Seneca Farms is a roadside ice cream stand on Route 54A just outside Penn Yan, and it has been a summer ritual for Keuka Lake visitors for decades. The soft-serve and hard ice cream are made with local dairy, the portions are generous enough to make you reconsider your second scoop, and the picnic tables overlook farmland stretching toward the lake in a way that makes a single cone turn into an hour of sitting. Double Gold for Best Ice Cream in 2022 and 2023 confirms what the line out the door on any July afternoon already tells you.

But Seneca Farms is more than ice cream. The food menu — burgers, hot dogs, and other roadside staples — makes it a legitimate lunch stop for anyone exploring the Keuka Lake corridor. The vibe is pure Finger Lakes summer: families in flip-flops, sunburned kids choosing between flavors, the smell of grilled food mixing with cut grass. It is not a place you plan a trip around, but it is the place that everyone who spends time on Keuka Lake ends up at eventually, and the place they remember fondly when they get home. If you are doing the Keuka Lake wine trail or hiking the Keuka Outlet Trail from Penn Yan, Seneca Farms is the reward stop. Open seasonally — check before you drive out, especially in the shoulder months.