Skaneateles, N.Y. — We can count on one hand the number of restaurants in the Syracuse area offering escargots, so we felt obliged to order it on a recent trip to the Mandana Inn. Escargots are a French delicacy but an acquired taste; after all, we’re talking about snails here.
The kitchen adds the traditional blend of garlic, butter and parsley and bakes the escargots ($12) in a special dish with individual divots to allow each snail to cook separately. Each meaty forkful was dripped in buttery goodness, tender when bitten, and finished with a herbal flavor from the parsley. The snail itself is like a mussel; it’s very mild and easily takes on the flavor of the aromatics and fats it cooks in.
It was a surprise on this menu at a restaurant we knew very little about other than the location, about 6 miles south of the village of Skaneateles across the street from Skaneateles Marina. The Mandana Inn — pronounced MAN-dayna — is a seasonal restaurant, operating from May until some time in the fall before it hunkers down for winter. Its history as a tavern stretches back to the days after the Civil War. The brother and sister team of John Micucci and Emily Waziak own the Inn today.
When they bought the spot along with Emily’s late husband Alan in 2016, the restaurant received some updates still present today. The Italian Specialties section of pastas and red sauce dishes came along, as did draft beer lines, and some refurbishments of the building. A modest bar area overlooks a warm dining room that gives the vibe of eating at a family member’s home.
We arrived on a recent Friday without a reservation, which was a bit of a problem. There was a rehearsal dinner in a private room and the kitchen was still staffing up for the season. After a short wait in the bar, we were led to a table near a picture window looking out at Skaneateles Lake.
The Mandana Inn’s menu is wider than it is deep. There is a little bit of everything with a few starters, a few salads, three different fresh seafood entrees, three other meat options and a handful of Italian-American plates.
In addition to the escargots, a bowl of Thai calamari ($13) made its way around our table. Breaded fresh squid rings and tentacles were lightly fried, tossed in a sweet Thai chili sauce and topped with pickled jalapenos pepper slices. The pickled peppers were fairly mild but offered a complimentary spice to the sweet sauce. It was a fun balance to the rote calamari with a side of marinara sauce found seemingly everywhere else. It was the second time this spring we had a strong calamari appetizer; The Mandana Inn and The Fish Friar have raised the bar in this very niche space.
The way the kitchen effectively blends simple ingredients was most evident in a bowl of littleneck clams ($14). Cooked provencal-style in butter, garlic and herbs, the tender fresh clams added learned on their natural salinity for a bit of brightness.
The Mandana Inn impressed us with one of the best eggplant parmigiana ($25) preparations we’ve enjoyed locally. Not only did the kitchen use fresh eggplant, but they skillfully extracted all of the moisture from the eggplant slices before cooking. This meant the breaded eggplant cooked in the sauce rather than steam itself from within and creating a mushy mess. The earthy vegetable was topped with a well-balanced marinara and just the right amount of mozzarella.
Pan-fried sea scallops and sauteed shrimp were paired with wide-bodied pappardelle and tossed in a creamy spinach and sun-dried tomato sauce in another entree from the Italian section ($30). The light sauce provided more flavor to the egg-based pasta than the seafood, maintaining its natural sea flavor and snappy texture when forked or bitten.
The sweetness of honey paired together well with funky, salty miso as a glaze for a grilled salmon filet ($27). Not only did it put a nice caramelization on the fish, but the flavor contrasts work very well together as the fermented soybeans paired with the nutty honey and grill smoke. The salmon was flaked easily from fork pressure and was cooked until just done. It was served with farro with feta cheese and asparagus.
Desserts are made in-house. A heaping serving of tiramisu ($8) was full of espresso and creamy sweet cheese. The berry tart ($9) held fresh berries inside of a pastry crust with ice cream and whipped cream on top. Creme brulee ($8) was crowned with a thick, well-browned crust. All were excellent.
The service was accommodating and attentive, which enhanced the evening. Visitors to Skaneateles flock to the restaurants lining West Genesee Street in the village, but the Mandana Inn gives you a reason to turn off the beaten path and try something out of the way in the Finger Lakes.
The Details
The Restaurant: Mandana Inn, 1937 W. Lake Rd., Skaneateles, N.Y. 13152; (315) 685-7798.
Takeout/Delivery? No delivery, but takeout is available by calling the restaurant.
Outdoor seating? No.
Reservations? Highly advised.
Credit cards? Yes.
Noise level: Moderate. For as lively as the restaurant and bar were, we didn’t feel as if the noise was overwhelming.
Access to the disabled: This is an older building with smaller bathrooms. A ground-level entrance will get you into the dining room and let you skip the stairs.
Parking: It has a private parking lot, but you may need to be creative with how you park if they are hosting an event.
Special diets? Vegetarians will be fine as will those following a dairy-, nut or gluten-free diet. Take note that cross-contamination is a possibility due to shared prep and cooking space.
Children’s menu? Not that we are aware of, but we saw a couple of families that made do with pasta and chicken parmigiana.
Hours: Thursday through Saturday, 5-9 p.m.; the bar opens at 4 p.m. on those days. Closed Sunday through Wednesday. The restaurant operates seasonally from May to the fall.
Cost: Entrees are $25 to $39. Dinner for four with beverages, starters, entrees, dessert, tax and 20% gratuity was $311.
Jared Paventi is a restaurant critic for syracuse.com and The Post-Standard. You can reach him at jaredpaventi@gmail.com and follow him on Twitter. Sign up for our free weekly Where Syracuse Eats newsletter here.
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