review

Brunch at City Beer Hall

May 10, 2013

Albany, beef, beverage, fried, restaurant, review

I think I could have renamed April “City Beer Hall Month”. I think I was there at least once a week, every week.

City Beer Hall‘s bloody Mary has made me a savory cocktail convert. This punches up some heat with a hearty does of horseradish. Albany John and I were part of a large brunch group to celebrate friend’s birthday. I originally ordered a bellini, but when I saw how good someone else’s Bloody Mary looked I asked Albany John to order one with his brunch (he likes Bloody Marys), and after I took a sip I was in love!

So their brunches come with coffee & juice/boozy cocktail. I went with a Last Rights for $15. Most of their other brunch plates are $13, but hey, $3 for meaty, meat, meat? I’ll go for that. It was a lot smaller of a portion of meat than I thought it would be – smaller than my palm. The home fries/potatoes were deep fried, light, & crunchy on the outside. Eggs were okay, but I forgot to ask for how I wanted them, so they were brought out scrambled. Salad was a little sad – limp and brown romaine.

Our server was incredibly nice, but probably could have corralled the table a bit better in terms of how to pace the meal and get everyone out quicker (why did I bother getting here on time if we’re going to wait until the last person gets here an hour and fifteen minutes late?). I think I must be the only person that doesn’t want to linger over brunch, or make it some lengthy affair. But man do I love how often they refill the coffee at City Beer Hall.

San Diego

May 6, 2013

beverage, Mexican, restaurant, review, salad, sandwich, seafood, travel

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After Albany John and I went to San Francisco , I cut off to San Diego for a little solo trip while he came back for some previous commitments. I like that we can take separate vacations from each other and aren’t joined at the hip all of the time. My camera also ate it while I was in SF, so all of my pictures from here on out are on my phone. So, not great, but they’re something.

Any way, shortly after I got off the commuter plane to SD, I met up with Albany John’s Uncle and his new fam for dinner. (Side note: we kind of forgot that they lived in San Diego (because we are evidently really bad relatives) until after we made plans, so only I met up with them and they really missed him. yeah. really bad relatives). But they are really good and nice relatives, and my new auntie took us all out for dinner at a place in Old Town that makes fresh tortillas.

See? Ladies making tortillas.

Queso fundido app.

Tortillas were okay, but kind of meh and heavy.

I got some pork, beans, and guac. Hearty stuff, lol. It was great to spend time with more family. Maybe this is weird of me, I don’t know, but I like being around people when I’m bad at expressing my feelings. Yeh-Yeh was not doing well at this point, and I’m not one to say it to family I haven’t seen in a while. I just don’t want to be “that guy” being mopey or having people think I’m trying to get attention because of my sick grandpa. Or just making things awkward with sad subjects. Besides, he wouldn’t want a big deal about that any way. But when times are tough it’s nice just to be around people you like, you know? Reconnecting/connecting and all. I spent several hours with them at their house, too. They have an orange and lemon tree right in their backyard! They smelled so good!

Left to wander San Diego on my own (I was staying downtown), I ended up making foods I can’t get here in Albany a priority. Hello, Pho Express! My gosh, this place was awesome and I’d give a kidney for something like it in Albany. This was a small pho Tai, which is supposed to be rare beef. It was piping hot and basically cooked all the way through by the time I got it, but oh my gosh, still so freaking good. It was $6.25 and came with the side of Thai basil, lime, jalapenos, and bean sprouts that I tossed in the soup. There’s a condiment bar on each table, too. Great flavorful broth alone. And the noodles were vermicelli & flat rice noodles. Cool texture.

I got the shrimp rolls, too. They were the shrimp pounded with a bit of sugar and then grilled.

I think regular shrimp might have been better than this, but just marginally. Can I please have fresh rice rolls like this? So refreshing. The peanut dipping sauce on the side was also the bomb. I was so full after eating all of this. Because no way was I leaving any of it behind. Although to be honest, it would have been enough to split with another person. So much!

This new donut bar just opened.

Vanilla bean glazed twist doughnut. Eh, just okay. On par with Bella Napoli in Troy.

All of that pho = afternoon walkies. Cool effect to walk on a sidewalk between water.

Walked down to North Embarcadero park.

Sadly I did not get to try any of my delicious neighbors.

Looking at South Embarcadero.

Walking into the tourist section. There were a lot of chain restaurants here. Old Spaghetti Factory, Chili’s. They all had hosts outside kind of hawking for people to come in. Interesting.

And then I walked to a Grocery Outlet. Oh man do I love grocery store tourism. Forget a magnet, I wanna see what’s on your shelves.

BOXED WINE FOR $5.99. ARE YOU KIDDING ME?! I cannot even fathom these prices. And they had Unjunked candy bars for $3 for 12. I may have bought a box. And ate a lot of them.

After a good afternoon & evening of walkies, I wound up by J. Wok for some Asian tapas fusion.

I got a few small plates: Shrimp with lemongrass salad, papaya salad, and kalbi. Dinner was like, $13 with tax! I thought I would want to eat more, but these were good portions of food and I left feeling quite sated.

The shrimp w/lemongrass salad had a hearty dose of sprouts and a light hand on the dressing. Papaya salad = refreshing and YUM! Galbi – how can you not like galbi, especially when it’s got a bit of char on it.

I walked on down to Crunch Time because I heard they make their own ice cream.

Peanut butter ice cream with some caramel sauce. Caramel sauce was pre-made and too saccharine. Albany John’s caramel is way better. The ice cream was okay but melted really quickly (it wasn’t really hot) and I think we have better homemade ice cream in the Cap Region. This was also crazy expensive. Like, over $5 for a small ice cream.

The next day I woke up ready for more walking. I never did make it out of downtown, but there’s so much to do and see down there. Like the Chinese benevolence center, which was mainly a bunch of grandparents playing mah jong.

It was right next to the cultural museum that I peeked into, but then kept on walking. Maybe next time. It was pretty small.

More walkies into the south Embarcadero! I liked these things. Reminded me of the moving art sculpture at RPI.

The south embarcadero featured more homeless people and a fishing pier. No homeless folks ever hassled me in all of my walking, though.

I liked this! How cute!

This is the bridge for crossing the main road to the South Embarcadero.

And the view of the city. The other side is the more industrial port.

I walked a little more to Rolando’s Taco Shop.

Shrimp burrito & a fish taco! The fish taco was piled high with cabbage. I really liked the fish taco! It was only $1.50

The burrito was like $7.50 and CHOCK FULL OF SHRIMP. And cheese. And it worked. I ate half of it easily, but the 2nd half I wound up picking the shrimp out and eating the burrito skin. So good, but SO. MUCH. FOOD. My stomach just cannot.

My uncle & auntie wanted to hang more, so we drove around to the beach. Nice beach. Next time I will bring swim wear. Or find a beach where I don’t have to worry about forgetting a suit, lol.

Dinner time was, you guessed it, more walking to Gaijin Noodle. Is it weird that I was all about these Asian fusion restaurants in San Diego? We just don’t have anything like it up in Albany, so I kind of wanted to get my fill of any and everything I can’t get normally.

The bartender greeted me as soon as I walked in and invited me to sit at the bar so he could keep me company. Aw, sweet gesture even though I’m very comfortable by myself.
I ordered one of their shaved ice cocktails ($9), which was cherry syrup, chocolate pocky, and a side shot of sake to pour over. They put the cone in a cup with a wee spoon, so it makes for hands free drinking/consuming. I am super uncoordinated, so I wound up pouring about half of the sake on the counter. Whoops. Still tasty, though. It helped offset my meal, which wound up being EVERYTHING SPICY on them small dish menu. Even better, the bartender comped my drink at the end for whatever reason (I would hope my general awesomeness, but probably the pity comp for a single lady dining alone)

Yellowtail poke with purple potato cups on the bottom (with spicy togarashi dashed across!), a freebie salad on the left, and blistered shisito peppers sprinkles with more togarashi on the left. Oh man, I am all about shisito peppers now. They pack a punch, but nothing I can’t handle. Really enjoyable heat.

Fire chicken wings. Slathered in a spicy sauce with peanuts, the skin was cooked non-crispy style, so it was okay, but I think it would have put them on another level if they crisped the skin just a bit.

I walked back to Pho Express for lunch on my last day. Papaya salad with shrimp. Oh man, I fell in love with papaya salad while I was in San Diego. I tried recreating it at home with absolutely no success. But this. Oh, this was great.

Crunchy green papaya in a tangy-tart sauce (it didn’t reek of fish sauce), and a whole bunch of crunchy crushed peanuts and sliced shrimp. How can anyone not love this? One of my favorite things about San Diego was that I got to eat seafood every day I was there. Albany Jane, depleting the oceans one bite at a time.

I grabbed a banh mi for a snack at the airport. It was like $4. Very reasonably priced. About 1.5 Albany Jane hands long.

The bread was so great! Crispy on the outside & pillowy-soft on the inside. Beat the pants off of any $5 foot-long or any other airport snack option.

Chock full of pickled carrots + daikon, cilantro, cucumber, porky pate, and a schmear of inoffensive mayo.

Oh San Diego. I can’t wait to go back to you. With Albany John the next time. You weren’t as friendly as San Francisco, but holy cow were you full of so many tasty and dirt cheap eats.

The Bier Abbey

May 2, 2013

local, restaurant, review, seafood

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Went to the Bier Abbey in Schenectady for dinner. Service was good, beers were tasty.

Got mussels. The menu lists them as $12 for 2 lbs. No way were these 2 lbs, though. The bowl was very shallow, so what you see is what I got. 1 lb of mussels at the Merry Monk is more than 2 lb of mussels at the Bier Abbey.

Mariner sauce (white wine & garlic) was good, but the mussels were also overcooked and shriveled up in the shell. Wonder if they were sitting in the kitchen for a while before the server brought them out? Any way, went with a group of friends for a birthday, and they weren’t inedible, but man. Since when is that 2 lbs?

At any rate, I’ll skip on the seafood. Chicken nuggets/strips looked much better. Merry Monk for mussels in the future.

Sam Won Gak

April 10, 2013

Chicken, fried, Korean, new food, NYC, restaurant, review, seafood, soup, travel

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The last time I saw Yeh-Yeh was when he was in New York Hospital Queens in Flushing, NY. He had suffered some more mini strokes and had an NG tube in. He slept for most of the time I was there, and only started waking up an hour or two before my dad, Albany John, and I left. There were flowers by his b

The time before that, he was in a rehab facility after his first stroke was discovered. He was awake, but didn’t recognize any of us, not that we could really tell. That really freaked me out. It made me anxious to see someone I love not recognize me, or his kids. He couldn’t even talk. After that visit I was probably more edgy, reserved, irritable, and anxious (or all of the above) than normal. It’s hard for me to know I’m unable to do anything to change a situation.

Any way, the last visit. I had stayed up way too late the night before (1 am, 2 am, 3 am?) having a pointless snip fit with Albany John. Later that morning when we woke up, I asked if he’d come down with me. Of course, he said yes. I’m glad I had the company in the car with just a few hours of sleep, and the support while we were there.

We got in around noon, and YehYeh snoozed for most of the time we were there. I found this very comforting. Like he wasn’t sick, and he was just tired. Some family friends/extended family were there, and left a bit after we got there. We had several hours just with YehYeh, and spent a few minutes in our chairs snoozing right next to him. I really liked that. No rush. No fussing. Just some time with my YehYeh.
My Dad & Auntie showed up later in the afternoon. Some time around 4 or 5 the potassium they were administering to him really must have started kicking in, because he started waking up and looking around. He’d look right at you. My Dad had told me earlier how he’d give anything just to have him around for a while just blinking. Man, I had that same feeling when he opened his eyes.

We left a little after that, some time close to 5:30 or 6 pm so my dad and Albany John and I could get some dinner. I kind of didn’t want to leave, especially because he had just opened his eyes, but it had been a hard day, and it was nice to have someone else tell you to do something, or to go.

We wound up at Sam Won Gak in the Murray Hill subset of Flushing. I had mentioned I could go for Korean, we drove around and found free(!) parking outside on the street, and Sam Won Gak sounded pretty good. Turns out, it’s Korean-Chinese fusion. They start you out with some pickled yellow daikon, raw sweet onions, bean paste, and kimchi as the banchan. Not the most plentiful, but not bad.

The waitresses were all older auntie type ladies, who worked together like an efficient military group. Sam Won Gak seems to be a hang out and drink kind of place, at least on a Saturday around 6 PM. Most of the other patrons were middle aged guys or older hanging out and putting away soju like it was their job. No rush, spacious tables, minimal decor. I’d probably like going here a lot if I lived here, because there’s more space than a bar, and it’s much quieter than a bar, too.

I forget what this was exactly called, but it’s basically like a Korean take on General Tso’s chicken, but less greasy/gloppy than the Americanized Chinese dish. But still a bit gloppy. $13 or $16 or something like that. A big plate of battered and fried chicken pieces in a lightly spicy cornstarch sauce with a smattering of veggies. The waitress double checked on wanting it spicy, and I was kind of bummed by the heat level. Didn’t even require a second glass of water. Flavorful, but not very spicy. Even my dad agreed that this was tasty, and not painfully spicy.

My Dad spent a few weeks in (South) Korea this past year. He was in a fairly rural part and couldn’t really get down with the food served in most restaurants because it was usually so spicy. He liked this seafood soup a lot, and said it was really flavorful, and nothing like you’d be able to actually get in Korea. It was something like $8-9 and came with a ton of seafood and veggies. Massive bowl, flavorful and light/non-greasy broth, and tons of seafood. I liked it, too.

Albany John went for the spicy crab soup ($9-10). Oh man, was that also a good choice. Like my “spicy” chicken, it was also not very spicy. Like, probably a 2/10 in terms of heat. Flavorful, though, and also a clean broth. A bounty of seafood, and plenty of real crab – no fake stuff here.

We drove home that night.

The Flying Chicken

April 4, 2013

biscuits, Chicken, fried, frugal, local, restaurant, review, veggies

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I keep calling The Flying Chicken the Frying Chicken, mainly because that is the first thing I think of when I think of them. I got a massive biscuit with chicken fried steak, white gravy, and topped with a sunny side up egg. I had trouble finishing all of this, but it was so good!

Albany John got two pieces of dark meat with a biscuit and some collards. Man, those were some good collards.

The fry job on the chicken fried steak and chicken were great – crisp exterior with lots of crunch, and moist meat underneath. Yes. Albany John loves the Flying Chicken. He’s eaten there a whole bunch in the past month, and his only regret from his first meal there was that “All other lunches have not been at the Flying Chicken,”. It’s a casual place where you order and pay at the counter, then bus your own table.

Oh, and this is also the beginning of my camera dying – I thought the blurriness was just smudging I didn’t notice, but guess what? The pictures get blurrier/smudgier and it turns out my outer lens started dying, so now I need to find a new camera, yay.

Snacks at Ala Shanghai

March 31, 2013

Chinese, dumplings, frugal, local, recommendations, restaurant, review, seafood, soup

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My Dad was in town to say farewell to my sister before she left the state for a few months. We stopped at Ala Shanghai for snacks.

Noodle soup, xiao long bao, and some other nibbles while we spent some time together. I drove my dad by some houses I liked in the Latham area, and I can’t decide how good/bad it is that I’m giving extra points to places for their proximity to Ala Shanghai.

Uncle Lanny brought out some siu mai for us to try out. These are all-seafood. Scallops and shrimp. No pork or other meat. Dude, these were awesome – fresh and briny. I’m so getting these again.

Happy Happy, Sandor

March 21, 2013

beef, bloggers, buffet, Chinese, lamb, local, night life, recommendations, restaurant, review, seafood, Uncategorized, veggies

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Head to shining rainbow for their unlimited/all you can eat hot pot. $20 per person, and $10 per pot. Reason? :: celebrate Sandor’s birthday!

Shaved beef, lamb, shrimp on skewers (a bit mineral-y), endless plates of squid, fried tofu (freshly fried!), and fish cakes. Plus peanut, hoisin, and chili sauce in a container ta make your own sauces. It was a good night for gluttony. I think the last 30 minutes were just the rest of the a label watch Albany John and me stuff our faces with food. Squid squids ! So good!

And then finish the night off at Wolff’s

Pancho’s

March 13, 2013

frugal, restaurant, review

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I went up to Clifton Park to celebrate a friend’s birthday for lunch at Pancho’s. Um. It was good to celebrate with friends, and one of the good parts of the meal was that they come out with free chips and salsa, and refill them quite frequently until your meals arrive.

I’m glad I filled up on the chips. I got Lunch #1 – a chile relleno, taco, refried beans, and guacamole salad for $5.99. It was a lot of food for $5.99. All three plates above were for my order. Wow. The guacamole salad was a few blops of guac over iceberg lettuce, some diced tomatoes, and sprinkled with shredded cheese. This was the highlight of the meal for me.

Greasy, greasy, greasy. Oil was pouring out of the meat in the taco and chile after a few minutes, and the meat itself tasted a bit funky. I pretty much just nibbled the shell of the taco that had lettuce in it, and the non-meat-covered part of the chile (which was nicely cooked otherwise – cooked through, but still a bit firm). The refried beans started to get a weird tang to them once they started to cool off. Overall, a fairly disappointing meal. Don’t get me wrong, I enjoy my fats, but I like them when they make the meal taste better.

Chinese New Year – The Snake (Albany)

March 11, 2013

Chinese, dumplings, fried, local, pork, recommendations, restaurant, review, seafood

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Albany John and I went to Ala Shanghai with Phairhead, SexyBeast, & another of our pals to celebrate Chinese New Year in Albany. Some tasty nibbles with jelly fish, and aster salad. Spicy wontons in chili oil. Meaty, peanutty, and silky soft wonton skins. A present from Uncle Lanny – an order of Xiao Long Bao. Gung hey fat choy, and xie xie! We got an order of spicy fish fillets on the special Chinese New Year menu (now over). These were great, and I’d love to see it make an appearance on the regular menu. Hm, although you could also probably just ask for it and they’ll make it for you in the kitchen, too. The fish had no breading on it, and was crispy & moist without being the least bit greasy. Nice spicy kick infused in the fish flesh, with the chili peppers adding some extra burn (I could eat a few whole ones, and the mess of hot chili peppers Albany John ate didn’t make him sweat bullets at the table).
Wuxi style spare ribs – a sweet and slightly tangy sauce over some tender pork ribs. SOFT SHELL CRAB WITH EGG YOLK! I was looking forward to this dish for weeks. A platter of salty, briny happiness. The egg yolk in the batter makes this a great occasional treat. Some medlar jelly for dessert. Mmm.

Surrounding myself with some great friends was a nice way to gently wean myself away from my family after seeing them at Chinese New Year in Flushing, Queens.

Wine Bar & Bistro

March 1, 2013

beef, beverage, bloggers, dessert, fried, lamb, local, recommendations, restaurant, review, seafood

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My lovely friend Slivia gave me a gift certificate to The Wine Bar and Bistro, a place near and dear to her heart. It took me forever and a week to use it because I am really pretty about about using gift cards, and man, I really should get better at it, because it has been too long since I grabbed some food at the Wine Bar! I started out with a glass of bubbles. Life is worth celebrating, y’know?

Sil saved the makeout booth for Albany John and me. Super cozy, and pillows, even! A great (private) space for the introvert.
Oh. My. Gosh. Bone marrow ($14). Get yourself some bone marrow at the Wine Bar.So savory and salty. So much umami. Albany John and I daintily started putting little knife-fuls of marrow onto toasted bread, but by the end we were practically licking the bones like wild dogs. Thank goodness for the privacy of the makeout booth.
I was really tempted to text a picture of this fatty, meaty beauty to a friend of mine on a low cholesterol diet, but thought better of it. You know who you are.

Restaurant-cured gravlox on the right topped with caviar and creme fraiche. Another amazing plate. Top just about anything with caviar and I’m a happy gal, especially when it’s cured salmon.

Mains! Hanger steak with fried gnocchi on the left. Albany John was all about this dish. This also reminded me of the right way to cook steak rare. It was cooked as one piece, then cut into smaller pieces; instead of cooking several smaller pieces over the desired temperature.

The crispy lamb on the right had my heart at first bite. Lamb chops ous vide cooked to medium rare, then flash fried so the exterior got crispy. Oh. Yes. SO lamby and good.

On to dessert: Creme brulee! A lightly warmed brulee with delicate sugar shell. Love – wasn’t too rich or creamy. I paired it with a dessert wine for some extra indulgence. And a little tester of chocolate chip meringue on the right.

Dinner total for all of the above dishes + 2 glasses of wine + 1 beer (the beer selection is small, but quality & very well priced) was just a bit over $100. Something like $109 before tip, perhaps.

I hope that bone marrow never leaves the menu. That’s one of my top favorite foods I’ve put in my mout for 2013 so far.

—Albany Eats!

Documenting the foodings of a local. With a grain of salt.

Archive

review

Brunch at City Beer Hall

San Diego

The Bier Abbey

Sam Won Gak

The Flying Chicken

Snacks at Ala Shanghai

Happy Happy, Sandor

Pancho’s

Chinese New Year – The Snake (Albany)

Wine Bar & Bistro

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