(In First Look, we pay a quick visit to a new restaurant or bar in Central New York to give readers an idea of what to expect. Our food critics might visit these places eventually and give us their take, but we want to highlight what’s new in our area. If you know of a new place, send an email to cmiller@syracuse.com or call/text me at 315-382-1984. If I take your suggestion, I just might buy you a meal.)
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Baldwinsville, N.Y. — You can tell a lot about a restaurant by its mid-afternoon bar crowd. At 1:45 p.m. last Tuesday, nearly every stool was taken at BG1, a corner bistro that opened three weeks ago in Baldwinsville. Three of the four tables in the back dining room also were full.
These seats were occupied by people who lingered, folks who clearly were in no hurry to leave.
Maybe it was the lively cocktails bartender John Korczakowski was pouring that kept them planted, or perhaps it was the made-from-scratch finger food Carrie Laug was churning out from her kitchen. Everything came together with Carrie’s acoustic rock playlist playing over the bar’s speaker to induce a laid-back vibe that sent a message to the customers: Make yourselves comfortable and stay awhile.
BG1 is located at 1 W. Genesee St., at the corner Oswego Street in downtown Baldwinsville. It used to be Greens N Grains, a restaurant Carrie bought in 2020.
“It was a great business, but it wasn’t what I ultimately wanted to do,” she said. “B’ville needed a small plates place, and I wanted to create a full ‘scratch’ kitchen where everything I serve I make myself.”
Carrie closed Greens N Grains permanently on March 28. She spent the next two months redesigning the restaurant, adding a bar and creating a menu of shareable dishes. BG1, which stands for the Bistro at Genesee One, opened earlier this month.
Customers heaped praise on BG1 via social media during the soft opening, and word spread quickly. The Sunday after she first opened, Carrie had to close early because she ran out of food.
It’s since become one of the stops on the Baldwinsville bar crawl, along with Angry Garlic, Pizza Man Pub, San Miguel and Sammy Malones.
The restaurant is still evolving. Furniture for outdoor seating arrived last week and will be assembled this week. The drink coolers and draft beer system showed up Wednesday. Carrie is also making sure she doesn’t run out of food again, so she’s buying more ingredients. A few of her menu items, however, are so popular that she occasionally sells out.
The menu lists 10 small plates (think appetizers), four pizzas and an oversized charcuterie board. Each item is meant to be shared, so be sure to pick a few for you and your date. Carrie, who spent 15 years serving other people’s food and tending bar in Central New York restaurants, now preps food she designed and cooks every order as it comes in.
You must try ...
Cauliflower crust pizzas ($12): The four pizzas are the only carryovers from the Greens N Grains menu. They were popular then, and they’re popular now. Carrie layers the low-carb cauliflower pizza shells with mostly healthy ingredients that complement each other. While each pizza has four or five simple toppings, the flavor tastes much more complex.
The ‘Delightful’ pizza combines spinach, roasted red peppers and a handful of crumbly feta cheese. After a few minutes in the convection oven, Carrie gives it 20 back-and-forth squeezes of her sweet balsamic glaze.
The 10-inch pizza is cut into four slices. The crust is firm, almost cracker-like, but it’s a pleasant contrast to the soft toppings. I paired the ‘Delightful’ with the first pint of Miller Lite beer ever poured at BG1. That was, well, delightful.
The Honey pizza is equally simple, but it has a completely different flavor profile. It’s pretty much a salad, entrée and dessert in one. Carrie puts just enough arugula on the shell to make you think you’re eating healthy. Then she drops a bunch of pecans, shaved parmesan and goat cheese around. As it cools on the cutting board, she finishes it with a few laces of local Hobe honey.
Sure, it was sticky, but it put out a sweet and salty contrast not found on most pizzas.
If you really like goat cheese, be sure to try the fried goat cheese balls ($10).
Chicken Cordon Bleu ($13.50): This is one of those often-sold-out dishes here mentioned earlier. She was out of this and the mini beef wellingtons during my first of three visits. Thankfully she reloaded.
This is not your traditional chicken cordon bleu. Instead of a 6-ounce chicken breast, Carrie uses ground chicken as a base. Rather than adding a layer of Swiss cheese, she stuffs the meat with brie. And instead of a layer of ham, we’re getting slices of prosciutto.
Carrie gives the oblong balls a quick bath in her homemade compound butter seasoned with chives, garlic and thyme before rolling them in panko breadcrumbs. She precooks the daily batch for 15 minutes. Each one then spends a few minutes in the convection oven before it’s served. One order gets you two of these dense hunks of meat, each cut in half. I could barely finished one, so I shared the remaining two pieces with two women planning their daughters’ high school graduation parties over glasses of pinot grigio. That’s just the kind of place this is.
On Thursday, bartender Griffin Vincent recommended washing the chicken down with his specialty cocktail of the day. This SUNY Cortland student mixed vodka and club soda with a splash of pineapple juice. Griff is one smart lad, and he’s one heck of a drink mixer-upper.
Bacon Bombs ($12): This must be one of the simplest appetizers ever, and it should be inducted into the Bar Treat Hall of Fame.
Each bacon bomb is just a thinly sliced russet potato wrapped in peppered bacon. It’s held together by a skewer when it heads into the oven. After a few minutes, Carrie smears it with smooth Caribbean jerk sauce and sprinkles a few scallions over the top. That’s it. Like so much of the food here, the bacon bomb has split personalities. One is sweet, one is salty.
Don’t let the whole small-plate concept of BG1 fool you. The whole idea is that you’ll try a little of this and a little of that, and you’ll share it. If you and a companion spend an afternoon here and share a few items, you’ll leave satisfied, and you won’t go broke.
“I want people to go out and be able to eat a good meal and not go broke,” Carrie said. “I want people to have a good time, have a conversation, enjoy everything around them.”
Judging by the bar crowds last week, Carrie is onto something. Each day had a different crowd, and each day’s crowd stuck around for an hour or more. Myself included.
The Details
The venue: BG1, 1 W. Genesee St., Baldwinsville; (315) 303-0287
Hours: Tuesday-Sunday 11:30 a.m. to 9 p.m.; closed Monday.
Credit cards? Yes
Dress: Casual.
Alcohol: You betcha. A very comfortable bar that serves fun cocktails, wine and beer.
Gluten-free options: Yes.
Eat in? Yes. Plenty of seating at the bar and dining room.
Takeout: Yes.
Parking: On-street, or in the lot out back.
Charlie Miller finds the best in food, drink and fun across Central New York. Contact him at (315) 382-1984, or by email at cmiller@syracuse.com. You can also find him under @HoosierCuse on Twitter and on Instagram. Sign up for his free weekly Where Syracuse Eats newsletter here.
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