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 […]
Geneva's dining conversation tends to revolve around farm-to-table tasting menus and craft hot dog shops on South Main Street, which is exactly why The Elephant feels like a discovery. Tucked into the ground floor at 1 Franklin Street, this Thai restaurant occupies a modest storefront that you could walk past without noticing — no flashy […]
The Artist's Lounge on Fall Street in Seneca Falls is the kind of place that defies easy categorization — and that is exactly why locals keep voting for it across multiple FLX Finest categories. In 2025, it swept Gold in three separate categories: Best Art Gallery, Best Summer Camp, and Best Children's Birthday Party Venue. […]
Spotted Duck is not your average ice cream stand, and it takes some effort to get there — which is part of the charm. Perched on Route 54 south of Penn Yan, this is a working farm creamery founded by second-generation organic farmers who raise their own flock of ducks. The secret ingredient? Duck eggs, […]
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. […]
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 […]
On Main Street in Willard, a tiny hamlet on the western shore of Seneca Lake, Rylee's Place has quietly become one of the most decorated cheap eats in the entire Finger Lakes. This family-owned diner punches absurdly above its weight class: Gold for Best Cheap Eats in both 2024 and 2025, Gold for Best Appetizers […]