One of the first eat-stops I made in Syracuse was The Mission restaurant. I didn’t even know that this quaint little restaurant was there. For that matter, I hadn’t heard of any good place in Syracuse beyond Dino BBQ at that point of time (for that matter, Dino BBQ remains to be explored even now). Invited over by Damian and Julie Schofield, I couldn’t say a ‘no’ to a tex-mex break and a chance to know about the city from the couple. More on the couple can only be written with their permission, but just for those curious, they were friends of an aunt and one of the loveliest people I have met so far. Even though I barely knew them, they welcomed me in with open arms and I couldn’t be less grateful to them for that.
Back to The Mission! Located on East Onondaga Street, in the Downtown area of Syracuse, the restaurant building built in the 1840s happened to be a church before answering to the gastronomical calls of the city. Known as the Syracuse Wesleyan Methodist Church it happened to be a way station for the Underground Railroad. Now what’s the Underground Railroad? More history coming up! Though am honestly not that good with it. I just like staking out new places for myself and enjoying all the stories and facts associated with the places. However, the Underground Railroad was an intricate and secret system for getting the 19th century African slaves away from enslavement and into free states in America or off to Canada. The system managed to transfer many many people to new lives ensuring their future generations a certainly different life. The Mission happened to be one of the last stops. Even though the term Railroad has been used, it was only a code and has nothing to do with the railways.
Coming back from the pages of history, the restaurant came up inside the church building once the church closed down and is an absolute delight. Particularly the glass paintings and murals as windows gives a beautiful look to the place. The food – well it was a delight for a hungry foodie. Damian introduced me to Negra Modelo, a Vienna Lager style Mexican brew, which was neither strong nor light but just perfect to go with the food and also after.
Next came figuring out the menu. Considering this was my first time in an American restaurant, I had no idea about the way things go (even though I had heard about the ENORMOUS amount served generally) and also I was clueless about what a burrito or a taco was. I opted for a burrito wrap with a shrimp filling, one of the specials of the day, with black beans and rice on the side, of course with due guidance.
First bite – yumm! It was all worth the thousands of miles I had travelled to have it it seemed (yeah! I am overselling it 😀 but it was good, trust me on that).
I couldn’t go beyond the first wrap and had to get the rest ‘boxed’ for taking it back home for a cool lunch the next day. In my opinion, I would like to stop by the restaurant again and again whenever I am in the mood for some good dine-out Mexican 🙂
Price range – $11-30
Service: Fast, really fast and smooth
Restroom: Didn’t check out, so no idea.
The Foodie's Travel Talks 
This was quite interesting.The food looks mouth watering.