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What is Galentine’s Day?

Galentine’s Day lands on a Saturday this year, perfect for a boozy brunch with the girls.

February is a short month, but it packs a punch. First, it’s the Super Bowl, with football, wings and lots of beer, while next weekend we have Valentine’s Day, complete with flowers and chocolates. There’s a lot going on, despite the gloomy vibe of Winter in Upstate. Not to add more to your plate, but we wanted to introduce another holiday to your roster: Galentine’s Day.

Galentine’s Day

If this blog post is the first time you’re hearing about Galentine’s Day, then please allow us to introduce you. Galentine’s Day takes place on February 13th each year, and this year, it lands pretty conveniently on a Saturday. Galentine’s Day is all about “ladies celebrating ladies”. It’s a day to champion female friendships, and tell all the gal pals in your life how much they mean to you. After all, where would we be without our friends?

Parks and Rec

Galentine’s Day was created for the mockumentary-style sitcom Parks and Recreation, starring Amy Poehler as Leslie Knope. In season two, episode 16, Leslie unveils a special brunch the day before Valentine’s Day in honor of all her female friends. She writes essays about how much each person means to her and hands out homemade gifts. Fans of the show immediately connected with the mission behind the fake holiday, and now, over ten years later, it’s caught on in popular culture. 

This holiday is all about boozy brunches – specifically frittatas, but we’re not picky – and spending time with your best friends. Celebrate Galentine’s Day at Trapper’s with a few of our themed cocktails, as well as pizza and fries for brunch.

The Love Potion uses edible brew glitter to create a shimmery look and feel.

The Love Potion

The Love Potion is a shimmery drink begging to be shared on your Instagram timeline. This delicious cocktail is made with Southern Comfort, peach schnapps, amaretto, Triple Sec, orange juice, cranberry juice and edible glitter, served over ice in a wine glass. It’s safe to say, we’re pretty obsessed with how fun this drink looks and tastes, and we know you’ll love it too!

The Butterfly Bubbly is the perfect spritzer for a Galentine's Day brunch event.

Butterfly Bubbly

The Butterfly Bubbly combines your choice of either gin or vodka with Prosecco, lime juice and a little cranberry to create a light, effervescent drink. We recommend pairing it with a celebration of all your best gal pals and a side of mozzarella cheese sticks.

Seriously, could life get any better?

Trapper’s, as many of you may already know, is no longer in the Yellow Zone, which means we’re able to seat up to 50% of our normal capacity. As long as we continue to follow recommended social distancing and mask-wearing guidelines, we’ll be able to welcome more people inside for dine-in service.

Our staff is doing absolutely everything we can to ensure the safety of our community. If you decide to join us in celebrating any holidays this month, we encourage you to do your part to keep everyone around you safe as well. We’re looking forward to warmer weather, and, hopefully, a lightening of restrictions even further!

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Love is in the Air at Trapper’s: Valentine’s Day 2021

Valentine Cocktails at Trapper's
Valentine’s Day-inspired cocktails now available at the bar.

Welcome to February 2021, the shortest/longest month of the year. Now that we’re officially all rested up from the excitement of the holiday season, February is here to make you wish it was still Christmastime. This is especially true in Syracuse, when this month is often the coldest and darkest of the whole year. However, there is one thing to look forward to in February, and that’s Valentine’s Day. 

Celebrating the Little Things in 2021

Valentine’s Day gets a lot of hate. People love to bring up its surprisingly dark history or to complain about how commercialized it’s become. Here at Trapper’s, we believe that no matter if you’re in a relationship or not, having something to celebrate in the middle of the long, cold Winter season in Upstate New York is most definitely a plus. Once you embrace the holiday spirit, Valentine’s Day becomes a welcome reprieve from the monotony of life. 


We understand that for some, Valentine’s Day can be lonely. If you aren’t partnered up this year, stay tuned for our blog next week, where we’ll walk you through the best ways to celebrate Galentine’s Day. What’s Galentine’s Day?

But anyways, back to the holiday in question.

Valentine’s Day

Our team of bartenders has been hard at work developing a list of Valentine’s Day-inspired cocktails, and we’re so excited to finally be able to share them all. Last week’s blog post featured the Chocolate Cherry Martini, made with Tito’s Vodka, cherry liqueur, chocolate syrup, and whipped cream with cherries on top. A chocolate lover’s dream drink, and the perfect end-of-dinner treat.

In addition, we’d love to introduce you to the…

Peaches and Cream

This drink is a delightful mixture of Crown Royal, peach purée, peach schnapps, and whipped cream. Inspired by the simple, rustic dessert -typically made with fresh peaches, sugar, and heavy cream – this drink is a burst of summertime sweetness in the dead of winter. The Peaches and Cream is served with ice and a small slice of peach.

Pink, white, purple, and gold sprinkles adorn the rim of a martini glass for Trapper's Pizza Pub's extra special Cupid's Arrow cocktail.

Cupid’s Arrow

The Cupid’s Arrow is made with Rosé Svedka, lemonade, soda water, and cranberry juice. It comes in a martini glass with a sugar rim of Valentine’s Day sprinkles. This one goes out to all the influencers out there. You’ll want to take about a million pictures when you order this drink because she is gorgeous.

This drink’s namesake, Cupid, is the Roman god of desire and attraction. Cupid is almost always depicted in Classical art with his magic bow and arrow. Anyone Cupid shoots with his arrows is said to become possessed by an uncontrollable, passionate desire. Be careful with this drink, friends!

Cranberry Amaretto Kiss

Last, but not least, there’s the Cranberry Amaretto Kiss, which is a combination of Tito’s Vodka, amaretto, cranberry juice, and orange juice. It’s served in a tumbler glass with ice and a syrupy-brown sugar rim. Amaretto, for the uninitiated, is an almond-y Italian liqueur typically made with apricot pits. Delicious by itself, we think you’ll enjoy it even more in this Valentine’s drink. 

If you like the sound of our new seasonal drink menu, then head on over to the Trapper’s bar. We’ll be whipping these cocktails up for the next two weeks in honor of the sweetest day of the year. Want to see more photos of these phenomenal cocktails? Make sure you’re following our Instagram!

Tell us what you think about dessert cocktails in the comments! Are you excited to try any of ours this February?

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A Valentine’s Day Sneak Peek

The Trapper's special Chocolate Cherry Martini.
The Chocolate Cherry Martini at Trapper’s.

It’s hard to believe that we’re far enough into 2021 that it’s already time to start thinking about Valentine’s Day, but here we are! Valentine’s Day may not feel quite so romantic this year, but we’re all for finding little ways to bring some semblance of normal into our lives. 

Our lovely team of bartenders is currently at work putting together a full menu of seasonal cocktails for the occasion, but to get everyone excited we wanted to give our blog readers a sneak peek of a new drink we’re particularly excited about… the Chocolate Cherry Martini!

Decadent Ingredients for a Delicious Cocktail

Starting this week, you can order this chocolate-y sweet cocktail at the Trapper’s bar, or in your delivery and take-out orders in one of our new drink pouches. The Chocolate Cherry Martini is made with Tito’s vodka and cherry liquor, chocolate syrup and is served up with whipped cream and cherries on top! Our spin on this classic dessert/alcohol combo is the perfect pairing for the most romantic holiday ever. 

History of the Chocolate Martini

In honor of this sneak peek into the new cocktail list, we wanted to dive into the history of the Chocolate Martini, and we were not disappointed. The vintage drink was first created in 1955 by American actors Rock Hudson and Elizabeth Taylor during filming for the movie Giant. Both were apparently big fans of chocolate drinks in general, and when left to their own devices after a long shoot day, ended up concocting the recipe.

The Trapper's bar decorated for Valentine's Day.
The Trapper’s Pizza Pub bar all decked out in Valentine’s Day decorations.

Stay tuned to find out what else will be on our new cocktail list. We have a feeling there might be something extra peachy. 

Let us know what you think about our twist on the Chocolate Martini in the comments!

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To-Go Drink Pouches: The Adult Capri Sun

To-Go Drink Pouch from the Trapper's Bar
Trapper’s Strawberry Mule made-to-order in a drink pouch, topped with strawberries and a straw.

Whether your choice of beverage is a Cosmo, Strawberry Mule, Margarita, or even a Manhattan, they can all now be made-to-order and carried out in one of our new plastic drink pouches. These drink containers are basically just Capri Suns for adults, but instead of a sugary juice concentrate inside, they’re filled with your favorite cocktail straight from the bar. These pouches are easy to transport, fun to drink, and also very Instagram-able (if you’re into that sort of thing).

Legalizing Take-out Alcohol in New York State

In an effort to help struggling restaurants and bars overcome the impacts of the coronavirus pandemic, New York has legalized to-go alcohol sales throughout the state. The first official order legalizing these sales was issued on March 16th, 2020, and has been extended multiple times as the pandemic has continued into the Fall and Winter months. The latest extension is set to end on Friday, January 29th, although we wouldn’t be surprised if that changes again.

To-Go Alcohol at Trapper’s

We’re very excited to introduce these new pouches to our loyal Trapper’s customers and sincerely hope that to-go alcohol sales will be legalized at least through the remainder of the pandemic, if not for good. Most of all, though, we can’t wait to see all of you back at the bar on a busy night. If you’ve had the chance to try out one of our pouches, we’d love it if you shared a picture on Facebook or Instagram!

https://www.instagram.com/p/CJ33F2AFitK/

Please use these drink pouches responsibly, which includes waiting until you are home to consume your beverage of choice. These times are hard for all of us, if you’re struggling with alcohol abuse, we encourage you to call SAMHSA’s helpline at 1-800-662-HELP (4357). 

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What Does the Yellow Zone Mean for Trapper’s?

Trapper's Pizza Pub Patio

With cases rising in Onondaga County, we wanted to provide our customers and community with the most up-to-date information regarding zoning and Trapper’s Pizza Pub. First of all, yes, we are still open for business, which includes indoor dining! Trapper’s is currently situated in a Yellow Zone, but that could obviously change at any moment.

In the Yellow Zone

So what does it mean to be in the Yellow Zone? Well, for starters, our dining room is able to remain open as long as we’re following proper protocols. The new restrictions we’re following are:

  • Only 4 guests are allowed to be seated at a table together
  • Tables must be 6 feet apart
  • Maximum capacity for the whole restaurant is down to 50%
  • Masks must be worn when not seated
  • Closing at 10 PM every night, including weekends

Impact on Trapper’s

While we’re lucky to be in the least restrictive of all the zones (for now), all of these measures combined are taking a toll on small, locally-owned restaurants like ours. This is why you’re continued support, whether that means visiting us in-person or ordering take-out/delivery, means the world to us. We wouldn’t be open today if it wasn’t for all of you: our loyal customers and community.

How You Can Help

We know that not everyone has the ability to support us monetarily at the moment, so if you’re looking for a free way to keep us in business, the simple act of writing a positive review goes a long way! And this goes for any local business you care about in our East Syracuse – Dewitt community. Don’t underestimate how much it means to write a good review for your favorite pizza place, restaurant, boutique, florist, etc. 

So, once again, thank you to everyone reading this and supporting us through this crazy time. We can’t wait to be back to normal! 
You can find the full list of New York State Yellow Zone Restrictions here.

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Make Your Own Pizza Kits

As more and more of our customers opt to stay home to help stop the spread of the Covid-19 virus, we wanted to create something to address both the need for easy dinners and the inevitable boredom that comes with staying at home night after night. Enter our Make Your Own Pizza Kits. Each kit comes with our scratch-made Trapper’s pizza dough and sauce, mozzarella cheese, and a choice of topping for just $10. For another $10, add a bottle of wine and make it date-night!

It’s Not Just a Meal…

Not only are these pizza kits easy to make in your kitchen, but they’re also loads of fun. You can put the kids to work rolling out the dough, spooning sauce, and sprinkling cheese for a Saturday night family activity everyone can get involved in, or put it together yourself for a quick weeknight meal. There’s no need to stop into crowded grocery stores on the way home from work, our Make Your Own Pizza Kits are available daily. Simply call ahead and we’ll have it ready for pick-up.

Two pizzas topped with Trapper's Pizza Pub's homemade sauce, mozzarella and toppings from our Make-Your-Own Pizza Kits.
In this case, our pizza dough was split in two to make double the pizza. Photo taken by Mallory Roach.

Making Pizza at Home

Feedback on our pizza kits so far has been wonderful. We’ve been told they’re delicious and a snap to make at home. The only kitchen tools required are a rolling pin and baking sheet. When you get your kit home you’ll need to give the dough time to rise before baking. For more detailed, step-by-step directions on making a pizza at home, we recommend checking out this post from the blog Sip Bite Go. We also include instructions in our kits to make sure you have the best results possible. Most importantly though, we encourage you to have fun with it. Pizza should be stress-free and tasty. Isn’t that what we all want more of in 2021?

If you order a Make Your Own Pizza Kit we’d love it if you left us a review and/or tag us on Instagram and Facebook!

Two pizzas ready to come out of the oven, both made using the Trapper's Pizza Pub Make-Your-Own Pizza Kits.
You’ll know the pizzas are ready once the edges brown and the cheese starts to bubble. Photo taken by Mallory Roach.
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CONGRATS to Lauren and Ryan!

Lauren Dougherty and Ryan Bayly held their rehearsal dinner at Trappers on Friday night and on Saturday they got hitched! How cute are these two? CONGRATULATIONS and best wishes to the happy couple.

Lauren and Ryan