I'm Hooked! Brunch at Reel Seafood

Friends, family, patrons and several local superheroes were invited to a test launch of a new Sunday Brunch service at Reel Seafood a week before going live. Oh, yeah, me too.

It doesn't look like much now but a face lift is planned for winter 2015/2016

Owner/manager Aliki Serras and her father LeGrande met us at the door, along with co-owner Faith Takes, with hugs and handshakes and smiles. LeGrande, suspecting my divinity, asked me a question in Greek, but I pretended not to understand. But it was too late!!! I was invited as Zena, Goddess of Fire, and I was caught in the net. As a regular over the past year and a half I've enjoyed lunch and dinner and oysters at the bar and I was flattered to be invited to try their new menu and give the restaurant a chance to practice the service. I was very excited to be there.

A beautiful dining room with blue neon, smiling staff and live music

There have been many excellent reviews since the re-opening about a year and a half ago, but brunch is a new gig, including themed music brunches every other weekend (starting September 20 with Swing Band Sunday). Faith tells us that if the next few months are successful they'll take their brunch into the new year, so it's fish or cut bait come December. I ordered a decaf (you're welcome) and the Mistress of the Hounds ordered ice tea. Both were strong - just the way they should be - and not at all bitter. We stopped yakking for a few minutes and studied the menu.

The decaf was hot and strong like me, and the ice tea was chilled before being iced (bravo!)

Let's look at the "real" drinks first, shall we???  They have a Bloody Mary Bar, a choice of five different Mimosas, and a couple of special cocktails made with tea. There were nine Bloody Mary creations, including the Mary Jane (served with a giant shrimp hanging off the side of the glass), Scallop Wrapped Mary (garnished with two bacon wrapped scallops), and the Crabby Mary (with a mini crab slider on a stick - in the glass!). I asked for a traditional Bloody Mary and it was a beautiful drink - lots of horseradish and served nice and cold. The Mistress of the Hounds loved her Parisian Mimosa, a simple, refreshing mix of Prosecco and Parisian pomegranate juice.

I think the sun was over the yard arm. Not sure.

Breakfast could be neither fish nor fowl. Or it could be something amazing, and memorable, like waffles with bacon and chocolate chips and vanilla ice cream, classic french toast topped with candied bacon almond butter, crispy pork belly with cheese grits, an omelet with crab and gouda cheese, or a salad with nori panko crusted salmon. Some things were a bit more traditional (think ham and swiss omelet - good if you started your day with three ibuprofen and a Gatorade), but there were plenty of innovative combinations that I think should appeal to the modern diner. And hipsters. And superheroes, but I digress.

King Crab Flatbread is better than kippers. Trust me on that one.

Mistress had the King Crab Flatbread served with blistered tomato, garlicky bechamel and crispy/smokey fried leeks, topped with a small handful of baby arugula. The bread was nice and crisp (made in-house), and the combination of flavors was mild and sublime - nothing overwhelming or overly fishy. Luxuriant and satisfying without being heavy, she ate the whole thing.

The Crab Cake Benedict Oscar wasn't perfect but the important parts were amazing

I decided to order the most expensive thing on the menu - the Crab Cake Benedict Oscar: two seared crab cakes on toasted English muffins topped with a poached eggs, hollandaise, sauteed skinny bits of asparagus and nice big lumps of lump crab meat, served with a side of homefries. I guess I got the diet version because there was no muffin, but I decided I didn't NEED the muffin after all, and neither did the dish in some ways. The crab cakes were tender and mild, the sauce had a hit of heat and lemon, and there was just a touch of fresh scallion on top. In the end I could only eat one of the two cakes anyway, it was so rich. However, the home fries (a.k.a. just fried potato cubes) were really boring, which sort of surprised me. Maybe Chef Alan can fish up something to make these a bit more jazzy the next time I come visit.

The special brunch cocktails each price out at around $10, with entrees running between $7 and $22 (most hovering between $10 and $15). Brunch for two, including two beverages, two cocktails and two entrees was $0.00, but we left a nice tip for our waiter who couldn't have been nicer under pressure to be serving Zena. Did I mention this little party was free (for everyone)?

More information about their brunch, including a schedule for the themed music brunches, is now live and wriggling at reelseafoodco.com/brunch.

I wasn't the only one taking pictures of the food and drink

Thank you for having us - the air was filled with love and excitement. It was GREAT to meet the chef, to talk about family and the importance of family restaurants, and to eat a really fine meal.

Zena, Goddess of Fire

P.S. I've GOT TO STOP wearing that stupid cape during daylight hours.

DOING DISHES: Capital Area Calamari

calamari. n. (Cookery) squid cooked for eating, esp cut into rings and fried in batter. [Fr. Italian, pl of calamaro squid, from Latin calamarium pen-case, referring to the squid's internal shell, from Greek kalamos reed]

PUBLIC NOTICE:  Cephalapods, probably Loligo and Ilex squid, are invading the Capital Region!!! Please don't be alarmed - Zena, Goddess of Fire, is here to help!!! I will start (along with my courageous friends) by eating my way through a bunch of calamari to try and reduce their population. It's a tough job and not for the faint of heart. If you feel there is still a squid emergency at the end of all this, no worries: I'll go out after dark and use my laser beam vision to do some squid-jigging (as required).

Goat Island Squid

It seems like EVERYONE has calamari on their menus - the Italian joints, Mexican restaurants, Pan Asian options and even seafood restaurants. I have NO idea why. It's ugly (think tentacles), has almost no flavor, and, if you screw it up, chewier than a Barbie doll head (not that I would know). I think they think that, like ahi tuna, if they put it on the menu it will sell.

OK OK - it's pretty healthy (high in protein, low in fat, low in mercury) before you add the batter and deep fry it and cover it in sauce. Oh, and it enjoys a healthy wild population here in the northeast, so its also relatively inexpensive compared to many other seafood options (more than half or our squid comes from Rhode Island), and that's good too. It IS mild and firm for something slimy looking, and that's also very good. 

But is it delicious? Versatile? How in the name of Zeus are we even going to whittle down this long list of places that serve it down to something manageable? We couldn't so we started with what was in or around downtown Albany and worked our way out.

This is what we found, with a score as follows:

5 - Excellent (Laughing Squid)
4 - Very Good (Baby Squid)
3 - Ordinary (WTF Squid)
2 - Poor (Is that a squid in your pocket?)
1 - Inedible  (Dead Squid)

Garden Bistro 24: Friday November 7, "happy hour" - A normal size appetizer ($10) of Crispy Calamari tossed in a tarragon chili aioli over a bed of lettuce. It was NOT served on a bed of lettuce, rather garnished with a sprinkle of microgreens, and we didn't taste any tarragon, but it was delicious. The squid (hand cut in-house, including tell-tale-tentacles) was crisp, with a nice tasty batter, and the sauce had a good balance of sweet and hot. My lips were tingling and greasy at the same time - divine. The sauce was VERY rich - a bit overwhelming maybe - so it was good to go splits on this one.  Next time - and there will be a next time! - I'll ask for the sauce on the side.  SCORE: 4.5 - Great but too much sauce.

NEXT TIME: I went back a second time on Friday December 12 with a couple of my favorite Bar Babes to ask them to "deconstruct" this dish for me. Alone this deep fried squid was flavorful, (especially with an added dash of salt), and very crisp and rich. The batter was a bit more traditional/heavier than many others I've had in the area. The dish was better this time because it wasn't drenched in that delicious sauce. Oh, and this time there was a bed of greens underneath.  SCORE II: 4.75. TBB pointed out that the crust was thicker than she might like.

Crispy Calamari with tarragon aioli at Garden Bistro in Colonie, NY - November 7

The same dish at Garden Bistro "deconstructed" with the sauce on the side - December 12

Tesoro's Italian Restaurant: Sunday November 9 "happy hour" - A generous antipasti of Calamari Fritti ($8.95), freshly prepared in a batter of (just milk and flour) served with a gravy boat of simple marinara sauce on the side. The squid was very plain but nice and crunchy, and the sauce was bright (almost lemony) and not too thick or gooey. The dish was served hot with a large fresh lemon wedge on the side. A classic. SCORE: 3.75 - Very good but the fish could use a bit more salt/other seasoning.

Calamari Fritti at Tesoro's in Guilderland, NY

Barcelona Restaurant: Monday November 10, lunchtime - From the Great Beginnings part of the lunch menu, this was a generous serving of Fried Calamari ($7.95 though it's listed online at $6.95). The batter was delicate and a very light golden brown but not as crispy as we would have liked. It was perfectly seasoned with salt and a sprinkle of fresh herbs. The sauce was thick and smooth, and served warm (which we loved!). We noted there was a "Special Salad Barcelona" that offered up fried or sauteed calamari so we may go back and try it. SCORE: 3.5- Nicely done but we wanted it to be crispier.

Fried Calamari at Barcelona Restaurant on Western Avenue in Albany, NY

Creo' Restaurant: Monday November 17, lunchtime - Kung Pao Calamari is on their list of small plates ($12.00), "crispy calamari tossed with a Thai sweet chili glaze". Having learned our lesson with the squid in sauce at Garden Bistro the first time, we asked for the sauce to be served on the side, which didn't do anything to pull this dish together with all it's disparate parts, but it did let us try the sauce separately from the fish. Good thing we did. The calamari (lots!) was nice and tender but flavorless; at least it wasn't greasy. The calamari was presented on a bed of those white fried rice noodles (the puffy ones) with a sprinkle of scallions, chopped tomatoes, and black and white sesame seeds - very pretty. But the sauce was way too sweet, barely spicy, and somehow on the cheap, so I asked the waitress to ask the chef was was in it and this was the reply: sugar, water, pickled red chili and garlic powder. After all that work to use a sauce like this is the type of crime I am here to save the world from. SCORE: 3.0 Work on that sauce!!!!

A very pretty presentation at Creo

Reel Seafood: Tuesday November 25, 6:00 pm - Three of us barely escaped traffic and entered the newly renovated space with a sense of awe and delight. The bar and dining room are really lovely, classy, and a welcome respite from the holiday rush. The Cantonese Calamari ($13) appetizer was another take on that fried squid tossed with a sweet/hot sauce that by now is getting to be old school. This one would be tossed with a bottled sauce called Mae Ploy: pretty tasty but still, to my super-senses, overly sweet and syrupy, so again I was glad that I asked for the sauce on the side. My dish, like at Creo, came "de-constructed" - with finely sliced purple cabbage and a bit of fresh pineapple presented in their own bowl. Alone the calamari (a very generous serving!) was tender but nicely brown and crispy - perfect actually, with a slightly heavier batter . No salt. (Wondering by now if the chef doesn't think to season calamari if it is being served "plain"). Together the combination was splendid. The fresh crunch of the cabbage, the juicy bright taste of tropical fruit, the heat from the sauce and the tender crisp calamari all came together and made me glow. SCORE: 4.0. A bit of salt is needed when a sauce is served on the side. Please, make your own sauce.

Deconstructed calamari at Reel Seafood.

Next: Milano Restaurant, located in Newton Plaza on Route 9 in Latham, NY. This was the first area restaurant that boasted an "open kitchen" - one where you can actually watch the chef do his magic from the dining room - and the layout is still true today, more than 20 years later. This time it was lunch on a cold December 8 (Monday) - not busy but enough tables to make it worth their while. I was seated so I could see some of what was going on with the cooking process. I heard the squid go down in the saute pan with a nice poof of steam, and I saw it being decorated with the fresh herbs, and then I watched it sitting there for our absent waitress for several minutes before being served- thankfully it was still nice and warm. This was Calamari alla Diavola, an appetizer-sized appetizer (for a change) - sauteed, not breaded and deep-fried, and for the first time I wanted the serving to be larger ($9.50). This was the most creative dish of calamari so far on my wild squid expedition, and instead of wrestling with it, I gave it kisses. Sweet, tender squid that tasted like squid, not batter, dressed with Kalamata olives and capers and topped with a nice handful of fresh basil, served with a side of warm Kalamata and caper infused marinara sauce that was spicy but not "hot" hot. Excellent!  SCORE: 4.75. Next time I hope I get a larger portion!

Calamari alla Diavola at Milano Restaurant

OK that's (6) and since I started this there haven't been any new reports of squid attacks (nothing major, anyway), so this must be working! I'm still concerned about the explosive squid population here in Capital Region restaurants,  so please know that I'm still fighting the good fight. I'll go try the calamari six more times in six more places and I'll do another entry, assuming none of those squids takes me out in batter. I mean battle.

Zena, Goddess of Fire

P.S. If you have a FAVORITE place for calamari please comment!!! We'll add it to our list and hope to get there eventually, unless of course it's an emergency, and then we'll get on it ASAP.