DINING

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Take Rt. 34 . 12 miles look for our sign M-Fri 8-6 • Sat 8-5 • Sun 10-5

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Choosing our local airport keeps load factors high and positions us for new service in the long term.

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Agava Offers Light-Hearted Eclectic Mix

By Henry Stark

Agava, located in a former train station on Pine Tree Road on East Hill, specializes in Southwestern fare but o ers an eclectic mix. A Happy Hour bar menu is o ered at 3 p.m., an hour before the full menu is available.

Brussels sprouts ($10) are available on that menu and are also available as an item to share on the main menu. When I ordered it, I thought it might be enough for two people. However, it could easily please twice that number. e sprouts came halved, al dente and crunchy, with shredded cabbage strewn across the top, all amid a pleasant agave chili syrup.

I’ve also had empanadas ($4 each, 2 for $7) from the bar menu. Two types were o ered: vegetarian and beef. I selected the vegetarian which was predominantly lled with small black beans and corn and they, too, served as a welcome appetizer.

Once I ordered Korean style ribs (7 for $23), intrigued that a Korean style entrée was being o ered in a restaurant that identi es itself as serving Southwestern U.S. fare. I was glad I did. ey were short, meaty, and sweet, as if a honey glaze had been applied. I enjoyed them. e cauli ower steak ($18) was excellent. A generous slab of cauli ower, roasted in an open wood-burning oven, lay across a white bean puree topped with arugula and some sliced carrots. Everything was perfectly cooked.

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the roasted chicken breast ($24). It wasn’t a breast, rather, a very small leg that reminded me more of a guinea hen than a normal size chicken. It would have been less dry had it been roasted for less time. It did come with three nicely grilled asparagus spears and whipped potatoes. ere are four atbreads ($14-$17) on the menu. “Hot Buzz” featured chicken and blue cheese as the principal toppings. From the name, I expected it to be spicy. However, it wasn’t. Another visit, another atbread. “Green Machine” featured spinach, smoked ricotta and mushrooms. It reminded me of spanakopita. I don’t think I’ve ever had better atbreads in the Ithaca area than at Agava.

I skipped the bean burger to order the Agava Burger ($16). It came cooked just the way I ordered it, along with toppings of caramelized onions, roasted tomatoes, cheddar cheese and some greens. I really enjoyed it.

An adult who wasn’t very hungry accompanied me on one visit. She had no trouble ordering a small quesadilla from the “Just for Kids” section of the menu. It was cooked perfectly. e beverage menu is varied and extensive: there are three dozen dra , cra , and bottled beers, a half dozen margaritas and a dozen interesting cocktails. e dozens of wines cover all the major grape varieties and are a good mix of international and domestic o erings. e ambience of Agava could be a concern for some. e wood oors and walls reverberate the internal noise. Add to that the ubiquitous background music and it can get quite noisy. On a warm humid day, the air conditioning system tends to get overwhelmed. e wait sta is young, professional, and eager to please.

Dinner at Agava is a light-hearted enjoyable experience, and the eclectic mix of food is almost always well prepared.

TID BIT: ere’s o -street parking in front of the restaurant and more parking in the back of the building with a separate entrance.

Agava may offer the best flatbreads in the Ithaca area. (Photo: Provided)

Agava is located at 381 Pine Tree Road, (607) 319-4366. You can make reservations or order online at www.agavaonline.com. It is open Tuesday through ursday from 3 p.m. to 9 p.m., and Friday and Saturday from 3 p.m. to 10 p.m. Happy Hour is from 3 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. It is closed Sunday and Monday.

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for Emily’s Fosse-like dance numbers. e huge cast created a sense of the crush at the fairgrounds, topped by a marvelous group whiplash on the roller coaster. All in all, a visual feast.

Top that with some spirited and smooth dancing, choreographed by Marc Kimelman, each piece creatively di erent, culminating in the rousing nal group number. Add the sweet ballads and heartfelt couplings, and it’s no surprise that the audience at this memorable “State Fair” was blissed out.

A workshop production of a new musical, “Trans Am,” directed by Fred Berman. For one weekend only, in the outside tent, audiences were treated to Lisa Stephen Friday’s autobiographical tale of the challenges of transitioning from male to female. e four-woman band (led by musical director and guitarist Ada Westfall) provided the original music of Lisa’s earlier New York band, Lisa Jackson and Girl Friday, punctuating her narration.

Lisa Friday’s “Trans Am” is a courageous new show, a bit uneven but decidedly arresting.

Barbara Adams, a regional arts journalist, teaches writing at Ithaca College.

ARTS & ENTERTAINMENT

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For her new work here, she appears to be moving away from the Art Nouveauinspired stylizations that have characterized her past few years. Digging further into her signature surreal and folkloric imagery, she explores a knottier, “medievalizing” style that is delightful to view.

In Ospina’s universe, androgynous lovers bearing sun and crescent moon masks court amidst fairy tale settings. Mythic beasts cavort. Dapper gentlemen and stylish ladies sport gold sh bowls where their heads ought to be. Animate drawn patterns build into elaborate frames and stage sets. All this may sound overly precious in words but Ospina’s graphic imagination makes it come true.

Although lack of local familiarity may play a role here, I found Sullivan’s work to be awkwardly chosen and presented.

His most striking work here is series of functional but o en improbable-looking masks. Using cloth, wire, papier mache, found jewelry—as well as more exotic materials such as shattered mirrors and even wasps’ nests—he creates objects that hold their own as gallery art while suggesting a variety of performance possibilities.

An installation of hung fabric and masks, suspended from the ceiling of the gallery, is the show’s centerpiece. e piece recalls the unabashed theatricality of the Surrealists. It combines a heavy draped fabric, ornate and golden; a central frame form in the shape of a heart, bejeweled and decorated in wire curls; an empty picture frame; and masks alternatively rococo and raw. It is a spectacle.

Several framed photographs showing the artist wearing his own outlandish creations makes up the most notable weak point of “Essence.” Not formally interesting enough as images in their own right, they serve as documentation—as stand-ins for what the artist and gallery are apparently unable to give us. ey aren’t bad to see but they don’t hold up their space on the walls.

One ought to be patient with the Cherry Gallery, which is clearly ambitious and clearly still guring matters out. Given Sullivan’s performance background and e Cherry’s own institutional focus, it would have made this show stronger had performance been incorporated into its curation. Ideally, Sullivan and/or his masks would have been the subject of a live event. Failing that, video—or even a series of more carefully shot and selected photos—might have helped bring his work, so to speak, to life.

Nonetheless, this is an engaging show that hopefully portends interesting things for the new art space. e intersection of the visual and performing arts is an underexplored realm for the local gallery community. If the Cherry can press that dimension, it will have something more than just another place for local visual artists to show their work.

“State Fair,” directed by Brett Smock and choreographed by Marc Kimelman. Music by Richard Rodgers; lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II. Book by Tom Briggs and Louis Mattioli. At e REV (Merry-Go-Round Playhouse), Emerson Park, Auburn. Monday - Saturday through September 6. Tickets at https://therevtheatre.com/tickets/ ticketing-options / or (315) 255-1785.

“Geena Massaro’s Destroyer” rough August at e Rest, 113 West State Street, www.therestithaca.com; Open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. ursday and Friday and by appointment; (607) 3071800, therestgallery@gmail.com.

“Essence” rough August 31 at e Cherry Gallery, 130 Cherry Street, www.thecherry. org; Open 5 to 8 p.m. Fridays and 3 to 6 p.m. Saturdays and Sundays.