Hidden Within Troy

Man, I seem to be in Troy a lot these days. Can’t say that I mind. Just yesterday I was meeting a friend for lunch at Sunhee’s and dropping off some Yelp Schwag at the Tech Valley Center of Gravity. But while I was there I found a few extra minutes to buy a case of wine from Twenty-Two Second Street, snag an iced coffee at Superior Merchandise Company, and check into the status of a special treat at Collar City Sweets.

That could be a week’s worth of posts right there. I’ll be doing a dedicated post on the case of wine a bit further down the road. And you don’t really need to hear anything more about Superior Merch, except maybe this reminder to check out their slate of upcoming coffee classes. Sunhee’s is hot too, especially coming off of the TroyAsia Night Market.

Believe it or not, but I’m going back to Troy tonight for a demonstration cooking class at the Center of Gravity. The fellow who is teaching the class has been entirely off my radar. So I wanted to share a little bit about this interesting individual. Plus, to sweeten the pot a bit, I’ll share the news about what very special treats can be found at Collar City Sweets.

Meet Lucas Karasavidis. He’s a farmer in Cobleskill at a place he calls Honeybee Farm. It’s a small farm. A very small farm. You can read all about it on his website.

But what is unique about his operation is that Lucas has opened up a very small shop in Troy. It’s not quite a farm stand. It’s not quite a restaurant. It’s not quite a coffee shop. But it lives within the intersection of those things.

Most likely, if you’ve been to Troy, you’ve walked right by it and didn’t even notice.

I only learned about because of my Yelp involvement with the Center of Gravity (Yelp is a sponsor of the cooking series), and I have yet to explore what From Our Farm to Your Table has to offer. Yep, that is its name. But from the one Yelp review, I know Lucas makes spanakopita, likely with his own goat milk feta.

Anyway, Lucas will be showing a bunch of us how to make his spanakopita, and I’m sure we’ll get to try some of his locally produced goat cheese, plus many more treats at the Taste Makers class tonight in Troy.

Tickets are still available, if you are interested in joining me tonight. And if you are curious to see what a cooking class in the CoG looks like, here are a few pictures from the last one. Oh, and should you want to learn more about Lucas, he was interviewed recently in The Troy Record.

So, the Center of Gravity is right across the street from Collar City Sweet Shoppe. This store is simply charming. My kids love candy by the pound. However, I really go for the unique regional sweets.

You certainly can’t call this brightly colored storefront “hidden” but there are things on the shelves that are worth pointing out, which might otherwise not make it onto your radar.

Have you ever heard of sponge candy? It’s apparently a Buffalo specialty. It was brand new to me, but I picked up a quarter pound of it yesterday. The Collar City Sweet Shoppe brings it in from Buffalo during the fall and winter. But that’s not all. While it’s not in stock quite yet, I was told on good authority, that before the month is out, you’ll be able to buy Turkey Joints from Rome, NY at this shop too.

Even though I don’t have a sweet tooth, I’m really looking forward to trying these soon. I may even bring a jar of them with me to Thanksgiving.

With so much homogeneity in the food space, it’s always great to find unique, idiosyncratic offerings. Right now, Troy is providing more than its fair share.