Syracuse, N.Y. — Let’s be honest, when it comes to dining out, skipping the starters is just wrong. That’s why this year, our food team (Jared Paventi, Jacob Pucci and Charlie Miller) put our forks to the test at more than 75 restaurants. If it had an appetizer menu, we were all in. Call it job dedication.
What you’ll find below are our top appetizer picks from the places we visited in 2024. And hey, if your favorite spot isn’t on this list, don’t take it personally. These are just the places we featured on syracuse.com and The Post-Standard this year. There’s no way to hit every restaurant in Central New York annually.
Noble Cellar: Elk Carpaccio
Elk carpaccio with black olive pesto and goat-cheddar frico at Noble Cellar, Syracuse, N.Y. (Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com)Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gma
Address: 304 E. Onondaga St., Syracuse; (315) 303-2003
From Jared Paventi: I like rare meat — the rarer, the better — but a well-done carpaccio or tartare is a real treat. At Noble Cellar, razor-thin slices of raw elk meat were topped with black olive pesto and fried goat cheese chips for an umami-rich, sense-livening starter. The elk was beet red and extraordinarily tender, while the goat cheese and olives gave off funky aromas. It was an apt first course for a fine dining experience.
Noble Cellar: Charcuterie
Noble Cellar in downtown Syracuse. (Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)(Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)
From Charlie Miller: This is much more than a cutting board with a mess of crackers next to a few cold cuts and cheese. The chef obviously puts a lot of thought into this. It’s house-pickled vegetables (green beans, carrots and cauliflower), red onion and rosemary focaccia bread and apricot mostarda, a northern Italian condiment made of candied fruit and a mustard-flavored syrup. For cheese, we got La Leyenda semi-firm edible flower goat cheese and Black Diamond New York extra sharp cheddar. The meats were Jamón serrano (a Spanish dry-cured ham), sweet sopressata and capicola.
My gut told me to go for the full-sized board, but my brain suggested the half portion. That was a good move because the two of us enjoyed sampling the flavors that come alive regardless of which pieces you eat together, and we didn’t overdo it before our main courses arrived.
Maxie’s Supper Club and Oyster Bar: Gumbo Fries
Gumbo fries topped with andouille sausage, okra, and cheddar cheese at Maxie’s Supper Club and Oyster Bar, Ithaca, N.Y. (Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com)Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com
Address: 635 W. State St., Ithaca. (607) 272-4136
From Jared Paventi: It turns out that French fries and andouille sausage complement each other beautifully. This New Orleans-inspired restaurant in Ithaca gave the poutine treatment to the house gumbo. Thickened like a gravy and with a delightful bit of spice, the gumbo tops a heaping pile of fries and cheddar cheese. Okra, sausage, chicken and vegetables were interspersed with the fries, which maintained their structural integrity even after soaking in the pool of stew at the bottom of the platter. These fries along are worth a trip to Tompkins County.
The Tailor and The Cook: Watermelon Radish Pastrami
Watermelon radish with crispy capers from the amuse bouche at The Tailor and The Cook, Utica, N.Y. (Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com)Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com
Address: 311 Main St., Utica; (315) 624-3663.
From Jared Paventi: A kitchen’s greatest trick is to fool your brain with flavors, convincing you that you taste something different while eating. Colorful watermelon radish was cured and smoked like a beef brisket would be to make pastrami. It was sliced razor thin and served with grilled rye bread, sauerkraut, 1000 Islands dressing and gouda cheese like a deconstructed Reuben sandwich. The flavor and texture were 99% there; close your eyes and, I swear, it tastes like pastrami.
Diwan Restaurant: Falafel
The mixed sampler appetizer called Jordanian Delight, featuring (clockwise from top left): Baba ghanouj, hummus, falafel, yalanji, tahini sauce, and tabbouleh. Diwan Restaurant, Manlius, N.Y. (Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com)Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com
Address: 315 Fayette St., Manlius; (315) 692-2228.
From Jared Paventi: This new addition to the village of Manlius is from the people behind the former BulBul Restaurant in Liverpool. This was a big deal for me, because it meant the return of their falafel recipe. These golden fried chickpea patties are ubiquitous on Middle Eastern and Mediterranean menus, but like an Italian red sauce or meatballs, everyone makes them differently. Diwan’s falafel strike a perfect balance of spices, starchy chickpeas and cooking time, rendering a crunchy exterior and creamy inside. They’re, by my book, the best falafel in the area (and I’ve tried nearly every restaurant version in town).
Hobo’s 281 Bar & Grill: French Fries
Hand-cut fries at Hobo’s 281 Bar & Grill, Homer, N.Y. (Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com)Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com
Address: 10 S. West St. (Route 281), Homer; (607) 749-2334.
From Jared Paventi: An order of fries that cost $10? Ab-so-lute-ly.
The fries at Hobo’s 281 are so good that they are a standalone menu item, ordered separately from other dishes. I’m a glutton when it comes to fries and in a year where we had excellent orders from other restaurants, these stand atop the pile. Fresh-cut potatoes (Note to other restaurants: a fresh-cut French fry goes a long way.) are twice-fried to add a bit of crispy to the exterior without losing the pillowy softness of the interior.
Carmelita’s Mexican Restaurant: Tortilla Chips
Drunking a tortilla chip in the spicy pico de gallo at Carmelita’s Mexican Restaurant, Cicero, N.Y.Jared Paventi | jaredpaventi@gmail.com
Address: 6195 NYS Route 31 (inside a plaza), Cicero; (315) 699-7550.
From Jared Paventi: Most Mexican restaurants offer complimentary chips and salsa to each table. Carmelita’s in Cicero doesn’t, nor should it as way too much work goes into these chips to give them away for free. The kitchen makes about 1,000 masa harina (corn flour) tortillas daily to keep up with demand for tacos, tostadas, and chips. A good number of those tortillas are cut into irregularly sized triangles and deep fried until golden, resulting in a thicker-than-average chip able to handle the chunkiest of salsas and thickest guacamoles. And, the kitchen is 100% gluten-free.
Elephant and the Dove: Birria pizza
Beef birria pizza, a sharable appetizer from Elephant and the Dove, 9 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles.Jacob Pucci
Address: 9 E. Genesee St., Skaneateles. (315) 685-2123
From Jacob Pucci: Birria has grown from a Mexican regional specialty to a worldwide trend ubiquitous on Mexican and Tex-Mex restaurant menus across the country. At Elephant and the Dove, that tender, braised beef joins two layers of melted cheese, fresh cilantro and onion as a large, sharable quesadilla that’s cut into wedges like a pizza, with a side of consommé for dipping. It’s surprisingly robust and an exemplary example of this Skaneateles restaurant’s creative takes on Mexican flavors.
EthioEritrea Restaurant: Sambusas
Two cups of Ethiopian coffee and a plate of fried sambusa at EthioEritrea Restaurant in Syracuse.Jacob Pucci
Address: EthioEritrea Restaurant, 505 N. State St., Syracuse.
From Jacob Pucci: Just about every culture has their version of a baked or fried pastry, stuffed with some kind of filling. At EthioEritrea Restaurant, it’s sambusas. The pastries are stuffed with a mixture of ground meat, cooked greens like kale or collards, a ton of sauteed onion and spices. The little triangular pockets are fried to a deep golden brown. Crisp and flaky on the outside, hot and savory on the inside, these street food staples are an excellent start to a meal.
Kofta Burger: Steak Pita Nachos 
Steak pita nachos from Kofta Burger, 128 E. Jefferson St., Syracuse.Jacob Pucci
Address: 128 E. Jefferson St., Syracuse
From Jacob Pucci: Sharing a plate of nachos may seem like a common way to start a meal, but not is all what it seems at Kofta Burger, where sports bar classics like burgers, chicken wings and nachos get a Middle Eastern twist. The nachos start with a bed of toasted pita wedges that are then topped with steak, grilled to a perfect medium-rare; chopped tomatoes, slivered red onions dusted with tart sumac, pomegranate arils, chopped mint and a drizzle of herbed tzatziki sauce. Between the chips, fresh vegetables, meat, garnishes and a creamy component to tie it all together, these had the components of your usual nachos, though really, they couldn’t be more different.
Mamacitas: Buffalo Chicken Empanadas
The carne frita (fried pork) mofongo, with two empanadas. Mamacitas Puerto Rican Kitchen in North Syracuse.Jacob Pucci
Address: 6059 East Taft Road, North Syracuse
From Jacob Pucci: Another restaurant, another excellent, flaky, meat-filled pastry. Is Buffalo chicken a traditional filling for Puerto Rican empanadas? Certainly not, but who can argue against tender shredded chicken in a creamy Buffalo sauce, all enveloped into a hand pie with an edge so neatly crimped that it’d make any grandma jealous. The flavors served at this North Syracuse restaurant vary daily and include both traditional and more creative fillings. No matter what day you visit, you’ll be in safe hands.
Hidden Fish: Scallop Spoons and Crispy Tuna Rice 
Spoons of scallop served with kizami wasabi and Ikura house sauce at Hidden Fish in Skaneateles.Jacob Pucci
Address: 7 Fennell St., Skaneateles. (315) 291-5398
From Jacob Pucci: It’s hard to pick just one starter from this fast-rising Skaneateles newcomer that specializes in some of the highest quality seafood you’ll find anywhere in Central New York. So I won’t. The crispy tuna rice and scallop spoons are both wonderful and wonderfully different from each other. The scallop spoons is focused around Hokkaido sea scallops, a variety of scallop imported from the Hokkaido region of Japan renowned for their firm texture and subtle sweet flavor. The scallop is served in a soy-based sauce and topped with ikura (salmon roe) and kizami wasabi – a remarkably simple presentation that lets the scallop shine brightest.
On the other end of the spectrum is the crispy tuna rice, where the contrast of textures and temperatures makes these little crispy cubes so fun to eat. Squares of sushi rice are lightly breaded and fried before being topped with finely chopped spicy tuna and garnished with spicy mayo and a sweet soy glaze. The warm rice with its crispy outer shell are a delectable contrast to the cool, soft raw tuna perched atop each cube. There’s a lot going on in each bite, but it all works well together.
Rosalie’s: Beef Carpaccio 
Beef carpaccio from Rosalie’s Cucina in Skaneateles.Jacob Pucci
Address: 841 W. Genesee St. Road, Skaneateles
From Jacob Pucci: I’ve been to Rosalie’s more than several times over the last decade and I’ve never left without ordering the beef carpaccio. It, like so many dishes at this Skaneateles stalwart, is prepared in the classic Italian way, with a handful of leafy greens in the center of the platter, the paper-thin slices of raw tenderloin radiating out from the center. It’s topped with capers, minced red onion, diced tomato, caper mayo, shaved Parmigiano Reggiano cheese and a drizzle of olive oil. It’s a classic that’s still at its peak all these years later.
Birria QuesaTacos SYR: Birria Fries 
Birria fries at Birria QuesaTacos SYR on West Onondaga Street in Syracuse. (Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)(Charlie Miller | cmiller@syracuse.com)
Address: 415 W. Onondaga St., Syracuse; (315) 447-3367
From Charlie Miller: This is like an order of loaded nachos, but good. You can get beef, chicken or both. Obviously I went with both. It was just way too much food. It would’ve been fine had I been sharing it with a bunch of friends, but not for just one guy.
Zoraida Sanchez, one of the cooks, fills a bowl with steak-cut fries and plops a ladle full of birria chicken on one side and a ladle full of birria beef on the other. She then melts a blend of Mexican cheese over all that.
Then comes stripes of the green guacamole sauce, stripes of red pepper sauce, stripes of sour cream, a few chopped scallions, diced tomatoes and cotija cheese (the Mexican equivalent of grated parmesan).
This so-called regular-sized appetizer weighed a couple pounds. Unlike loaded nachos, though, this actually had flavor that lasted long after the appetizer itself. You taste each herb placed on top, every pepper worked into the salsa, every nuance of the savory cheese.
****
Charlie Miller finds the best in food, drinks and fun across Central New York. Contact him at (315) 382-1984, or by email at cmiller@syracuse.com. (AND he pays for what he and his guests eat and drink, just so you know.) You can also find him under @HoosierCuse on Twitter and on Instagram. Sign up for his weekly Where Syracuse Eats newsletter here.
Dining and Cooking