The Adirondack Lakes Cuisine Trail is set to launch its inaugural season with a local food and beverage tasting event at Moody Tree Farm in Saranac Lake on Tuesday, April 30 from 5 to 8 pm.

The gathering is a preview event for EAT ADK, the Adirondacks’ restaurant week held May 2-9, featuring food and beverages from businesses located along the new trail.

Hoping to tap into the locavore food trend, the Adirondacks Lakes Cuisine Trail is designed to highlight food and beverage producers in the region and is a way to connect local businesses with visitors.

Paul Smith’s College faculty and students will present information from a recently-completed strategic study they conducted about the cuisine trail.

The Adirondacks Lakes Cuisine Trail is one of six new cuisine-themed trails Governor Andrew Cuomo launched last fall in the North Country. It features 20 businesses located on a scenic route that takes travelers through Tupper Lake, Lake Clear, Paul Smiths and Saranac Lake.

The new network of trails, featuring 83 businesses in Clinton, Essex and Franklin counties, is a mechanism to boost the state’s growing agritourism sector and spotlight the region’s unique farms, food and beverage businesses, the Governor said.

The Adirondack Lake Cuisine Trails includes: Adk Cavu Café; Campfire Adirondack Grill; Adk Made; The Packbasket at the VIC; The Ganzi at Paul Smith’s College; The Lake Clear Lodge; The Trading Post at Fish Creek Ponds / Adirondack Perk Coffee House; Waterside Café at The Wild Center; The Fiddlehead Bistro; Blue Moon Café; Nori’s Village Market; Donnelly’s Ice Cream; Skyview Springs Farm; Moody Tree Farm; Tucker Farm; The Health Hub; The Well-Dressed Food Company; Big Tupper Brewing and Raquette River Brewing.

All participating venues on New York’s cuisine trails have committed to offering consumers locally sourced agricultural products. The trail program is administered by the New York State Department of Agriculture and Markets in collaboration with New York State Department of Transportation. The trails are part of the Taste of New York marketing campaign. More information can be found here.

Map of Adirondack Lakes Cuisine Trail courtesy Cornell Cooperative Extension of Essex County.