NYC wine bar opens pop-up in Finger Lakes

As businesses across New York state continue to fold due to the effects of the pandemic, the former Busy Bee Market building in Interlaken is bursting with new activity.

The waterfront spot has been transformed into a wine bar/restaurant combo called Supernatural Lake, complete with four small, renovated cottages on the edge of Cayuga Lake.

Running from July to October, Supernatural Lake is a pop-up by the owners of Compagnie des Vins Surnaturels, an upscale wine bar in the Little Italy neighborhood of Manhattan. After having to close for a stint in March, the city location was only able to ship wine, offer takeout and eventually open for limited seating, bringing in a very small percentage of normal revenue.

Sarah Stafford, events and communications manager at Compagnie, explained why part of the crew decided to make an escape to the Finger Lakes and quickly open up a new spot.

“We needed to pivot and find a new way to employ our staff who we had to furlough in the middle of March,” Stafford said. “We’ve all spent time up here before, and with the deep tradition of winemaking and the people we already knew in the region through the wine community, it was just a natural fit to look for something.”

Stafford described that staff at Compagnie have a tradition of visiting the Finger Lakes region and have created relationships with folks at places like Hermann J. Wiemer Vineyard, Red Tail Ridge Winery and Shaw Vineyard.
She noted that all the front-of-house staff at Supernatural are sommeliers, and it’s always been part of the mission at Compagnie to show people there’s great wine being made in New York state.

“We can pour these great wines at our bar, but that’s only half the story,” Stafford said. “Being able to take people to the vineyards and show them how wine is made, show them the stories of the people behind the wine, that completes the circle. The day trips we did were an embodiment of this idea, and Supernatural Lake is just us taking it a step farther.”

For the day trips, they would fill up a coach bus with their regular customers from the city, spend the day wine tasting and head back the same day.

“We’ve gotten to know a lot of the community and our clientele from the city always loved it, even though it was a very long day,” Stafford said. “So, we already knew a handful of people and had a soft spot in our heart for this part of the state and had kind of thrown around the idea of extending it to a weekend or a weeklong trip. And it ended up becoming something much, much larger than that.”

This July, the tourists became the hosts as Supernatural Lake opened to the public just a few miles outside of Trumansburg.

The building sits directly across the street from Cayuga Lake and boasts wide, open views of the water. Guests can dine outdoors on picnic tables with umbrellas or inside on the covered porch. Snacks and wine bottles are also available to go, for those who want to walk across the street and sit next to the water.

The wine list features local and global producers, and the restaurant menu focuses on seasonal, locally sourced ingredients. Blistered shishito peppers, marinated Sungold tomatoes, grilled corn, crispy potato wedges, spice-rubbed chicken and the cheese plate come from nearby farms such as Stick and Stone Farm, Autumn’s Harvest Farm and Lively Run Dairy.

On “Aloha Fridays,” the staff wears Hawaiian shirts and the kitchen roasts a whole pig from Van Noble Farms. A limited menu is offered on Fridays, and a pile of pork is served with several sides like cabbage slaw, collard greens and macaroni and cheese.

Caleb Ganzer, managing partner of Compagnie, said it was a priority to work with as many local farmers and producers as possible and that getting to know members of the tight-knit, supportive community has been one of the best parts of the whole experience.

“Everyone is so nice, has so many hidden talents and skills and is very open to share them,” Ganzer said. “We’d like to think we are outsiders who are Finger Lakes-ophiles who are aiming to celebrate local food, wine and culture from our NYC perspective. It’s kind of been a fun experiment to take a tomato grown in Interlaken and tuna caught in the Gulf of Maine and craft a tartare dish and to do side-by-side tastings of rieslings grown down the road with rieslings imported from Germany.”

The food and wine have delighted customers from near and far, but Stafford said the cottages have mostly been rented out by those seeking a break from New York City.

“The minute that we announced it, I was inundated with requests from people wanting to come up here,” Stafford said. “I think it just shows that everybody’s canceled their vacations, but people are looking for getaway destinations that they can drive to within the state. People still wanted something fun to do this summer.”

The staff has also taken this time to recharge after the stress from the city during the pandemic. The small crew mostly lives in a couple of houses nearby, and both Stafford and Ganzer agree that they’ve all enjoyed the unique opportunity to get out of their small, city apartments and enjoy the space upstate.

“The summer up here has been a dream,” Ganzer said. “Waking up by the lake, running up the hill to get some produce and food from the Amish market, watching the sunset and the moonrise, building a fire … what’s not to love? What a truly special, naturally beautiful setting.”

While there’s talk of turning this into a more-than-one-time thing, nothing has been finalized yet.

Current hours are Thursday to Monday, 5 to 9 p.m., and reservations are strongly encouraged.