fisher's Profile
Taiwan Noodle - Albany
I have tried it twice, once with family and once with friends, because tasty and inexpensive asian noodles/soup would be a recipe for heaven for my family. We had a mixed experience both times and are unlikely to return. Unfortunately, our dining-out budget is extremely limited. We like to try new places, but they need to be really strong "keepers" for us to return.
We tried Pork & Leek Dumplings, Veggie Dumplings, Spicy Wonton, Shrimp Shu Mai, Scallion Pancake, Mixed Mushroom Soup, Spicy Noodle w/Meat Soup, and General Tso Chicken.
Good: The dumplings and shu mai were very good. I enjoyed the Spicy Noodle w/meat Soup; flavorful, spicy and satisfying. My mother-in-law ordered the General Tso's since it was the only thing she recognized on the menu (she's not adventurous), and it was a perfectly good rendition.
Not so Good: Scallion pancake was ok, but a bit greasy. The topping on the spicy wontons (can't call it sauce) was primarily red pepper flakes that provided heat but not much other flavor and masked any flavor that might have been in the wontons. For the Mixed Mushroom soup I agree completely with Roger K. The broth was very bland, making the dish very disappointing.
Baguette Delite/Banh mi viet in Edison.
Stopped in last Sunday with my husband and son. Husband had a grilled chicken Banh Mi. Son had a bowl of Pho Tai and I had Bun with lemongrass beef.
Husband couldn't say enough good things about the banh mi. Actually, he couldn't say much because he was too busy munching. He declared it delicious and wanted a second one but decided to control himself. Son enjoyed the pho tai except that it was a bit salty. My lemongrass beef bun was delicious. I would have liked a bit more fish sauce in the dressing. I don't know why it didn't occur to me to just ask for some----I should have.
The service was exceptionally pleasant. Unfortunately, we're not in the area often, but we will certainly stop in again when we are there.
Burlingame Hyatt Regency for a day and a half
Thank you all so much for the suggestions. Mingalaba sounds wonderful. I've never had burmese food before. That will be a treat!
Burlingame Hyatt Regency for a day and a half
I'll be at the Hyatt Regency in on Bayshore Highway in Burlingame for a very short business trip.
I'd love some recommendations for two dinners and one lunch. I will not have a car, but will go wherever my feet or the Burlingame Trolley will take me. Love ethnic. Reasonably priced.
I've searched the board for recommendations, but am having trouble finding telling what is close enough to be accessible for me.
Thank you in advance for your help!!
Open on Christmas Eve in Albany NY?
My family's first choice would be Van's so maybe we have similar tastes :)
My second choice would be Ala Shanghai - http://alashanghai.net/ . Call first and make sure they're open xmas eve.
Also, here is an Albany/Saratoga area holiday listing from the newspaper. http://www.timesunion.com/default/article/Restaurants-have-plans-for-Christmas-and-New-2403016.php
Good Restaurant in Cohoes area?
Try Al-Baraki http://www.al-baraki.com
It's walking distance from the theater, has nice Lebanese food, and meets your cost requirement.
Papa Johns pizza ---- with margarine??!
On a business trip recently I arrived at my hotel after dark, hungry and tired and with no car. The only food within safe easy walking distance was Papa Johns, which I've never tried before. Given the situation, I was not hugely picky and didn't expect anything wonderful. Something warm, filling and fast was sufficient. I ordered a small cheese pizza. And it met the requirements; warm, filling, and fast.
BUT, it was also perplexing. After returning to the hotel I opened the box to find, in addition to the pizza, two pepperocini (sp?) and a small tub of something labeled "garlic spread". I'm from NY and have never had such items packaged with a pizza. Although an odd accompaniment, the peppers were tasty (I like peppers). But the "spread" just tasted like margarine. I'm curious. What was I supposed to do with it? Spread it on the pizza? Dip my pizza?
A curious mind wants to know.
I found a video in which I really enjoyed Rachel Ray!(?)
I haven't watched the video, but having interacted with her in person before she became "Rachel Ray!", I'd guess you're seeing the real person come through rather than the marketed personality. And, IMHO, that real person is worthwhile.
I live in the area where Rachel is from. Prior to her jump to Food Network she did cooking demonstrations in the local Supermarkets. I saw and interacted with her 3 or 4 times at those venues and found her to be a very pleasant normal person who was genuinely interested in sharing food with others. About a week after the last demonstration I spotted her on TV and did a double-take. It was her alright, but with her personality pumped up several times beyond her normal self.
Ideal cheese s'mores pairings
It's not the milk chocolate at issue. It's the marshmallows. Most marshmallows contain gelatin made from animal hooves and skin.
Charged more than menu price [moved from New York State]
Nope. No large menu board. Just paper menus at the tables.
Charged more than menu price [moved from New York State]
Thank you very much for the reply. (The topic name is due to having originally posted it on the New York State board.) It is good to have my sense of the incident confirmed. Sometimes you really wonder whether you're being too picky about things.
Quintessence (Malta)
I live in Round Lake Village and, yes, we're part of Malta.
I don't disagree with you about the general quality of Malta/CP restaurants, I was just confused by the apparent contradiction in gerchak198's post. Sometimes it's hard to tell whether humor is intended or not.
Sad to hear Quintessence isn't worthy.
Quintessence (Malta)
The "best little restaurant in Malta" isn't Chow-worthy? I'm not criticizing you, but I am confused. I live in Malta so I'm very interested in Quintessence. I've never been. Why isn't it Chow-worthy.
As for Malta not having any good restaurants, I'd argue that Lakeridge is a pretty decent place.
Charged more than menu price [moved from New York State]
We are semi-regular patrons at Marino Pizza on Rt 9 in Queensbury. Semi-regular meaning that we stop there for dinner half a dozen times a year with friends and kids after outings in the Lake George area. It’s conveniently located and we enjoy their pizza and garlic knots. We’ve never ordered entrees, but the marinara sauce that is served with the garlic knots is very tasty.
But I’m not really posting about the food. Our most recent visit was the last weekend in August. We enjoyed our meal as usual but then got a surprise in the check. The prices charged for 3 of the items were higher than the menu. Two pizzas were 50 cents higher each, and an order of garlic bread w/cheese was $4.25 instead of the $2.59 listed on the menu (a 64% increase).
Presuming this was just an error I mentioned it when I went up to the register. The waitress said, oh no, it’s correct, our prices have gone up, we just haven’t gotten our new menus yet. And then she pointed to the bottom of the menu where it says “prices subject to change”.
Since the total difference was only about $2.50 I figured I’d just pay and be done, but while paying I mentioned that the increase in the garlic bread price (64%) was really significant and that they should have mentioned the price increases before we ordered. The response I received was that food prices have skyrocketed and what do I expect them to do, cross out the prices on all the old menus and write in the new prices? At that point I simply paid and left.
I don’t care about the $2.50. I do care that this just somehow seemed wrong. We like their food, but I’m not sure I want to go back. And there are a lot of other pizza places around that I’m guessing would be happy to have our business.
So here’s my question. Should they have done something differently? Do you think they really are just “waiting for their new menus”, or were we charged the “It’s the end of August and they’re probably tourists who’ll never be back price”?
Flores Family Restaurant - Schenectady
We tend to love (and like the idea of supporting) family run, hole-in-the-wall ethnic places. So, after having heard good things about it, we had been wanting to try this family run Peruvian place for some time. We finally made it there last Friday night. And we really wanted to like it. We tried to like it. But we just couldn’t.
We walked in on Friday night at about 6:30 and the place was empty except for some young kids at the counter. Service was pleasant and friendly throughout the meal. There was very loud music playing, but our server happily turned down the volume at our request.
A basket of chips and salsa were placed on the table when we ordered. The chips seemed to be basic inexpensive bagged chips. The salsa was interesting in that it was served warm and appeared to be bean-based, as in refried beans that had been thinned into a salsa consistency – only a lot tastier than that sounds. We agreed that, while the chips were unfortunate, the salsa was nice.
We started with a bottle of Peruvian beer for my husband, and a pair of bean and cheese pupusas (sp?). The pupusas were very enjoyable; hot, crispy on the outside, and flavorful on the inside. They were served with two accompaniments; a sauce similar to canned tomato sauce and some lightly pickled cabbage. It all seemed odd when we looked at it on the plate, but we liked the contrasting flavors.
For entrees we ordered the “Sauteed beef with onions and potatoes” and “Beef Stew”. Each entrée comes with a choice of two sides. We each had the yellow rice. I had the fried plantains and hubby had the beans. The sides were all just fine, but both main dishes were extremely salty. You could tell there were some interesting flavors down in there somewhere, but it was all masked by the overriding SALT. Hubby felt his beef stew would have been a decent dish without the salt. Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the sautéed beef. It appeared to be poor quality beef that had been heavily tenderized (something about the texture/taste reminded me of childhood meals with too much Accent meat tenderizer used).
We had heard such nice things about the place that we left shaking our heads. Did we just manage to choose poorly when we selected entrees? Or were they indicative of the rest of the fare?
If we’re passing by we might stop in for a pupusa, but other than that, I don’t think we’ll be back.
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Flores Family Restaurant
1427 State St, Schenectady, NY 12304
Freshly made tortillas in Albany
Wow, Roger, I'm impressed. We haven't ventured past the packaged ones you get in the supermarket! I'll have to try to find the mexican market on central and try those.
The Price Chopper freshly made tortillas come 8 in a package. The corn tortillas appear to be from yellow corn. All the flavors (white, wheat, and corn) are the same price. The 10" ones are $2.49 and the 8" are $1.49, which is comparable to the packaged supermarket tortillas. If you try them please report back. I'd be interested to know how they compare to the Mexican Market packaged ones.
Freshly made tortillas in Albany
I needed an item quickly one day and happened to be passing the Price Chopper on Central Avenue near Everett Road. I've never been in that store before but was pleasantly surprised to see a sign in the window saying they make their own tortillas! Don't know if this is a new thing for them or what, but it was the first I'd heard of it.
They have 8" and 10", white flour, wheat, and corn. I brought home a package of 8" white flour and 8" corn and we had family taco night. I'm not qualified to say whether they are authentic, but my family enjoyed them very much. A big step up from the packaged ones we usually use at home. I particularly enjoyed the corn ones, as I tend to find the packaged corn tortillas too chewy.
I suppose there must be some little mexican groceries in Albany that sell fresh tortillas, too, but this is convenient enough that I'll certainly stop in periodically. The store also seemed to have a very large international section, but I didn't have enough time to fully peruse the selection.
Saigon Spring - Clifton Park
Went for dinner tonight (5:45 on a Sunday). The place was about half full with happy looking patrons.
We all really love Van's in Albany so that is our standard for comparison. We tried two appetizers: pork&shrimp spring rolls and vegetarian summer rolls. Both were well prepared items that we enjoyed and would order again.
All three of us ordered bowls of Pho Bo. That is a dish that we adore at Van's and have had in many cities. I don't think we have ever had a bowl that we thought was bad. Until now. Even though we were all very hungry we were disappointed in the Pho and would not order it again. The broth was weak and one dimensional, and the meat was fatty.
The other entrees that were coming out of the kitchen looked nice and the other patrons seemed happy. We were split on whether we would go back. My husband says no, just keep Vietnamese as a special treat and drive to Van's. My son and I decided we would be willing to go again and try an entree but agreed that driving an extra 25 minutes to Van's is well worth the trouble.
Saigon Spring - Clifton Park
We're planning to go this weekend. I will report back afterwards.
And as a bonus, Livingsocial.com has a 50% off deal! I guess that means we can order twice as much food -- haha !!!
This link will take you to the deal. It's only good til the end the end of the day today.
https://livingsocial.com/deals/43459?ref=conf-jp&rpi=11185291
Saigon Spring - Clifton Park
It appears to be open now. Has anyone tried it yet?
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Saigon Spring
1683 Rte 9, Clifton Park, NY 12065
I have Syracuse salt boiled potatoes coming out of my ears.
Not really answering the question, but an anecdote about salt potatoes. Twenty years ago I was just out of college and got a job in Syracuse. It was summer and ended up at the company picnic a couple of weeks after arriving in town. My coworkers were very welcoming and talked about some of the regional dishes that were on the menu that day (e.g., spiedies, salt potatoes). The description of the salt potatoes was followed by ".....but we only use a little salt for health reasons". I was confused and asked "But without the salt isn't it just a boiled potato?". They looked dumbfounded and just said "No, they're salt potatoes." and walked away.
Mr. Asian - Central Avenue in Albany
Went here for lunch about a month ago and had a lovely meal.
Tried to go for lunch again today and it was closed with no indication of why. Just door locked and lights off.
Anyone know what is going on with it? The location appears to be jinxed.
New Thai/Chinese on Broadway in Saratoga Springs?
Went through downtown this morning and noticed a new place on Broadway called Char Koon - Thai and Chinese. It was next to Brindisi's.
Has anyone been? What did you think?
Saratoga - Suggestions for group event, please!
I'm happy to report that the event took place earlier this week and was a great success. We had it at Tiznow and it was fabulous. The owner, John, was incredibly good to work with. Very laid back and happy to accommodate all our requests. For $25 per person we were served a delightful buffet including non-alcoholic beverages and dessert. Prior to dinner we had a cash bar with very nice bar snacks included in the $25/head fee.
The food was wonderful, and the restaurant space was warm, inviting and comfortable. All agreed that it was a memorable and successful evening.
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Tiznow Restaurant
84 Henry St, Saratoga Springs, NY 12866
Muza -- in Troy
Had a delightful dinner here over the weekend. The menu says "European". Seems mostly Polish with some Hungarian, Russian, and German. Maybe call it Eastern European?
They have a website; www.MuzaEuropeanFood.com .
We were a party of four and ordered entrees only because we had heard that portions were large. We tried the Pierogi, two "Polish Feast" (pierogi, stuffed cabbage, kielbasa, sauteed cabage and mashed potatoes), and the "Muza Special" (beef goulash with potato pancakes, beef gravy, and sauerkraut). We loved everything. All seemed fresh and homemade.
The potato pierogi were light and pillowy but very plain. This was a good thing for the young lady who ordered it as she likes food very plain. We were told they sometimes have meat or sauerkraut pierogi as specials and I would want to try those next time if they are available.
Two of our party had the Polish Feast reporting that the stuffed cabbage was fabulous. I had the Muza Special and enjoyed it very much. The meat was very tender, potato pancakes crisp and flavorful. The absolute standout part of the dish for me was the sauerkraut. I've never had sauerkraut like it and it was delicious. Made me think that next time I want to try more of their vegetable offerings (red cabbage, creamy carrots, etc).
We all walked out very full and very happy. Prices were very reasonable for the quality and quantity of the food. Only caveat is that the service is EXTREMELY SLOW. We had heard this before going and purposely arrived an hour earlier than we otherwise would have. Since we expected and planned for the slow service it did not interfere with our enjoyment of the meal. However, had we not known ahead of time I believe we would have become frustrated (and late for the rest of our evening plans).
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Muza
1300 15th St, Troy, NY 12180
Saratoga - Suggestions for group event, please!
Ooops. I did mean to include our dates. This would be a Monday evening at the end of September.
Saratoga - Suggestions for group event, please!
I need to arrange a dinner event for a large group in conjunction with a multi-day business meeting at the Gideon Putnam. There will be 50-75 people coming in from across the country and possibly a few international guests. We are limited to $30pp, but including gratuity. Do not need to worry about tax as we are tax-exempt. We will all be travelling by car from the Gideon so parking must be readily available.
Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Saratoga Springs / Albany caterer recommendations
I second that. Kim catered my wedding and a couple of business functions for me. Excellent.
Korean - Albany/Saratoga area
A friend recommended Arrirang on Central for good Korean. Recently tried to go for lunch but it was closed. Door locked and lights off, but no sign saying why they were closed. Anyone know what's up with the place?
Any other recommendations for good Korean in the Albany/Saratoga area? Thanks!
Best place to buy saffron? - Albany/Saratoga area
Thank you all for the suggestions.
I purchased saffron yesterday at Indian Spices on Fuller Rd.
1 gram package that says "100% Pure Superior Spanish Saffron" was $9.99
2 gram package was $18.99.
