Alex & Ika Will Be Closed, Replaced

With Cantina de Salsa, Owner Says

COOPERSTOWN – After 18 years, the celebrated Alex & Ika restaurant, relocated from Cherry Valley to 149 Main St. in recent years, will be closed, proprietor Alex Webster announced this morning in an e-mail to customers.

In its place, Webster said, he plans to open a second Cantina de Salsa Mexican restaurant in downtown Cooperstown site.

The Cantina de Salsa in Cherry Valley WILL REMAIN IN OPERATION.

“Almost two decades later,” he wrote, “the landscape has changed. More ethnic restaurants are opening all around us. It is no longer impossible to find a good Thai curry or Japanese noodle dish outside of the City. Offering an array of foods from around the world has been an enjoyable and interesting challenge, but now I would like to focus on one type of cuisine.”

He continued, “My ongoing exploration of all things culinary in Central and Latin America and Mexico with my wife, Jeannine, and our four wonderful children, has piqued my interest and tastebuds. That,
combined with the tremendous success of Cantina de Salsa in Cherry Valley, leads me to think it would be a wonderful idea to bring Mexican to Cooperstown.”

When it opened in Cherry Valley, Alex & Ika gained a statewide reputation when its was listed by Zagat’s as one of the top restaurants in the state, an honor it usually bestows to New York City entities.

Then-U.S. Sen. Daniel Patrick Moynihan, D-NY, would frequent the place when visiting his weekend home in Pindars Corners, and he brought Hillary Clinton there while she was running to succeed him in 1999.