It’s the day after my birthday and we’re keeping it super chill; lay in bed all day and watch tv kinda chill. This is how I like to spend my days because I’m an old lady and I’m just embracing it.
But actually, on my birthday yesterday we got up to get some breakfast and then went off to a nearby corn maze. I love corn mazes and the fact that my birthday is smack in the middle of autumn with apple picking and corn mazes makes me so happy. Apple Cider and tractor rides, all day. Another girl in this Cortland friend group is the one who really planned this event. Her birthday is in a couple days so she wanted to do a corn maze the weekend before which just so happened to land on my real birthday. I’ll piggyback off of that and celebrate my day in a maze, why not?
Trinity Valley was actually super cute and a had a fun scratch off puzzle for their corn maze which was really adorable. We make it through pretty quickly seeing as Caleb and his housemate Matt both work at the environmental center and are pros at orienteering. There were about 10 of us so we naturally split off into groups but trekked through the maze without a problem. The Dairy Farm gave out a free donut for finishing the maze and we got to pet some baby goats and a sheep after so it was a successful morning with perfect weather.
After, Caleb and I decided we wanted to head to Syracuse and go to Dinosaur BBQ. Trinity Valley was in the slight general direction and I initially wanted Korean BBQ but it turns out its much harder to find out here than I anticipated.
LOCATION: 246 W WILLOW ST, SYRACUSE, NY 13202
Being a Saturday there was quite a crown when we arrived a little after 2pm. We just hit the tail end of lunch so our wait for a table for 2 was only 15mins. Not bad for how popular this place is. Of course, there is a Dino BBQ in Rochester and Caleb and I have each been there before but this was our first time together and my first trip to the Syracuse location, the original.
Caleb loves bbq so this was more his pick than mine but I’ve been watching too many good eats episodes involving BBQ that this really hit the spot.
I’m not a huge BBQ fan but I enjoy good food and this is it. Caleb loves a good pulled pork or a bbq chicken but brisket is my favorite. He got a combo plate with his two meats and two sides (mac and cheese and rice with black beans) which also came with a couple sides of cornbread. I ordered the deluxe brisket plate which came with slow-smoked hand sliced brisket, pickled onion and jalapeno relish, and sliced jalapeno. I opted for my jalapenos on the side since I’m not a huge fan, and my two sides were fresh cut fries and simmered greens with smoked turkey. I don’t typically order greens but I really felt like a vegetable today what with all the fried doughy-buttery foods we had all morning. I almost went with a mashed potato or a chili but decided against it. I was pretty happy with my selection. Caleb’s dish came out wrong with brisket instead of his pulled pork so we mentioned it to the super nice waitress and she fixed it, bringing him his pulled pork. This just mean that we had another half serving of brisket and Caleb isn’t really a fan of beef so it was all for me.
The dino sauce that they put on the brisket is just what I like - vinegary and tart to brighten up the meaty flavor. This brisket was a little leaner for me and some of the edges were a little chewier while some slices were marbled really nicely and fell apart really well. It’s a hit or miss i guess with the cuts you get at the high volume they have to cook and serve to keep up with this place.
I’m super happy with my choice of greens. At first bite was a little skeptical about my decision but as I continued eating brisket with greens it was a wonderful blend that I was happy I did. The greens, like the bbq sauce, were tart and vinegary so there was my hit of that. I saved most of my fries for later because I knew going in that this was a two meal order - more like three with Caleb’s extra serving of brisket. But the fries were perfect. They’re warm and crisp on the outside while still being soft and potato-y on the inside. They were seasoned well and they have that freshly cut and fried taste which I can appreciate.
Overall, this was a great birthday meal. We didn’t mention that it was my birthday so I wonder if they do anything special (i.e. free dessert) but we were so stuffed and had so many leftovers we decide to call it a day and head to the nearby mega mall and walk it off a little. A successful birthday lunch - it wasn’t KBBQ but it was close enough and very tasty.