Russ. Steve asked if we could get a selfie (I guess it’s an ussie in the plural. I was sceptical of my abilities to get a good one, but while we were situating ourselves, our favorite bartender, Toni, volunteered to take the picture.

From left: Russ, Shirley, Steve, and me

They said it was OK to use the picture in my blog post. They asked about the blog, and Russ even had me type the link into his phone. So I might have a new follower!

Good food, good music, good company… it was quite a delightful evening.

We loved grooving to the tunes!

I Gotta Have My Music!

My husband, Steve, and I have been greatly enjoying our usual Wednesday thing of going to Fratello’s Pizzeria in Frankfort, NY, to enjoy yummy food and great music. Last night we enjoyed one of our favorites, Phillip Arcuri.

He has as much fun as the audience!

Last night when we walked in, there were a number of people sitting at the bar, our favorite place to sit. However, a man graciously agreed to move one seat down freeing up two seats in a row. Steve’s view of the musician was a little obscured, but he managed to peep around and could of course hear perfectly well.

We decided on pizza and wings but had some discussion on pizza toppings and wing sauce. For pizza we got garlic with pepperoni and black olives. For wings, I was interested in Buffalo Garlic but worried they might be too spicy. Our favorite bartender Toni said if we wanted less spicy, Barbecue, Garlic or Garlic Parmesan were better choices. Still, I wanted to try to Buffalo Garlic and Steven said OK.

“The hot stuff makes his bald spot sweat,” I explained to our new friend, who had also taken part in the discussion. “As for me, I’m going to have another hot flash any minute, so it really doesn’t matter.”

“You might as well add to it,” he agreed.

The wings were spicy, but after we asked for celery and bleu cheese (which we should have ordered in the first place; I love celery and bleu cheese), all was well.

The music, of course, was wonderful. We sang along whenever possible and chair danced when we weren’t eating. I could see other people enjoying themselves as much.

Sometimes I think I would like to stay home and vegetate, but when I have a chance to take in the local music scene, how can I resist?

Another Nice Evening, Another Late Post

Here I am on Thursday morning pecking in Wednesday’s post (one letter at a time with the stylus; I really need to get a new laptop). What can I say? I’m still tired.

He’s cool.

Last night we enjoyed some great music with Mark Nanni at Fratello’s Pizzeria in Frankfort, NY. We also enjoyed yummy food and saw our favorite bartender, Toni.

Nanni plays keyboard, guitar and accordian. Another patron was especially delighted with the accordian. He said his grandfather used to play it every night, but he had not heard it in 16 years.

I like the accordian, too!

It was a lovely evening, but I felt too tired to write about it last night. I read a book instead. It was the Ron Chernow biography of Alexander Hamilton. Good book, too.

More Phil, Please!

Last night my husband, Steven, and I did our favorite Wednesday thing of going to Fratello’s Pizzeria in Frankfort, NY for food and music. We grooved to the tunes of one of our favorites, Phil Arcuri.

He is so fun to watch.

I snapped a picture with my phone and posted it on Facebook with the remark that anybody not at Fratello’s was missing out on some great music. They were missing some great food, too. We got pizza and wings. Yum!

Our favorite bartender, Toni, was sporting a new hair color. I asked to take a picture for the blog.

She’s so pretty!

We sang along when we knew the words and chair danced when we weren’t eating. I tried to get a couple of pictures, but I don’t think any turned out very good.

As usual, we had a great time. It looked as if everybody else did, too!

No Beer, But Music!

Yesterday was Steven’s and my 31st anniversary. We celebrated by doing our favorite Wednesday night thing of going to Fratello’s Pizzeria in Frankfort for food and music. We ate salad and garlic bread (with mozzarella!) and grooved to music by Max Scialdone.

He’s cool!

Full disclosure: one reason I wanted to go out was so I would have leftover salad to bring for my lunch for the next two days. Yum!

I sang along with some of the songs.

Steven noticed something called Boot Challenge for $10.99 on the list of drafts available. I asked our favorite bartender, Toni, about it. She showed us a large clear plastic boot-shaped vessel. It would be filled with one of two beers (I forget which). If you could drink it in seven minutes, you got a drink chip good for another draft. I declined to take the challenge, but it led to a fun discussion about questionable methods of beer consumption.

One more shot of the man.

It was a nice evening with some truly enjoyable music. Fratello’s gets the best musicians!

Fratello’s Pizzeria is located at 158 E. Main St., Frankfort, NY, phone number 315-894-8484. They are open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1 to 9 p.m. Sunday.

More Mid-Week Music

Last night my husband, Steven, and I indulged in our favorite Wednesday thing of enjoying music and food at Fratello’s Pizzeria in Frankfort. We ate wrap sandwiches and grooved to tunes by Phil Arcuri.

He’s great!

It is so fun to watch Phil, because he clearly loves what he’s doing. We sang along when we knew the words, as did others sitting at the bar.

When I was taking pictures, Phil said we needed to take one together. Our favorite bartender, Toni, offered to snap the shot.

Later on Phil was joined by a special guest artist.

We had a wonderful time.

Fratello’s Pizzeria is located at 158 E. Main St., Frankfort, NY, phone number 315-894-8484. They are open 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Monday through Saturday, 1 to 9 p.m. Sunday.

Tired Post about Good Music

I’m thinking nobody will be particularly surprised to see a Tired Tuesday post from Mohawk Valley Girl. Unless it is actually Wednesday by the time you are reading this. I have no control over these things. I can only be happy anybody is reading me at all.

Where was I? Never mind that, just tnrow in a picture.

Good music, yes!

Sunday we went to Iron Rock Brewing Company in Little Falls, NY, to enjoy music by Phil Arcuri. We had a wonderful time. Perhaps too good a time, which might explain why I was so tired on Monday. What is my excuse today?

More of Phil’s fans.

When I asked people at the bar if I could take their picture for my blog post, the guy with the beard asked for $500.

“I do not have $500,” I said.

“In that case, go ahead and take the picture,” he said. I felt this was very gracious of him. The other patrons and the bartender were equally as gracious.

One more of Phil.

It is so fun to hear Phil Arcuri play, because he is obviously having so much fun. We enjoyed ourselves a lot. And as always we enjoyed the atmosphere and service at Iron Rock.

Iron Rock Brewing Company is located at 56 West Mill St., Little Falls, NY, phone number 315-508-5313. They are open 3 to 9 p.m. Thursday, 3 to 10 p.m. Friday, 12 to 10 p.m. Saturday and 12 to 5 p.m. Sunday.

Briefly, about Brewvey’s

I mentioned Brewvey’s Bites in yesterday’s post. I saw them again the very next day at a vendor fair at the Grand Rehabilitation and Nursing in Ilion, NY.

I was happy to see them!

I was glad they were there, because I was hungry! Steve and I both got cheeseburgers with chips (Lay’s plain, yum!). The bun was toasted. Yummy!

Food trucks seem to pop up all over the place these days: Herkimer Downtown Chowdown, Food Truck Frenzy, and at local breweries. I will definitely look for Brewvey Bites again.

Other good stuff to try!

This is a short post, but you’ll have that. I need to leave soon for a meeting of Ilion Little Theatre Club. Yes, I am trying to get some theatre back in my life. It should be good for a blog post or two. As always, I hope you’ll stay tuned.

Frogs and Beer, What’s Not to Like?

Last Friday Steven and I went to Route 51 Beer Belly Bob’s Discount Beverage Center for a tasting with Frog Alley Brewing Company of Schnectady.

We like frogs, and we like beer!

We tasted Vienna Lager, Squints Sour, Harvest Ale, and Mohop IPA. I pronounced all of them yummy. We decided to purchase the Harvest Ale, because it was seasonal.

Rich and Eric.

Rich and Eric, the guys from Frog Alley, were really nice. They told us stuff about the beer and brewing process, and they gave us each a frog sticker!

It all sounded yummy!

Also present was the food truck Brewvey Bites. We had other plans for dinner (this was the night we went to the Brass Tack in Frankfort to hear the Posers), but I took a picture and promised to look for them at future events (it happened soon!)(Preview of Coming Attractions).

Beer Belly Bob’s is located at 70 Otsego St., Ilion NY. They are open 9 a.m. to p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday and Saturday, 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Sunday. You can follow them on Facebook to find out about future tastings.