Doing Dishes: Bongiorno's and Veal Sorento

I love my neighborhood restaurants in the abstract because it’s great to be able to stroll over to a place for a nice meal. I love Bongiorno’s in particular because in the warm weather there are a few tables outside with red checked table cloths and neighbors having dinner there greet neighbors strolling by as they take in the evening air. Being a couple blocks from the heart of state government, there are always a few staffers enjoying a dinner together and sometimes the place is chock full of them. So this is another Italian restaurant that is more than the food, but a part of the social fabric of its location. It’s teensy, so no matter how much of a stranger you were when you entered, you must work at it diligently to stay a stranger when you leave.

The staff is friendly and attentive, greeting quickly and getting everyone seated, then always on the lookout to take away plates and glasses or to check to make sure you are having a good experience.  In my last visit I asked the staff member to completely rearrange the meal in several ways - hold the sauce on the pasta, bring the salad at the end and other little adjustments to personalize it.  Each request was handled immediately and exactly the way I needed, and it was lovely. Several times I have been dining beside a table for eight or ten and each guest was treated with the same attentiveness, often with a full room of smaller parties as well.

It’s serviceable Italian fare, with the common categories of antipasto, pasta, salads, meats, poultry and fish. These are  preparations by the children of Italian parents, so there is a little spin on the "nonna's recipes story". They are also, however, classic preparations that are common in our Italian-American family owned red sauce joints, served in a transformed old house for the past thirty or more years.  So- it’s truly a neighborhood Italian place with all the same intentions as similar institutions so pervasive in our little town. Which is to say there’s a sense of predictability that is comforting and we know in our hearts when we need a dinner like this.

My Veal Sorento was described uniquely as veal and eggplant parmesan. It was a heap of medallions, which is a sort of blending of the heap presentation and the medallion presentation. The breading was the most outstanding feature - there was too much of it in my not-so-humble-opinion.  The flavors were all there and balanced, once the predominance of the breading was inevitable. It was tender and moist, easily cut with a fork, which unfortunately is not all that common in this dish. The sauce was strikingly plain with no added dimensional flavors in the form of herbs or vegetables. I personally prefer the kitchen to add a signature in the form of special combinations in their sauce.  I know that this kitchen does do this for many of the sauces, but apparently the other flavors of the dish are sufficient in their opinion.

So even though I love this place and have tasted my way through most of the menu, I think it’s imperative that they close for a couple weeks and overhaul the  inside of the building.  They’ve let it go for too long, and they have to update the carpet, the paneling, and the furniture.  Sure it’s cozy, but there’s a difference between cozy and skeezy, and Bongiorno’s is learning too far toward the latter. The good staff and good food won’t compensate for this shortcoming in the long run.

My recommendation for you, dear readers, is to go in the warm weather and sit outside when the local tomatoes are at their peak ripeness and you will have a lovely and typical Albany Italian experience.

Doing Dishes: Veal Sorrento - Lo Porto and Red Sauce Joints

How can I have lived in the Capital District for more than 30 years without making a study of the red sauce joints?  Honestly, I don't know how it happened. What was wrong with me?  Well, I actually know the answer to that one.  It's the contrarian thing. Yeah.  I'm a non-conformist. But you'd think my pals would have dragged me there eventually.  So that's it - it's THEIR FAULT.

In the study of red sauce joints, one thing that must be surmounted is the superlatives.  For years I tried to believe the raving about "the BEST ITALIAN food" being here or there.  I went and tasted a couple times and thought "If this is the best, I don't want to know about the rest."  And many people use the term "red sauce place" in a pejorative manner, insisting on classifying them all as mediocre or uninspired. But in the end, to me that's all a lack of understanding what the whole thing about red sauce joints is.  They are much more than just the food. I'm feeling may way along, and finding many very interesting dining experiences.

Enter Lo Porto Ristorante Caffe.  It's not my first red sauce joint, now that I've begun to shop around and see what the red sauce joints do with an Italian American dish called Veal Sorrento or sometimes Veal Sorrentino or Veal Sorrentina.  At Lo Porto the dish is Veal Cutlet Sorrentina. There's something esoteric going on here, no doubt, but in essence it's a style of veal that involves eggplant and red sauce and cheese on top.  You wouldn't find it on menus in Italy because it would perhaps be called simply veal or perhaps veal with eggplant and it's just done in that regional style around Sorrento. But in Albany, nonna made the veal with eggplant (and sometimes ham) and if nonna made it, they're making it from her recipe and they had to call it something for the menu. Just so.

At Lo Porto they have advanced from nonna's recipes to professionally trained talent over the most recent two generations, but the ideas are the same. They also chose a store front in Troy rather than  an old house, and started in the 1980s, which is a bit later than many in the Capital District that started more like 40 50 or 60 years ago.

I slipped into Lo Porto early on a Friday night and got a table that was freezing cold due to a melange of fans, so the hostess had mercy and moved me into the back room. That was right after they had seated two huge tables, so the kitchen was now officially backed up. I'm glad I had nowhere to go after my meal, because it took a really really long time to have dinner.  The huge tables were filled with people who for some reason were compelled to yell at each other the entire time - it was friendly and everything but they had no idea how to talk at a normal volume.  It was exhausting, and there was no way I was going to get out of there soon. I had a martini (very well made), however it would have taken three to drown out the din. I was grateful to have my phone and all its distracting entertainments so that I didn't go nuts. If I had had a companion we would have had to scream at one another to be heard, so I was glad to be dining solo. The service was attentive and polite and while it took more than an hour for me to get to the entree, they were professional and kept water etc. well maintained.

Murals in the back room - a cozy spot

The bread was the delicate soft white variety, a little loaf that was warmed.  They don't go for the olive oil dip at Lo Porto.  They served whipped butter that had been piped onto doilies - fancy! The salad was fresh and light and those in the know appreciate that it was enough to begin to satisfy the immediate hunger, but not very filling due to the anticipated onslaught of the entree. And it was every bit the typical red sauce joint entree - enough for three people.

At Lo Porto they do the mound presentation rather than the medallions.  Very thin (pounded most likely) tender veal that is breaded, eggplant that is breaded and mozzarella are put on the plate in layers to form a mound that is then blanketed with mozzarella and doused with tomato sauce. I find the combination fascinating. In spite of this rather simple list of elements there is endless variety  among the different kitchens and of course the sauce makes most of the difference.  At Lo Porto it's a  puree with a straightforward combination of garlic and herbs. The tartness of the tomato creates a delicious  sharp top note over the  mellow savory smoothness of the meat, cheese and vegetable.

And I suppose any giant size entree such as this would feel naked and alone without a side dish, so red sauce joints are compelled to present the classic pasta in a bowl.  I am inclined to choose something else besides a long noodle because all that sauce flying around on  strands of pasta poses a danger to my clothing - especially post martini. So I try to end up with penne, which I enjoy and which can be consumed with a fork.

I may never actually get to a dessert at one of these places unless I tell them to bag the bread and salad.  But I assume they are wonderful.

I don't know yet what it is about these places that makes me fond of them.  Is it the family owned and operated aspect?  Is it the recipes from nonna that are lovingly reproduced decade after decade?  Is it the cramped dining rooms in converted old houses with hugs for the regular customers? Is it the old world food that they insist be cooked to order? As I go along in the series maybe all that will be revealed.  I recommend going to lots of them.  They are tucked into neighborhoods all across the district and no matter how many you know there always seems to be another one you never heard of.

And please don't hesitate to recommend your favorite, especially if they have Veal Sorrento on the menu.  I want to try as many local variations of this dish as possible.

Doing Dishes: The Caribbean Series - Hot Spot [And a Special Thanks to our Readers]

Thanks to the thousands of you who read our blog every month! After starting out solo in  2009, writing enthusiastically but sporadically, I invited Zena, Goddess of Fire to join in this study of our local food scene.  She was game and we've been attracting a larger and larger audience ever since. We're glad you like food as much as we do, and we'd love it if you'd comment!  If you use our restaurant reviews to choose where you are eating out, let us know about your experience - you might even want to link to your Yelp review.  If we're doing a series and you want us to write about a particular spot, don't hesitate to let us know. The more conversations we can have about food the better, as far as we're concerned.

And now on to the regularly scheduled Caribbean fare:

Hot Spot on Central Ave. in a row of international restaurants is worthy of its location. The menu includes many island classics and it is self-described as "Jamaican American". You can see the menu and order online here. I've tried the online order service and it works perfectly. Their in-store service is polite, friendly and efficient. I've also stayed in their small but nice dining space and enjoyed the bustle of Central Ave. - the place is always busy in my experience.

First, as a helpful suggestion, they turned me on to red plum Nantucket Nectar, for which I will be eternally grateful.

Next, tucking in to their delicious oxtail is a lovely treat! The gravy has a greater spicy oomph than the other two Caribbean places I've reviewed thus far, and it's truly delicious and not overpowering in the least. It seems to be typical for the meat dishes to come with a small selection of sides, and so I have been favoring the plantains over a steamed cabbage or other side. There is still a bit of a sweet tone to the oxtail, most likely from the vegetables added during the simmering process. Overall the gravy at Hot Spot has a lovely balance of thyme, peppers and vegetables culminating in that seductive rich dark gravy.  The plantains are more on the dry side which leaves them a bit less sweet, although still a great side dish.  All I can say about the rice and peas is that they are wonderful and perfectly executed, so that they are a fitting complement to the oxtail. Rice and peas always say "comfort" for me, and I always look forward to the way they seem to perfectly complete the dish in a nom nom nom sort of way.  I could have them every day and never tire of them, especially in the oxtail gravy! 

In the photo I have plated the small size entree onto a small dinner plate, so you can see that it's still quite a hearty meal. 

For those who haven't seen a Jamaican patty, I've put one at the back of the arrangement in the photo.  I adore them. Most of the places I have seen offer a mild version, and they come in a variety of meats and vegetables.  A bit more dry than a pot pie, they are a spicy and savory treat and can be carried in the hand. I would say they are very similar to an empanada, but with the distinctive seasonings of the Island.

LorreBob sez:  check out the Hot Spot for that ultimate comforting savory and spicy fare.

Doing Dishes: The Caribbean Series - Dutch Pot

Dutch Pot appeared on the scene in recent years,  describing themselves as Jamaican and setting up shop near the corner of Madison and Lark in a small storefront. There are a dozen or so chairs, so eating in the restaurant is an option, and takeout is also common here.  They offer online ordering from the website, which makes takeout very convenient, and they also offer delivery.

Service is prompt and friendly at the counter. The staff is helpful regarding making selections if you're not familiar with Jamaican dishes. I've been tasting my way across the menu by ordering chicken dishes and patties as well as the oxtail and I've never been disappointed.

Once the staff at the Hot Spot turned me on to red plum Nantucket Nectar I've been drinking it with my Caribbean food, but there's a nice variety of juices and other soft drinks on offer at Dutch Pot.

The storefront windows offer a view onto Madison Ave.

The mac and cheese here is not made with sauce, but melted cheese and herbs, which makes it dense and full of flavor. The oxtail falls off the bone, as it should, and has the deep brown gravy that calls my name.  It has an intense beef flavor with thyme in evidence and the mellow sweetness of carrot and onion. The spiciness is a very mild background flavor.  I'm only guessing that other veggies may be involved, but the slow cooking process blends everything into the divine intense stew and makes individual flavors hard to identify. With rice and peas as the perfect food for soaking up the gravy, you can most often find me in that pensive mood that truly comforting food brings to the forefront while I relish the sheer homely goodness. Their sweet plantains are also a typical side dish and I prefer them over the mac and cheese. 

The Dutch Pot jerk chicken is lively, tender and moist, also perfectly accompanied with peas and rice. The stewed chicken is full flavored and simmered until completely tender. A fellow customer was emphatically singing the praises of the curry goat, so it's on my list of dishes I must try. 

I am a sucker for the patties for the same reason I love the oxtail.  It's just some of the most straight up meat and onions wrapped in pastry savory flavor. If you like spicy patties they're always an option too.

So LorreBob sez: check them out, mon!

Doing Dishes: the Caribbean Series - First Choice Up First

After enjoying Clayton's lunch buffet years ago, then trying Kenneth's, I began to get a bit of a sense of Caribbean food in Albany, but other interests have caught my attention in the mean time.  Lately I  can't help but notice that we have a nice list of Caribbean restaurants in our region now.  So of course it's time to start checking them out to see what is up.

As I've been doing some research and tasting I've come to understand my affection for oxtail.  So oxtail will be my dish of choice through the Caribbean series.  This isn't to say I won't try some alternatives, but that deep rich beef flavor will be my mainstay as I work diligently to review our local places.

First Choice in Troy sits on Fulton Street and has a sunlit bright scarlet dining room due to the huge windows facing the street. I've found that ordering at the counter is common in our local spots, and takeout is a good portion of each of the businesses.

Oh yas.  Much of the fun of Caribbean food locally is the pepper sauces, in my humble opinion.  Each one has its individual flavor and adds that special zestiness to the dishes.

Oxtail isn't very mysterious, although it's a popular dish so every cook has a personal preference when it comes to flavors.  The dish requires patience. The common flavors include onion, thyme,  garlic and carrot.  It's going  to have a very mellow sweet overtone from the carrots and onions and the delicious herbal aroma from the thyme. The oxtail is to be cooked until it is falling off the bone, so the flavoring and the meat are gloriously mingled and a rich gravy is formed from the softened veggies and bone marrow and connective tissues. In my mind the peas and rice are a perfect foil for the gravy.  Their mellow undertones blend well with all that sweet and savory deliciousness.

At First Choice I detect a tomato element in the gravy and it is well-balanced while adding a special unique touch that stands out among other gravies in our area. Allspice along with the thyme gives a lovely overtone of complexity.

First Choice oxtail does not disappoint!  All my favorite elements are present and make this ultimate comfort food a very satisfying dish. The scotch bonnet sauce adds a little extra combination of flavors and I prefer that specific pepper over others, so I am glad to see the sauce on the table.

Although I have found the food to be satisfying, the service can be uneven. One day, for instance, I asked for oxtail and got oxtail with peas and rice.  Another day I asked for oxtail and got oxtail, cabbage, plantains with peas and rice.  Perhaps it's a mystery of the universe. The First Choice dining room is spare, with the obligatory tv tuned into a sports channel.

The menu includes several styles of chicken, Ackee, Callalou, Curry Goat, patties and other Caribbean favorites.  Prices are low enough to allow you to taste all the way through the menu.

LorreBob sez: check it out and get the red plum Nantucket Nectar.

Doing Dishes: Dining at the Diners - Capital City Diner

Albany has a lot of really cool diners - 50s throwback decor, some still with juke boxes and girls in uniforms, licenses, open all the time - very iconic NY if you ask me - and believe me, I'm a native Yew Norker AND Greek AND a superhero keeping very weird hours and sometimes you just NEED A BEER and some fried things late at night, or breakfast at 3:00 p.m. I've done my time in these places. I ate at most of them doing my rounds when I first moved to the Capital Region in 2001 and then promptly forgot about them. One can only do so many meals of white rolls wrapped in plastic and iceberg lettuce salads and canned soup.

But much has changed in the restaurant biz these past almost 15 years and I wondered if our expectations of good food, served quickly, reasonably priced, in a comfortable environment, is holding true in our area diners. Does anyone go beyond the basics to be amazing destination spots in their own right? And, most importantly, what about their souvlaki??? The quest begins. This is the first in a series of specifically Greek diners in the Capital Region. Parakalo. 

Capital City Diner
This is a real diner - one of those Greek family run shiny chrome and vinyl studded affairs with a menu that's a mile long, daily specials, and desserts a mile high. Kind of a home away from home for alot of folks. The space is clean, the staff are friendly, and the food is pretty good. CC offers daily specials, several soup du jours of the day, breakfast/lunch/dinner, and even has fountain drinks.

Four of us went for lunch and there were no real failures, although I thought the meat loaf tasted weird, like onion soup mix, and the gravy was weird like that too, and kind of salty, but Pony liked her lunch and saved half for a meal the next day (Meat Loaf Dinner served with mashed and mixed veggies, soup or salad for $11.99). The large Buffalo Chicken Salad with a choice of dressings (Foodie Friend chose blue cheese; $8.59) held no surprises but was fresh and crispy with a nice variety of veggies. Red went for the Blue Cheese Burger ($6.59); it came with a side of slaw that was soggy and warm, and a pickle, but the crusty roll and just the right amount of blue cheese topping a perfectly cooked medium-well patty was really quite delicious.  

The Meat  Loaf Dinner at Capital City Diner can feed two hungry superheroes

The Buffalo Chicken Salad was a hearty serving - predictable but good. 

The Blue Cheese Burger looks very plain but was actually delicious.

Ahhh, chicken souvlaki. The one at CC had a generous serving of tender marinated chicken, lots of onions and tomatoes, and nice thick tzatziki on the side all wrapped up in a soft warm pita ($7.29). Fries or a side salad are an extra $3 or you can have both for another $4. Good value, fresh, not processed or heavily salted/seasoned - this chicken souvlaki (which I've had many times before) has been my gold standard to date, but I'm wondering what else I will find. This one is hard to beat. 

I asked for an extra container of their tzatziki which they were happy to provide at no extra charge. I ate them both.

The desserts looked AMAZING!!!

I have a list of Greek diners in the Capital District that we plan to explore over the next several months. Do you have anyone you want to add?  Just let me know.

Zena, Goddess of Fire

PS:  Here's our list so far:
Gateway
Latham '76
Route 7 Diner
Pearl Street Diner
Circle
Alexis
Farmer Boy
Colonie Diner

DOING DISHES: Take Away Meals - U Mundu E Ca

One of the stupidest excuses other singles have for not cooking is that they can't be bothered with it for just one person, even when that one person is YOU. If you are anything like Zena, you are the center of the universe, and you don't have to be a goddess or superhero to appreciate how special you are. Ask your dog if you don't believe me.

You don't have to cook to eat real food.  You could easily make yourself a tuna sandwich if you are organized enough to have bread and mayo and a can of tuna around the house (and you can share your repast with the cat, who may not appreciate you, but they do like it when you feed them). Red's go-to on a lazy night or during an overly busy time is popcorn. Both go quite well with cardbordeaux (that's wine in a box in case you didn't get it), and while it ain't fine dining, it's certainly better than fast food. Or you can eat out somewhere decent, solo is fine, if good food and the world is what you need.

Parking is better on the Wolf Road side of this strip mall.

But apparently "The World is Here", which is what U Mundu E Ca supposedly translates to in English, although the closest I got online was underpants something. Anyway, this is an Italian specialty store with a small grocery selection, a well-stocked deli where you can order by the pound, a fabulous selection of sandwiches and take-away meals. Everything is homemade with best quality ingredients: these treats are totally worth stopping in for any day of the week, whether it's lunch or dinner for numero uno, or just you and a friend, or a family of four. Mundu is hidden away in a strip mall in the Hannaford's Plaza on the corner of Wolf and Sand Creek Road in Colonie. Happily, they post their daily creations and specials every single day on Facebook so you can plan accordingly (and if you LIKE Albany Dish on Facebook you will get their announcements as part of our news feed).

Always watching my nickels because I need what little I have to invest in saving the world from the forces of evil (and believe me, a new cape ain't cheap), I've been lucky enough to snag a few DoubleTakeOffers deals over the past few months for $20 worth of goods for only $10 at Mundu. So don't tell me that fast food is cheaper. It isn't. Ain't. NOT. On Friday night Foodie Friend and I stopped by for a procured meal to bring back to Chez Zena's. For $8.95 plus tax each we ordered Chicken Parm with ziti (no surprises there, if you've read our posts before) and a special dish of Crab Lasagna, each served with garlic bread and a salad, bringing us in just under our $20 coupon, so I bought a candy bar for dessert and handed over an extra $0.14 as we headed out the door. I win.  (:

They will heat your meal or package it for reheat in a microwave or conventional oven.

They can heat your meal or package it for reheat in a microwave or a conventional oven. We opted for aluminum and oven reheat at home (we replaced the plastic lid with foil before drinking anything), and sipped on the first of two bottles of beaujolais that would start our weekend off right. An hour later at 350 degrees F we split the main courses and set ourselves a nice table. The garlic bread, wrapped tightly in foil at Mundu and which we only heated for 10 minutes or so, was toasted to just the right color. The bread was dense and chewy and buttery, although I'm not crazy about the taste of garlic powder/salt when fresh is always SO much better. Speaking of which, the salads were very fresh, with carrot, grape tomatoes, pimento stuffed olives, and mixed greens (including a healthy dose of romaine), served with a homemade balsamic vinaigrette packaged on the side. It was very tasty.

Two lovely side salads with a homemade balsamic dressing on the side.

The ziti, even with an oven reheat, was the perfect texture (toothsome but not tough), telling me it wasn't Prince spaghetti night. The sauce was bright, tart and generous with the flavors of black pepper and garlic. The chicken cutlet, topped with the sauce and a few thin slices of provolone (?) was tender and juicy, a bit crispy still, and the whole dish held together nicely. But the Crab Lasagna was the show-stopper: rich, creamy, cheesy, and totally decadent, and if I could take myself out on food (defying other forces of evil) this would be the way to go. The crab flavor was subtle in a totally decadent ricotta filling layered between perfect pasta. The texture was so lovely I closed my eyes and groaned with pleasure. Not out loud, of course, maybe a slight woo woo sound or something, but I'm afraid it was still audible.

The Crab Lasagna was delicious. Next time I'm not sharing it.

U Mundu E Ca is one of those little hidden gems that are worthy of attention. They are busy, and, I hope, they will just keep getting busier. They deserve the repeat customers more than anyplace I've been to in a long time. It smells DIVINE in there, and the staff are genuinely friendly and seem to care deeply about what they serve. I'll keep an eye open for more of those groovy coupons, for tonight's special, for this and other ways of being good to myself, and for cars zooming through the parking lot as I head home with my booty.

Zena, Goddess of Fire

P.S. Let me make a suggestion, if you value your Batmobile or whatever vehicle you are driving these days - park on the Wolf Road side of the parking lot. The Sand Creek side, in front of Mundu, is on a busy through road in the mall and it's hard to pull out without feeling like getting T-boned is in your horoscope for the day. Just saying.  

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. 

DOING DISHES: Lettuce Entertain You! - Salads from the CoOp

The best part of this salad series has been discovering, and tasting, so many (potentially) delicious salad concoctions sold as take-out from our area grocery stores and delis. Trouble is, they don't get any feedback from their customers, at least not directly like they might in a sit-down restaurant. But then again, we are all probably guilty of saying "everything's fine" instead of kicking up a fuss.

Which is why blogging is such a kick! And Zena, Goddess of Fire, is here today to kick some butt.

 

In addition to a "make your own" salad bar, the Honest Weight Food CoOp offers a variety of salads freshly scooped by the pound from a deli case.  But Foodie Friend and I were pressed for time, so we kicked up our heels and just raced in and out of their newly located store on Watervliet Avenue, not far from Everett Road off Central Avenue, with six (three sweet, three savory) salads from the refrigerator section that we were going to eat at work. There were literally dozens of salads choose from. I liked that they all had labels listing the ingredients so I could eat this one cilantro-free. In fact, anyone who is sensitive to ingredients - gluten, nuts, dairy, etc.-  benefits as well.

In order of tasting, here's a summary of our kick back lunch on the job.

The first was a cabbage Slaw with Apples, Walnuts and Poppy ($8.99/lb), sweetened with a bit of honey and orange marmalade. It was very light with a nice crunch - we loved the texture, partly from the nuts and partly from the fruits and veggies. It was mellow - so much so that you could almost taste the nuttiness of the poppy seeds. But it was colorless and really not very flavorful, almost like the taste leaves you as soon as you swallow. I wanted more vinegar, and if I was home would have added a few splashes to kick things up a notch.

Slaw with Apples, Walnuts and Poppy Seeds.

Next we tried the Balsamic Roasted Eggplant Salad ($8.99/lb), which tasted like eggplant and balsamic with a big hit of garlic. In fact, roasted garlic bulbs were added whole to the salad - and there were SO many of them, we just started pushing them aside. I liked that the eggplant was a bit firm, but FF thought it could have been roasted longer. Neither of us got much of a kick out of this salad.

Balsamic Roasted Eggplant Salad on the left, and their Pineapple Kale salad on the right

The third salad that we tasted was called Moroccan Carrot Salad (($7.99/lb), flavored with finely chopped dates, and pistachios, and laced with spices like cumin and cinnamon. This was a wet, wet salad that was almost gloppy. It was way too sweet and really cuminy, and the nuts were squishy. Yes, squishy nuts. Gugh.  We had a few other folks at work interested in what we were tasting and NO ONE wanted to finish it. OK labeling - we noticed the "packed on" date. This one was on it's fourth day on the shelf. It tasted old. We kicked it into the trash. (NOTE: Three of our picks - the Slaw, this one, and the broccoli salads were dated 9/16 and the date of our foodie adventure was 9/19. Next time I'm going to pay closer attention to the packing dates)

Then we tried another savory mixture, the Lemon-Garlic Broccoli-Almond Salad ($9.99/lb). This one got a quite a few compliments - "fresh, bright, a bit of tang; perfectly cooked broccoli; nice texture; garlicky". There was a goodly amount grated parmesan in there that personally I didn't like (I thought it made the salad heavy and gloppy and grainy). This salad could have been a meal in itself in that it was so rich and had a bit of protein in there. It was pretty good, but I don't think it would win in a kick-off.

Next was a beet salad they called Rawsome Veggie Salad ($7.99/lb). Loaded with shredded beets and carrots, as well as red and green bell peppers and broccoli, we agreed that it was rooty and purple, but also that is tasted weird and confusing. FF described it as "too many strong flavors going in too many directions all at once". Oh, and the ingredients said "tomatoes", and there were definitely no tomatoes in this medly. Honestly Honest Weight - did anyone taste this before packaging??? (Kicked that one to the curb as well).

Last but not least (in this rant, anyway) was their Kale and Pineapple salad with shredded coconut and cashews ($19.99/lb). The kale was tender and mild, the pineapple fresh, the shredded coconut was delightful, and the cashews were totally absent, as was any amount of dressing. It tasted like pineapple and coconut and kale, an interesting combo, but so is Watergate Salad, which also doesn't cut it as far as I'm concerned. This one came SO close to being a really good salad idea, but my sense is that no one is paying close enough attention to the preparation to make it kick. And why the high price tag???

I imagine a world where at the checkout the saleslady asks me to fill out an online survey about their products or services to win a prize or a discount and I actually do it, which I usually don't, but maybe the Co-op could do something to get input when they see their customers leave with take-out meals. Either that or host a meal and ask everyone their opinions (in which case my work here is done). Or leave it to the bloggers.

But don't feel kicked out, Honest Weight - you have many other salads there that I still want to try, and I'll bet some of them are pretty darn good. Aim for high kicks.

Zena, Goddess  of Fire

DOING DISHES: Chicken Parm Time Warp Again at Petta's

I ate at Petta's last week for the first time and it was a total time warp. I think their chicken parmigiana needs to go back in time as well.

Madness takes its toll, and with a Groupon that cost me $15 for $30 worth of fine dining I dragged Cookie out for another night of Italian food in deepest darkest Schenectady. The parking lot for Petta's is big, and newly paved, and swept clean, but the area is pretty run down/sucked. The restaurant's exterior was less than inviting, but I was curious. Petta's is one more of our family run Italian restaurants in the Albany area that we should never tire of, established in 1951 and now run by Mike Petta, grandson of the original owners. So with a jump to the left, and a step to the right, we wound our way past a take out window and a bar full of regulars to a seat in a very large dining room with musack that probably doubles as a banquet hall.

This is as busy as it got but it was Tuesday

Seating and service were quick, we asked for a wine list, and noted it was adequate but very limited. We ordered a bottle of Mirassou sauvignon blanc, a crisp, cold, reliable summer wine that was served up right in a lovely marble bottle cooler ($21.95/very affordable). In another dimension, we looked over the menu while our server delivered a basket of bread. It was everything bread should be - homemade every day, soft with a chewy crust and a nice yeasty flavor. It was so dreamy.   (:

Cookie looked at me and said "I love this bread!"

So far so good. Salad or soup, along with a side of pasta (or potato and veg) were served with all the main courses. The salad was generous, with a bit more variety that most, if not all, of the family Italian places I've been to these past few months. Petta's makes their own Russian, Italian and blue cheese, but I went with the regular Italian. It was light and vinegary. Everything was fresh and crunchy except for the cherry tomatoes, which were squishy and overripe. They really drive you insane, with your hands on your hips: in September in Albany there are AMAZING tomatoes to be had. Why the cruddy duddies???

Anyway, Cookie had the soup, a generous serving of White Bean Fagiole (a Chicken Pastene was also on for the day) that could have been dinner all by itself. It was dished up nice and hot, the beans were smooth and delicious, garlicky for sure, but not too much, with a bit of Swiss chard in there, maybe chicken broth and some sage. A touch extra S&P was added at the table. You're into a time slip when food is that good - you just want to close your eyes and savor every bite.

Our main courses arrived and this is where we brought our knees in tight. Cookie ordered the Eggplant Parmigiana ($17.95), layers sliced about 1/8" thick and stacked up. We liked the presentation, with only half the dish covered in sauce (choice is good). We decided that the flavor was pretty bland. It tasted like, uh, eggplant, but don't get me wrong, I like to taste the veg but that's all we were tasting, that and something metallicky, which was probably the red sauce; and the "parm" was totally absent. This dish was barely okay, and time is fleeting. Cookie moved on to her homemade cavatelli with the red sauce and decided the sauce tasted really tinny, she didn't much care for it, but the pasta itself was very good.

I ordered the Chicken Parmigiana ($17.95), which was served up plain. It had just a touch of sauce between the cutlets and the cheese. A gravy boat of red sauce was served on the side.  As you might remember, I'm always complaining about the work we go through to make those crispy cutlets, then we drown them in sauce, so this caught my attention. I had a few bites of the meat, without extra red sauce, and let me tell you, this was hands down the worst chicken parm I've ever had, anywhere. It was so greasy I almost couldn't eat it, and it tasted like old oil, and wasn't at all crispy. We looked at the cut cutlet: there was a very thin layer of chicken-colored chicken in the middle; the rest was decidedly gray. Frozen meat? Cold, old oil that had soaked into the meat? Microwaves? I don't know what they did to screw this one up, but I think Let's do the Time Warp again, and go back to what the grandparents did, because no way almost 65 years later would Petta's still be here if the food was that bad at the start. What a disappointment, BUT, I think, remedied with a bit of time and attention in the kitchen.

The linguine was good, but I, too, didn't like the sauce. It was smooth, and thick, kinda like jarred (but it wasn't, I don't think). To my tastes it was almost harsh, "canned", and really needed some garlic, herbs, sweetener, something. There was a lot of food on the table at this point in our meal, but nothing I wanted to eat (except the bread!). We had to-go boxes packed up and, I admit, I trashed the leftovers (except the bread!). Even my superpowers couldn't save this one.

So the menu was the usual, the service was friendly and personal (I liked her), and we think we should go back some day just for the homemade spumoni. I may return for another taste test, but it won't be anytime soon.

Dinner for two, including tax, was $62.48 minus the $15 we saved using the Groupon. 

Zena, Goddess of Fire

PS: Going back in time is NOT one of my best superpowers, so a bit of critique will have to suffice before I go out later to save the world from the forces of evil. May it save the food at Petta's.

DOING DISHES: Lettuce Entertain You! - Whole Foods in Colonie, NY

Last week Foodie Friend and I scooted over to Whole Foods in Colonie, NY to do a lunch of their salad offerings. It was a very virtuous outing.

There are (2) salad options: make your own, or buy something that's been prepared already. If you wear a really bright halo, or don't want cilantro in anything, then make your own by all means! Either way it's $8.49/pound, and that's a lot of arugula if you ask me.

For the make your own crowd there was a beautiful and amazing selection of vegetables to choose from (including radicchio, peas, green garbanzos, tomatoes, onions, and on and on), as well as cubed meats, artichoke hearts, stuffed grape leaves, giant beans, etc. We counted 16 prepared dressings (including blue cheese, carrot ginger, pomegranate vinaigrette, and sun dried tomato), as well as six different vinegars to choose from. The colors were dazzling and everything looked very fresh. Staff were attentive to keeping the area well stocked and clean. There were no stray ingredients left lying around near the serving trays, which I appreciated. Actually, it was immaculate. 

But we went there specifically to try their creative selection of prepared salads. We had a good look around but the only containers were salad bowls or large cardboard take-out boxes that almost assumed we would be buying a lot of one thing, or that we didn't mind our flavors getting jumbled together.  We went to the deli counter and the server graciously gave us a bunch of small plastic tubs with lids (which FF virtuously took back with us to wash and re-use). There were some salads in there that we thought were worth trying as well, like the Caribbean Shrimp Salad and a Summer Squash, Ricotta and Pasta salad that was very pretty.

So OUR halos are a bit rusty, but they definitely glowed brighter after we selected (10) to test as part of our series on take-away salads. First we tasted the Thai Mango Slaw. It smelled like bell peppers, and had way too much cilantro for me (I'm special: like 1/1000 to me it tastes like soap, AND I have superpowers, which maybe goes hand in hand, not sure on that, but I digress). Flavors included onion and vinegar and cuke, as well as a bit of heat. It was lacking in mango and literally had no salt. How virtuous is that? Since I'm the Goddess of "I can't unsalt" my food, I appreciated it.  It was very tasty.

Next was the Cabbage Crunch Slaw - not tart, a bit greasy - it had nut oils in it for sure, but it was a clean, nutty flavor.  No salt. FF started adding at the table. Then we tried the Three Bean Salad (chickpea, white beans, green beans), which was NOT pretty, and the green beans should have been cut down to bite size, but it was delicious. The green beans especially were slightly sweet, crunchy and cooked to perfection, a bit of red onion. Lovely. No salt.

Number 4: Broccoli Salad, with a hint of ginger, sun dried tomatoes, and red chili pepper flakes. This was a bit of a miss but good. Maybe the broc could have used a bit more time marinating. Garlic? Salt needed fer sher, so I reached for a bit at the table, and it was good. OK then we tried the Chicken Quesedilla Salad, which was a great idea - corn, black beans, tender chicken, red onion, chopped tomatoes. It was spicy but it tasted "off", like sour somehow. I'm going to work on this at home.....

Then the Carrot Salad, with currants, almonds, and, er, more cilantro. Very good, not too sweet but sweetened, we thinks, more than just with carrot. Then the Green Garbanzo Bean Salad, which was very strange, with odd textures, mint, just a bit bitter. Even salt didn't help.

Then we tried the Mediterranean Crunch Salad, made with kale (very virtuous), garbanzo beans (which were in almost everything), red onion, red bell peppers (peppers were also in most everything as well), and some kalamata olives. This was one of our favorites, and I'd go back for more. The kale was nice and tender with a pleasant tartness. Then we tasted their Antipasto Salad, made with a nice selection of smokey meats, provolone, olives, roasted red peppers, onion and artichoke hearts. This was very rich and garlicky, and very different from the other selections available to us. The meat was cut to just the right size and it held together well. Not health food exactly, but top quality, and the protein was a welcome addition to our meal.

Thai Beef Salad without the beef because someone picked it all out, Thai Mango Slaw and Antipasto Salad on the right

We finished up quickly because we needed to get back to our "real lives", with the Herb Chicken Salad that had like NO herbs, but it did have tomatoes, red bell peppers, halved cherry tomatoes, and carrots. The chicken was a bit dry, but overall the salad was crunchy and bright. Lots of peppers.

In the end everything started to taste the same, but maybe that's due more to what we selected than what was being offered. I think I would have liked fewer chickpeas and peppers (these were actually hard to avoid, I think), and a few more protein options. Maybe a few different types of legumes would be in order, but that might come as fall/winter approaches. There were NO potato salads, which was interesting, though we didn't miss it. To summarize, everything was very fresh, there was a nice selection to choose from, and it wasn't at all salty, or greasy, OR garlicky. Several were absolutely wonderful. We smiled as we raced back to work.

The eating area was a bit noisy but communal, with worker bees, families, and other mortals enjoying their meals. We thought it was definitely worth returning on a regular basis to see what Whole Foods  can concoct for us. Again, like in our first salad review at Market Bistro, there are NO excuses for that drive-thru burger. There are GREAT options in our many local grocery stores and delis that are good eating, and good for you. Unless, of course, you are trying to take out an arch-enemy superhero, then a burger at Mickey Dees is in order. But, I'm sorry to say, then there will be no halo for you.

Lunch was just over $20, with two bottled beverages.

Zena, Goddess of Fire

PS: Even the shoppers move about with an air of the angelic. Good food will do that to you.