This Week
View all events →Around the region
1 note- Aug 28Dino races come to Dunham Library FridayWhitesboro
Schools
Replays in Catch Up →Eat & Drink
The food guide →Jul 17 Moved: Chesterfield's Tavolo
Utica — The family behind the Chesterfield Restaurant has closed the 1713 Bleecker Street location and now operates as Chesterfield's Tavolo at 131 N Genesee Street, keeping the riggies and greens Morelle on the menu.
Tailor & the Cook
Utica — Seasonal menus built on Mohawk Valley farm sourcing
Outdoor dining
Patios, beer gardens, dockside tables and screened porches — where to eat outside while the season lasts.
The Mohawk Valley starter pack: riggies, greens, tomato pie & half-moons
New here, or hosting someone who is? These are the dishes that define eating here, and where to get them.
History
The Mohawk Valley: Then & Now →Dug by hand, starting in Rome: how the Erie Canal built the Valley
On July 4, 1817, workers turned the first shovelful of the Erie Canal in Rome. Within a decade the ditch remade every town along the Mohawk — and it's still out there, under streets and behind backyards.
👤Nicholas Herkimer: the farmer-general the county is named for
A Palatine German trader with a Georgian brick mansion above the Mohawk, Herkimer led his neighbors into the ravine at Oriskany — and into the county seal.
🍝Riggies, greens, tomato pie, half-moons: where Utica's food actually comes from
The Valley's signature dishes have origin stories ranging from well-documented to cheerfully contested. Here's what's known, what's tradition, and what's still argued about at Sunday dinner.
Explore
New here? Start here.
- The 60-second lay of the land
- Eat this first: riggies, greens, tomato pie, half-moons
- Where people live, Utica to the canal towns
- The Olmsted parks and the Canalway Trail
Eat & Drink
- 87 restaurants across 23 cities and villages
- 16 guides — date night, pizza, breakfast & diners, open late
- Global Utica: the city's immigrant kitchens
- The starter pack: riggies, greens, tomato pie & half-moons
Things to do
- 25 places across 7 categories
- Bowling (7) · Golf & driving ranges (6) · Antique shops (4)
- Tagged for teens, indoor days and late nights
- Plus the free outdoors — courts, playgrounds and trails
Places to go
- 9 day-trip destinations — Adirondacks, Oneida Lake, Saratoga, Cooperstown
- Drive times from Utica, Rome and Herkimer
- Madison-Bouckville is 38 minutes out; Lake George is 2 hours
- Seasons, parking, costs and family notes for each
Farmers markets
- 24 markets across 4 counties
- 5 accept SNAP/EBT
- Oneida County Public Market runs year-round
- Days, hours, and what's open today
Weekly specials
- 19 recurring deals at 7 venues in 5 towns
- Happy hours · trivia · wing nights · prime rib
- At least one on every night of the week
Town guides
- Living-in guides for 15 towns and 3 counties
- 242 facts — clerks' hours, trash days, schools, parks
- Each links to the official town or county page it came from
Parks & the outdoors
- Utica's Olmsted system — Roscoe Conkling, the Parkway, the Proctors
- The Erie Canalway Trail, plus launches and fishing access by county
- Swimming at Delta Lake, Verona Beach and Hinckley
- Winter: Snow Ridge, Woods Valley and city-run Val Bialas
Arts & nights out
- The Stanley, a 1928 movie palace on Genesee Street
- Munson's collection in its Philip Johnson building
- Comets hockey, Utica City FC and Blue Sox summer ball
- Live music, week in and week out
Get the week ahead in your inbox.
This week's board is always free — read all of it here, no email required. Subscribe and you'll also unlock the month ahead on this page, then get the region's week — events, openings, and what's worth the drive — every Monday morning.