Stories, tips, and local perspectives from across the Finger Lakes.
The Hog Wallow Tavern sits at 10 Linden Street in downtown Geneva, and its award resume reads like a clerical error. FLX Finest Gold for Best Specialty Cocktails four years straight (2022, 2023, 2024, 2025). Gold for Best Margaritas three of the last four years. Gold for Best Happy Hour two years running. Gold for […]
On Genesee Street in Auburn, Spoon and Forks quietly serves some of the best sushi in the Finger Lakes — a claim that might sound like faint praise in a region better known for Riesling and fried fish, but the back-to-back FLX Finest Silver awards for Best Sushi suggest this kitchen is doing more than […]
Smokin Pete's has been climbing the FLX Finest BBQ rankings with the steady patience of a proper low-and-slow cook — Silver in 2022, Silver in 2023, Silver in 2024, and finally Gold in 2025. That four-year arc from contender to champion tells you everything about the operation at 5286 West Lake Road in Geneva: this […]
Forty-eight years on Fall Street in Seneca Falls is not a career — it is an institution. Sinicropi Florist has been doing the flowers for this community's most important moments since the mid-1970s, and the FLX Finest voting history reflects that deep-rooted trust: Gold in 2024 and 2025, Silver in 2022 and 2023, with an […]
Simple Sweets operates out of a small storefront on Castle Street in Geneva, and what it lacks in square footage it makes up for in butter. This is a cookies-first bakery, and the cookies are the reason people drive across town — buttery, generously sized, baked fresh daily in flavors that rotate with the seasons. […]
Simply Crepes started with a family recipe from a dairy farm in rural Quebec. Co-founders Pierre and Karen Heroux built their restaurant concept around the homespun crepes Pierre's grandmother cooked on buttered cast iron — simple, unpretentious, stuffed with whatever was good that morning. Two decades and multiple locations later, the formula still works. The […]
Silver Creek Golf Course on River Road in Waterloo is the most consistent Silver finisher in the FLX Finest golf category — earning the award in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Three consecutive years of being voted the second-best course in the Finger Lakes is not a consolation prize; it is proof of a course that […]
Sitting on the Waterloo-Geneva Road between two of the Finger Lakes' most trafficked wine trails, Seneca Lake Wine & Spirits occupies that sweet spot every wine region needs: an honest, well-stocked bottle shop run by people who actually know what they're selling. The selection leans hard into Finger Lakes producers, with deep representation from both […]
Sakura Buffet at 315 Genesee Street in Auburn is not trying to be a destination restaurant, and that honesty is part of its appeal. It is an all-you-can-eat Asian buffet — Chinese, Japanese, sushi bar, and Southeast Asian dishes spread across a sprawling lineup of hot trays and cold stations. Back-to-back Silver for Best Asian […]