PHOTO: B.A. Nilsson

Coveted Dishes

envy lounge

99 Pine St. (at S. Pearl), Albany, 694-3689. www.envyalbany.com. Serving lunch Tue-Fri 11-2, dinner Tue-Sat 5-9. AE, D, MC, V.

Cuisine: inventive American

Entrée price range: $26 (lamb shanks with three-cheese risotto) to $45 (grilled NY strip loin)

Ambiance: techno-retro

By B.A. Nilsson

One of the goals set by the Envy Lounge is to encourage young (but not too young) urban professionals to patronize South Pearl Street. The restaurant, which opened in October, is on the Pine Street side of Jillian’s. You’ll see the big windows behind which the cooking staff toils, although they’ll give a friendly enough wave to suggest that they’re enjoying themselves in there.

Chef James Demers brings several years of experience at an exclusive Virginia golf club to the task at hand. He’s from Clifton Park, and happy to be back in the area—and happy to take on the challenge of updating our food sensibility. Given the challenge of wreaking something adventurous, he has drawn from classical roots to reshape the expected components into something that will surprise both the eye and the palate.

Like the braised lamb shanks with three-cheese risotto ($26). Once upon a time those shanks were garbage meat, selling for next to nothing; like a neglected urban neighborhood, they suddenly became trendy. And expensive. Braise them, especially in a sturdy stock, and they reward you with intense flavor. Demers presents a concentrated serving of boneless meat, giving added depth with an apricot-sweetened sauce. And the meat perches atop rice that’s also a-burst with flavor, the mixture of cheeses strong but not overpowering.

Early in this restaurant’s inception, Demers explained, it was going to focus on tapas. With the proliferation of that approach, Envy’s menu was steered in a somewhat different direction, although some of the small plates remain. Even the lamb shanks entrée has a touch of this approach: It’s a sensible-sized portion served in the well of handsomely accommodating plate.

There’s the lounge aspect of the restaurant to consider, although I explored it little. One of the two bar areas gives you a view of the kitchen; the other is more traditionally placed at one side of the dining area.

To describe the dining area itself as large is to do it little justice. It’s huge, with row of outsized booths at one end and a profusion of well-spaced tables elsewhere. The ceiling is high enough to have its own atmospheric system, and the warehouse-like look of the room was muted by painting the walls and ceiling black. On the positive side, this gives the look of a series of white tables floating in darkness. It’s comfortable, even intimate insofar as you feel isolated from the environment. But it’s not particularly attractive.

Booths can be a tricky proposition for an outsized fellow like me, but I had no trouble fitting into one here. “The owner is very tall,” one of the servers explained, “so everything here was designed a little bigger than usual.”

Service, by the way, was exemplary. We enjoyed the attention of Jason, who sparked his time with us with quiet wit, explained the menu well, and delivered what was promised.

Although I don’t see the term “tapas” on the menu, it starts with a series of small plates that can serve as appetizers or small meals. Or large meals, as in the case of the scallops: They’re available as a $14 starter or a $32 main plate. In both cases, black ruffles, white truffles and lavender honey are among the accompaniments.

Or start with a plate of cheese. Or olives. Each comes in three sizes; the middle-sized olive plate ($12), which I chose, was supposed to fly around the table—but none of my companions was in the mood to enjoy the warm, herb-dusted selection in which kalamata olives abounded. White anchovies provided a subtle contrast, and a glass of prosecco (not included, but worth the small investment) gave a nice finish to the dish.

An $8 plate of fried oysters is much more than you might expect. The oysters themselves are crunchy with masa, spiced with a subtle presence of chorizo and served with a pungent aïoli. While $8 may seem pricey for a cup of soup, the blend of potatoes, leeks and scallops was as effective a mixture as I’ve ever tasted.

Demers dry-ages the beef he serves; a grilled one-pound strip is $45, while pair of tenderloin filets (with lobster sauce and scampi) is $36. But why opt for those when there’s a bison hangar steak ($28)? Marinated in Thai seasonings, it’s a tender cut with a satisfying depth of flavor, served with blue-cheese-enhanced mashed potatoes on a very decorative dish.

My daughter chose another small plate for her entrée: Those seemingly ubiquitous scallops are worked into penne that’s topped with creamy sherry sauce ($9).

I can’t imagine more flavor that what’s rolled into a dish of twin quail ($27). The birds are glazed with apricot and served alongside caramelized oranges; inside them is risotto shot through with mushrooms and sweetbreads—insanely rich, immensely satisfying.

Although the fine-dining profile of downtown Albany has been getting steadily more up to date (we’ve long been lingering 10 to 20 years behind the more avant garde urban areas), what’s served at the Envy Lounge goes a long way to pushing us into 2007. And that’s good for all of the better restaurants in the area.

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