Cocaire at The Wayside
Cocaire at the Wayside is the perfect mix of blending old with new. They have taken an Elbridge landmark and reinvented it with new ideas and twists on tradition.
A staff favorite, the Reuben is overflowing with a heaping pile of slow roasted corned beef
Cocaire at The Wayside was recently taken over by two amazing chefs, a husband and wife team, with years of experience, tons of talents, lots of inspiration and big dreams! Cocaire at The wayside is open for dinner Wednesday through Saturday from 5 pm to 9 pm and Sunday from 5 pm to 8 pm. They are located at 101 W. Main Street in Elbridge. Be sure to check them out on facebook for their daily specials at https://www.facebook.com/cocairerestaurant/.
When you think of gourmet dining do you think of stuffy restaurants with tiny portions that you have to eat while wearing a suit? If so, Chefs Deanna and Mark are here to change your mind! The concept of Cocaire at The Wayside is simple: serve handcrafted, fresh, and delicious food to patrons at a place they have known and loved for decades. Pub food doesn’t have to come out of the freezer and get drenched in oil. Instead of scoffing at the traditional pub menu the chefs have decided to work with tradition and improve the quality. Sure, they serve fried food, but they use quality ingredients and create their own recipes and batters. They work within the idea of the pub menu, they don’t fight against it, and they didn’t try to turn the Wayside into something it’s not. All I can tell you is that the results are incredible. You can taste in every bite that the chefs really love what they do. They also love working with and changing the menu to make sure patrons are getting the best food with new inspirations. They have daily specials including a macaroni and cheese of the day like the bacon beer macaroni and cheese! Cocaire offers modern comfort food that leaves you happy and full!
The famous Ghost Beef sandwich complete with a Pretzel bun, roast beef, caramelized onions and melted cheddar. Served with a side of homemade horsey sauce and a cup of au jus.
Kyle and I went to Cocaire on a sunny Friday night. We were immediately seated in the cozy dining room. We enjoyed looking around at the traditional decorations that were nods to their long history of being open as an Irish Pub. We started our meal out with two appetizers. First we tried the Ruben Eggrolls. These awesome creations were a hand crafted using corned beef that is prepared right in their kitchen (it should also be noted that they roast all of the meats they use on site). They take the corned beef and mix it with Swiss cheese and sauerkraut and wrapped in an eggroll wrapper. These little beauties are served with a side of homemade Thousand Island dressing perfect for dunking. We also tried the hand breaded cheese curds. This is Cocaire’s take on the traditional cheese stick, and oh my goodness is it good. This dish is a big helping of cheese curds, dipped in a homemade beer batter, fried to be golden brown and served with a side of marinara and mustard sauce. These are so much better than any cheese stick you’ve ever had! For our entrees we had a lot of trouble making a decisions because everything just looked so good. Next time, we are going to try the Sheppard’s pie for sure. I also saw another table order the Reuben, piled high with corned beef, it looked amazing and I hear that it is a staff favorite. I decided on a Ghost Beef sandwich and I would highly recommend this! We were told that the Wayside has been serving Ghost Beef for many years and when Deanna and Mark took over they were begged to keep this crowd favorite on the menu. This is a frighteningly delicious sandwich! They start with a pretzel bun, pile on a generous portion of roast beef (that was roasted to perfection on site) and top it with caramelized onions and melted cheddar. They serve it with a side of homemade horsey sauce and a cup of au jus. Kyle went with the traditional fish and chips. This was possibly the biggest helping of haddock we had ever seen. The fish was battered with their one of a kind beer batter (a secret mix of Guinness and Labatt blue) and fried to a golden brown perfection and served with a heaping portion of fries. We were totally full but when we heard that Deanna was a trained pastry chef we knew we just couldn’t skip dessert! We decided to split a very large piece of her homemade bread pudding, a wonderful mix of flavors topped with two scoops of vanilla ice cream. It was the perfect ending to a great meal.
One of the other nice things about Cocaire at the Wayside is that they offer local delivery! Just give them a call at (315) 760-2023. You will also want to be on the lookout for the chefs newest project: The Chef and the Cook, opening soon in Baldwinsville. For more information on this project check out their facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/thechefthecook/. Deanna is also still operating her high end, also inventive food truck at cool locations all around town. For more information check it out at https://www.facebook.com/cheffourrent/. Mark and Deanna are rewriting the rules with Cocaire at the Wayside. Check it out for yourself today and your taste buds will thank you!
Cocaire does fried foods, like these delicious tenders, but in their own batter, fresh every day! No frozen, bagged foods here!
