Upstairs, Downstairs
By B.A. Nilsson

The Manhattan Exchange

607 Union St., Schenectady, 374-5930. Serving Mon-Thu 11:30-10, Fri-Sat 11:30-11. AE, D, DC, MC, V.

Cuisine: unassuming pub fare

Entrée Price Range: $11 (linguine pomodoro) to $19 (16 oz. N.Y. strip steak)

Ambiance: too quiet

There’s a level of dining worth exploring that’s not gourmet, not fast food, not chain-restaurant fare. It’s what good diner food can be, but served in more formal surroundings. At the Manhattan Exchange, it’s happening in an upstairs room where you still can hear some of the ruckus of the usually crowded bar below, but as more of a comfort than annoyance.

What’s offered is a pub menu, with sandwiches the dominant feature. A list of dinner items is handed out separately.

Much of what’s available has the look and feel of what food vendors helpfully supply. Thanks to cryovac and other handy packaging, complete dinner solutions are more affordable than ever, and you can scratch the scratch kitchen if such is your desire.

And how should we feel about this?

It all depends on what you’re looking for. I’m enough of a, oh let’s call it “control enthusiast,” that I’d prefer to put in an hour making a tomato sauce, which then will simmer for a few hours more. But I keep jars of already-made sauce in the pantry, just in case.

So it is with dining out. Except that you don’t usually get a pre-ordering view of the pantry.

There are other signs, like the menu items themselves and the pricing. Manhattan Exchange keeps its dinners in the $11-$15 range (a large steak is the only thing more expensive), which suggests the lower reaches of fine dining. I say this knowing that some people—and I’m sure you’re not one of them—think anything over $10 is fantastically expensive, and even some who should know better cry foul if a menu item tops a twenty.

Chicken française, for instance, which you don’t see much these days, is a $13 entrée (that includes a soup or salad) that’s made with chicken breast strips—from the look of them, I’m guessing they’re the long pieces that tend to detach from the underside of the breast when you’re breaking down a chicken. It’s a utilitarian piece of meat, suitable for use as chicken fingers, and easy to work into pasta dishes and salads.

Fried in an egg batter, they’re finished with a buttery wine sauce and go especially well with mashed potatoes, if that’s one of the choices of the day (real potatoes, too). A side of vegetables, although sourced from a frozen assortment pack, was acceptably finished.

Placed in a larger context that includes the comfort of the dining room, efficiency of service and all the intangibles that make up a restaurant experience, it was 14 bucks (plus tax and tip) well spent. The food was pleasant, and stood up to the chemical-rich flavor of the diet soda with which I accompanied it. And there was enough left over for a microwaved next-day lunch.

The downside? I look for a pub environment to have a few people around in what should feel like—well, if not a living room at least something a little lived in. In an ideal universe, this would not include TV screens, because people actually would wish to talk with one another, and do so without hollering.

As I noted, Manhattan Exchange puts its bar patrons in a ground-floor room that fills quickly (owner Debra LaMalfa has plans to expand the size of that room before long), while the upstairs dining room remains fairly empty. On one of my visits, my party dined alone.

I don’t think it’s the restaurant’s fault. Other items we sampled were quite satisfying. Linguine pomodoro ($11) is a huge platter of pasta topped with fresh tomatoes that were sautéed in plenty of minced garlic, and discreetly herb-seasoned. A more complicated version adds chicken and sun-dried tomatoes and finishes it in a tomato-flavored cream sauce ($15). You’ll get three meals from each of those pasta dishes.

Grilled boneless pork chops ($13) were just that, although they spent a little too much time on the grill and needed all the accompanying applesauce to impersonate the missing juiciness.

On the sandwich side of things, there’s a signature burger—but you guessed that—available in any number of configurations, priced from $5 to $7. It’s a tasty half-pounder served on a Kaiser roll, and the price includes fries. We managed to get through about a quarter-pound of the thing.

Needing to broaden my offspring’s culinary horizons, I ordered a Monte Cristo ($7) and insisted she taste it, and she ended up commandeering the sandwich. It’s an all-in-one that piles up ham and turkey and Swiss cheese, then the whole thing is dipped in an egg batter and fried. Another endangered species of menu item, and it’s done very well here.

Plenty of deli sandwiches, clubs, grilled sandwiches, like the $7 Reuben, as well as salads and the usual array of appetizers. Nachos, for instance, are what you’d expect, but the $7 half-order was so voluminous, with ground beef and chopped tomatoes and jalapeño slices among the mix, that I’d hesitate to order the full-sized $9 plate without an army to feed.

LaMalfa, whose family has a longtime background in the restaurant business, bought the Manhattan Exchange nearly two years ago and is working to keep it a friendly and satisfying place. Certainly the enthusiasm of our servers (who have to lug the food up a flight of stairs) is testimony to a happy place, and one that delivers on its realistic promise.

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