[itinerary | lodging] It’s the quintessential sandwich of America. What started as peasant food at the turn of the 20th century, this patty of ground beef stuffed between a round bun rapidly became a staple of car culture and the new mid-century middle class. You’ll never forget the day sometime back in 2008, when you went to a burger joint in Fort Greene, Brooklyn, and suffered sticker shock at the sight of double-digit dollar amounts on the menu. The gentrification of the hamburger had begun.

The Vesper

Inflation is a funny thing. In recent years, the speculation about the cost of a Big Mac as a function of minimum wage led to comparisons with the sandwich’s cost in Denmark (spoiler alert: higher wages added maybe a couple cents to the unit cost). In New York, a Big Mac currently dings your wallet for $5.23. You lament the days of your youth, when you could go off on a school trip or sports meet with a 5-dollar bill in your pocket and still eat like a king at Mickey-D’s. It’s a far cry from modern gastropubs, where a burger can cost almost $20. Is it worth it? You charge yourself with answering this question on your latest adventure: a burger tour of what you’ve been told are the best of the best in the Finger Lakes region. You start at Vesper Kitchen and Bar in downtown Rochester.

The consensus of Rochester’s sub-reddit is that the Vesper serves the best burger in the city. As one of the major cities of the Finger Lakes region, it goes without saying that the best of the city should be counted as one of the best of the region. You first took notice of Vesper years ago when you went for an impromptu tour of the Roc as part of your weekend house-buying tour — a tour that resulted in buying Conesus Lake House and changing your life forever. Vesper is tucked away down a one-way street right near the entrance (or exit?) of Rochester’s Center City, around the Washington Square Park blocks. You hadn’t had time to stop back then, but you took note of the cool, modern-looking gastropub and promised your travel companion to take her there one day.

^{Inside Vesper’s post-industrial bar and lounge – the owners take pride in their work, eh?}

The server is happy to accommodate the little one with a booster seat, and after some arrangement of big Legos around the table — plus a couple cocktails for the grown-ups — everyone is settled in and comfortable. While your companion orders her favorite dirty vodka martini, you start with a Tom Collins – a bright, fizzy pick-me-up after a long day working in the proverbial salt mines. An interesting quirk about Vesper is the menu’s focus not only on gastropub standbys like burgers, but its seafood fare like seared octopus and seafood cakes. Your companion can’t resist a good octopus, so you order a plate to kick things off. Served over micro-green slaw, the kraken’s tentacle is lightly seared and basted in a spicy peanut miso sauce. A delightful amuse-bouche as you warm up for the main event.

^{Seared octopus + Dirty vodka martini + Tom Collins}

By this point you’ve brought the little one around on quite a few of your adventures, from breweries to distilleries, family diners to festival food trucks, and everything in between. But Vesper seems like a step up from the usual family-friendly establishments. So when the server returns to take your entree orders, you thank her for her patience with the little one on her first visit to a “fancy restaurant.”

“Oh, she did great,” she laughs. “She’s welcome back any time.” You can’t help but think your little companion can take over for you one day, writing about her experiences across upstate New York and beyond. But you’re getting ahead of yourself. Naturally, you order the Vesper Burger 2.0, complete with a side of truffle fries. Your companion remains on the seafood track and orders the seafood cakes. Somehow the Tom Collins has disappeared, so you put in for a light beer to wash down your burger. A Six Point pilsner from Brooklyn sounds nice.

The Internet community was not exaggerating: Vesper’s burger is definitely one of the greats. A sizeable patty, nicely charred on the outside but soft on the inside, on a toasted brioche bun topped with melted gouda and tangy bacon/tomato/onion marmalade, all tied together by a toothpick/banana pepper garnish. The sleeper hit, however, is the seafood cakes. A combination of the usual crab meat but elevated with shrimp and white fish and topped with house-made remoulade. The heavy burger and truffle fries are complemented nicely by the crisp pilsner.

^{Seafood cakes + Vesper Burger 2.0 + Brooklyn pilsner}

One of your rules is not to feature, photograph, and/or comment on the rest facilities you encounter on your travels (one exception is from your trip to the Hamptons). Given the addition of a little companion, this rule might soften as you start to take note of clean and accessible changing tables on your travels. And today you would be remiss if you neglected to highlight the artwork in the men’s room of Vesper, where you can practice your aim under the watchful eye of Cosmo Kramer. You only wish he were there in the flesh, ready to offer a refreshing Junior Mint.

Roc City Skate Park

You wash up and gather your companions for a walk about before concluding your evening in the city. Spring is fickle in upstate New York, so it’s the luck of the draw to encounter sunny skies and warm temperatures. Under the freeway overpass directly across from Vesper, you spy a large skate park teeming with activity, the clack-clack-clack of the boards providing a remarkably soothing background soundtrack, or as the kids call it, ASMR. Rochesterian skate punks are enjoying this break in the weather, rolling around the cement hills and dips in tandem with the ballet of highway traffic behind them as the western New York sun sets over Rochester.

Fargo Bar and Grill

The burger tour of the region continues on the other side of the world, in the eastern Finger Lakes. You had heard by word of mouth about the Fargo Bar and Grill in Aurora, NY, home of the “best burger in the Finger Lakes.” The name alone is enough to entice you, having been a life-long fan of the eponymous movie and TV series based around Fargo, North Dakota. You can’t help but associate the restaurant with the mysterious (and often murderous) themes of the show; you once tried to make your own Finger Lakes mystery show in the style of Fargo but decided to stick to writing instead. And while Fargo’s a good name for a pub, the real test is the food. You collect your little family on a breezy Saturday and head east toward Cayuga Lake.

You remember Aurora. You passed through on a house-buying tour many years ago, but not the Conesus Lake House trip. This trip focused on Ithaca and the surrounding environs, a playground from your youth. Many a summer was spent at a one of your dad’s co-worker’s cottages on Cayuga Lake, jumping off tire swings and fishing off the dock while the adults drank wine on the porch. Years later you would hit Ithaca Commons with college friends who were now matriculating in Cornell’s MFA program and re-discover your upstate roots all over again. The last time you were around Cayuga Lake, you and your travel companion viewed a few houses along Route 90, all of which failed to materialize. The market was at its peak. Of them, the one closest to Aurora would have been your top pick, as the quaint but upscale lakeside village drew you in with its cozy, colonial architecture.

You wind up directly across from the Fargo, which you’ve come the understand is part of the larger Inns of Aurora Resort and Spa. The building had evolved over the years since its construction in 1836, from a post office to a garage and even an art studio. Inside retains that old-fashioned feel with dark wood wainscoting, retro vinyl bar stools, and tartan wallpaper wrapped neatly around the dining room. Add to that a pool table in the back and a fireplace up front, and the Fargo is a rustic but clean and refined classic American tavern, a relic of the past made modern in the present. Everything changes, but everything stays the same. You cannot wait to order as you pull up a high-chair for the little one.

Outings with the little companion have taught you many tricks over the past six months. You start to pay attention to the difference in booster seats and their disadvantages over the far superior high-chair. That said, it took some getting used to before baby decided she was comfortable being strapped into something (spoiler alert: she hates being strapped into something). Truly the product of you and your travel companion, she is a free spirit and marches to the beat of her own drum. So you sometimes need to sit her in your lap during the first course, allowing her to transition into a new environment.

Another trick you’ve learned is not to set your beverages anywhere near the edge of the table or within grabbing distance. She needs to inspect everything — especially your pint. The spilled Ithaca Lakeside Lager is not the first casualty, nor would it be the last. You’re always at the ready with napkins and paper towels to clean up any messes. You aren’t surprised by her whim to spill something at least once per meal: you recall many a time in your youth when, even as you told yourself, “Don’t spill this glass,” you would inevitably spill it, like some uncanny psychological reactance to an object within your grasp. Dad would shake his head and sigh every time. Of course you were always going to spill the glass. Like it was pre-determined.

^{Beverages of choice at the Fargo; also pictured: seconds before disaster}

Baby eats first at every meal, so as you toast to another outing with your companion, you also break out the bottle of milk and jar of yogurt-oatmeal packed in the go bag. By now the dining room has started to fill up, but your little one is behaving herself reasonably well. A young couple is seated immediately next to you, while a three-top parks by the entrance. The two OG fishermen sitting against the wall opposite your table had been there before you arrived, taking their time as if the fish aren’t biting. It’s quite a scene as baby takes a bite of oatmeal, then turns and stares down the couple. You apologize half-jokingly, taking comfort in the fact that most strangers are rather accepting of a baby. They laugh it off and say not to worry — their little ones are with the babysitter, but they can appreciate and empathize with your need to go out for a date now and again.

She may still be a picky eater, but you’re not. As soon as the entrees are set down, you’re ready to wolf everything down. You had of course ordered the Fargo Classic, a standard American burger with American cheese and LTO, along with a side of mac and cheese. As typical of your companion, she chooses a chicken sandwich — the Carolina Crispy with tangy Carolina gold sauce. You steal some of her fries when she’s not looking, though it’s not for lack of fulfillment. The burger is a home run, nicely charred on the outside while warm and juicy on the inside, set neatly on a toasted, buttered bun. A wide burger, too, rather than stacked as is customary these days when making a larger burger. It reminds you of a burger you ate in your childhood days, at the former Boomer’s in Corning, NY. Funny how the tiniest memories of food can echo throughout a lifetime.

^{The Fargo Classic + The Carolina Crispy}

Between Vesper and Fargo, it’s difficult to compare the two. Both feature that delicious char you desire from a real pub burger, missing from so much fast food and cheap diners. Vesper’s unique take on bacon jam adds a pleasant juxtaposition of flavors united in soft, gooey mouth-feel. On the other hand, Fargo’s burger is a true classic American burger – no frills, no gimmicks, just 100% pure beef with lettuce, tomato, and onions. You would count them both as among the best in the Finger Lakes — along with the amazing burger you enjoyed at Hollerhorn Distillery on another adventure.

You exit the Fargo facing east, across Main Street and beyond, to Cayuga Lake. You hope to explore more of the eastern Finger Lakes, to re-discover Ithaca and its surrounding villages and wilds. New stories to find down the road one day. You pause on the porch of Fargo and contemplate Aurora — a village with one foot in the past, one foot looking to the future. A perfect combination of old and new. In a way, cities and towns and villages are a lot like people: forever young at heart, existing at all ages including the present one, but constantly dragged ahead by the march of time. It’s up to their communities — just as it’s up to an individual — to adapt to the change. Like when the cost of a hamburger swells to the double-digits or how grocery bills keep getting farther and farther out of reach.

You’re adapting, too. You’ve re-calibrated how to go out to restaurants, how to drive on a road trip, how to consider the needs of someone who isn’t as big as you and hasn’t learned as much as you. Fatherhood is a never-ending adventure, one which you are happy to pursue in tandem with your upstate New York explorations. With your travel companions by your side, you’re always at your most confident. You’re back in the saddle, so to speak. Cranking out travel articles and postcards again. Everything changes, and everything stays the same.

Especially in the Finger Lakes.

Ready to explore? Click below for lodging options around the Finger Lakes.