Dining out with the family can get pricey, but this week the 14850 Dining Report has a look at some of Ithaca’s Kids Eat Free and discounted kid’s meal offers to make it a little easier on your wallet and the family budget.

Subscribe to the 14850 Dining Podcast in iTunes or Google Play, RadioPublic, or RSS Feed, or follow 14850 Dining on Facebook and Twitter or sign up for our newsletter.

This week the 14850 Dining Report is checking out Ithaca’s brand new cat cafe! Alley Cat Cafe is now open at the foot of the Seneca Street hill right next to the tuning fork.

Browncoat Cat Rescue announced this spring they wanted to build “a fantastic coffee shop, with delicious beverages, and tasty treats” in the front half of the East Seneca Street space, where The Shop closed in January, and “rooms for fabulous feline frolicking” in the back half, where Model Citizen Tattoo was located.

Subscribe to the 14850 Dining Podcast in iTunes or Google Play, RadioPublic, or RSS Feed, or follow 14850 Dining on Facebook and Twitter or sign up for our newsletter.

14850 Dining is on the Ithaca Commons this week checking out BōL. Open since the beginning of 2018 and pronounced like “bowl,” BōL serves a variety of Asian-inspired foods that work well in bowls, such as noodle soups and ramen, salad bowls, and poke bowls are a special for the summer.

Subscribe to the 14850 Dining Podcast in iTunes or Google Play, RadioPublic, or RSS Feed, or follow 14850 Dining on Facebook and Twitter or sign up for our newsletter.

This year’s construction season with its detours and delays means it’s a little more of a pain to get to a few local eateries, especially getting between Downtown Ithaca and East Hill or Collegetown, but it’s worth the extra effort.

Subscribe to the 14850 Dining Podcast in iTunes or Google Play, RadioPublic, or RSS Feed, or follow 14850 Dining on Facebook and Twitter or sign up for our newsletter.

Old Mexico opened in Ithaca’s southwest nearly three years ago, and the Aguirre family is opening their third location in the area soon, at the Shops at Ithaca Mall. The Zocalo Mexican Bar & Grill will be next to Cafe Square, the mall’s food court.

Subscribe to the 14850 Dining Podcast in iTunes or Google Play, RadioPublic, or RSS Feed, or follow 14850 Dining on Facebook and Twitter or sign up for our newsletter.

Ithaca’s sometimes food scene has expanded the last few years, with great food carts or trucks a day here, a morning there, and this week 14850 Dining is tracking down the roving brunch menu at OmNomNomelettes. They start with omelets and breakfast sandwiches, but the food is virtually all local, an ethos Chef Kevin Olmstead says grows out of the Ithaca Farmers Market’s policy that everything sold at market should be grown or produced within thirty miles of Ithaca.

Subscribe to the 14850 Dining Podcast in iTunes or Google Play, RadioPublic, or RSS Feed, or follow 14850 Dining on Facebook and Twitter or sign up for our newsletter.

Omelets are just the beginning of the brunch menu at OmNomNomelettes.

This week, we’re enjoying a meal at Spicy Asian on Route 13 in Ithaca’s Southwest. Ithaca may have more Asian eateries than any other single restaurant category, but we’re impressed with this family-run eatery, which offers delicious Chinese and Japanese cuisine six days a week. We’re also embarrassed to admit it took us until this spring to visit a spot that readers and friends have mentioned repeatedly.

Subscribe to the 14850 Dining Podcast in iTunes or Google Play, RadioPublic, or RSS Feed, or follow 14850 Dining on Facebook and Twitter or sign up for our newsletter.

Here’s the 14850 Dining Report, with news this week that Gimme! Coffee is opening its first location in Ithaca’s northeast… with a twist!

Gimme! owner Kevin Cuddeback tells us they’re taking advantage of what he called a beautifully architected and built space left behind by Lona Cakes, the bake shop that caught our attention with a clever series of Pokemon-themed cupcakes in the summer of 2016, but closed this winter.

Subscribe to the 14850 Dining Podcast in iTunes or Google Play, RadioPublic, or RSS Feed, or follow 14850 Dining on Facebook and Twitter or sign up for our newsletter.

This week is VegWeek, a nationwide campaign promoting vegetarian eating for seven days each spring, and 14850 Dining is marking the occasion by checking out Downtown Ithaca’s newest plant-powered cafe, Nikki Green. Open daily on East State Street, Nikki Green offers coffee and tea, rice bowls and salads, and sweet fruity bowls and treats.

Subscribe to the 14850 Dining Podcast in iTunes or Google Play, RadioPublic, or RSS Feed, or follow 14850 Dining on Facebook and Twitter or sign up for our newsletter.

Passover is this week, and 14850 Dining is taking a look at the food traditions surrounding this springtime holiday. Straight out of the Bible’s Book of Exodus, the Passover story is about the Jewish people’s departure from slavery in Egypt, and the holiday is full of traditions that recall aspects of that story. Of course, the most famous Passover meal is the Last Supper, so some Easter traditions have their roots in Passover.

Subscribe to the 14850 Dining Podcast in iTunes or Google Play, RadioPublic, or RSS Feed, or follow 14850 Dining on Facebook and Twitter or sign up for our newsletter.