Café Blue – 720 Van Rensselaer St., Syracuse
Located in Syracuse’s Inner Harbor, Olivia Orlando recently opened a new coffee shop, Café Blue.
Orlando, 26, has been selling her pastries and coffee from a food truck for the past three years and decided to expand.
“I needed a bigger kitchen for all the events, and so I decided if I’m going to do a bigger kitchen, I may as well do a storefront, too,” Orlando said.
Orlando grew up in the restaurant business as many of her family members own and operate local restaurants, such as Limp Lizard, Dominick’s and Biscotti Café.
“That’s really how I started, and I went to BOCES in high school, then culinary school after that,” she said.
Blueberries & Lace, Orlando’s food truck, will continue to operate for private events, but Café Blue will make all the pastries in-house.
“We have cold brew on tap, we have our draft latte,” Orlando said. “We have salads, sandwiches; we’ll do soups when it starts to get cold.”
Emerald Cocktail Kitchen – 1333 West Fayette St., Syracuse
Syracuse’s first and only rooftop bar has opened its doors to the public. Emerald Cocktail Kitchen, located in the Tippery Hill neighborhood, has three different levels and two bars.
“The first level, we call it a speakeasy and then the second floor, we don’t have a bar on that floor, but everything is secondhand and thrifted,” owner Michele Roesch said. “One of our company principles is sustainability, so I just wanted to showcase that. The rooftop bar is like NYC rooftop garden.”
Roesch is not new to the restaurant business as she and her mother own and operate the Brasserie Bar & Bistro in Camillus. The building where Emerald Cocktail Kitchen now sits was owned by Roesch’s father.
“The building originally had a third and fourth story, so when we were trying to decide what to do with it, a lot of his customers were saying the view is beautiful up there, so that’s how we got to here,” Roesch said.
Emerald Cocktail Kitchen is not a full-service restaurant, but they serve food, cocktails, mocktails, beer and wine.
“Things are a bit more casual here, but there’s something for everyone,” Roesch said. “My favorite is the salmon couscous salad, and the caprese smash burger is most popular.”
Roesch would recommend trying the strawberry basil mule, which is one of their mocktails, or the 1965, an infused gin cocktail.
