The Windmill

The Windmill is one of those Americana strongholds that people flock to for purchasing fresh produce, Adirondack chairs, T-shirts, Auntie Anne’s pretzels, fudge, Pyrex, wind catchers, lawn ornaments, hammocks, and much more. 

Near Penn Yan, NY, the Windmill is a popular destination for tourists and locals. Comprised of four main buildings, an open street market, and various booths, you could spend the whole day browsing, eating, shopping, or people-watching.

The best parts of the Windmill are the inexpensive hand-crafted pieces of furniture…

…and the regional food, also inexpensive.

There is an actual windmill on site:

It is a lot of fun to go to the Windmill, but I generally leave my money in the car (because it’s safe enough to do so in upstate New York) and browse.

Antique Inn

I really am spoiled living in a major city. There are so many restaurants to choose from and you usually get what you pay for. What a wake up call when we went to the Antique Inn near Penn Yan in upstate New York.  The decision to eat here was made mainly based on the weather (pouring rain at our campsite).

The Antique Inn is the place to see and be seen and tables in the main dining room require reservations. Us dumb city folk didn’t know so we were seated in the bar area.

It seemed like everything came fried and battered so we decided to share an order of onion rings and the fried mushrooms.  It’s really hard to mess up onion rings, but the mushrooms were so tiny that you could only taste batter.

I chose a bowl of French Onion soup as my meal.  This was actually very good but it is also difficult to mess up something that has so much cheese and bread as ingredients.  The major problem here was that the bread was so thick that there was no broth to speak of.

My dad and Andrew got the halibut with french fries on the side.  My dad said it was “fine” with a smile that I often got from him growing up that meant the opposite of fine.  Andrew wasn’t even convinced it was halibut. My parents recently went to a very nice restaurant and ordered the halibut there–it was about an inch thicker, tastier, and not much more expensive than this halibut.

My main beef with the Antique Inn was that it was trying to be something so much more than it was.  Reservations?  $15 entrees?  Really?  With this decor?  It was insulting.

But please don’t take my word for it.  This review will tell you otherwise about the Antique Inn.

The Polish Princess’ Pierogie Palace

Regional food always fascinates me.  On a recent trip to upstate New York, I tried pierogies from The Polish Princess’ Pierogie Palace, located at The Windmill near Penn Yan, NY.  Looks-wise, this ain’t no palace.  But the pierogies that come out of this humble establishment are fit for royalty.  (That was so cliche, eh?)  Simply put, these were the best pierogies I have ever tasted.

Served with a dill sour cream, they were light and fluffy with a tasty filling of potato and cheese. I shared six with my parents and we were all satisfied.  A plate cost $5.50. Quite affordable.  A combination platter with kielbasa cost $8.00.  I’ll try that next time.