photo credit: Alicia Solsman

Friendly and Fancy-Free
By B.A. Nilsson

Teagan’s Steak and Seafood Restaurant
360 Columbia Turnpike (Route 20), East Greenbush, 477-9909. Serving Mon-Fri 11-4, dinner Mon-Sat 4-10, Sun 2-9. AE, MC, V.

Cuisine: down-home continental

Entrée price range: $12 (chicken parmigiana) to $25 (stuffed lobster tails)

Ambiance: friendly roadhouse

Clientele: friends and neighbors

This time of year reminds me of boyhood trips to my father’s mother’s apartment in Queens, where each step along the narrow entrance hall rewarded me with more of the toothsome aroma of her holiday-season feast. A tiny Norwegian immigrant, she produced a traditional American meal that endlessly seemed to emerge from her equally tiny oven. Not gourmet fare, but something that seemed more rooted to who we were and how we celebrated the holidays.

I got that same feeling entering Teagan’s Steak and Seafood Restaurant, where grandma turns out to be chef-owner Al Pollock, who has created a place that he wants to be as comfortable for you as possible.

Tucked among a series of retail and service shops on a stretch of Route 20 between Rensselaer and East Greenbush, Teagan’s identifies itself with a green sign and an unassuming exterior. Inside is equally unassuming, divided between the dining room and a bar area, the latter in full swing during both of my recent visits.

Every night at least three specials are offered, and I took advantage of a recent scampi extravaganza to order the Ultimate Scampi, which turned out to be a huge plate of garlic-intensive pasta with the items of my choice worked in (I selected sirloin tips and scallops). I assumed shrimp also would be a part of it: The word “scampi” is an Italian term, according to one source, for a type of crayfish that has come to also mean shrimp.

But my dish turned out to be a most generous portion of linguine topped with the requested meats along with much else in the way of flavor components—olives, capers, a good mix of herbs—in a sauce far less oil- (or butter-) heavy than I expected.

This clearly was a dish created not as an assembly-line item but rather to be placed with pride in front of a hungry customer, and I was not surprised to be greeted, a short time later, by Pollock, who emerged from the kitchen to make sure my table was satisfied.

How could we not be? While we’re not talking rarefied fare, this is food crafted with feeling. Lily, my dining companion, was working on her own plate of veal and artichoke hearts over angel hair pasta, and found the caper-rich sauce an added bonus. (But it was the veal and the artichoke hearts she really wanted. I was awarded the leftover pasta for dinner the following day.)

Pollock has been running his restaurant for more than 10 years, and has gained a loyal following over that time. “I have regulars who eat here three, four times a week,” he told me. He was chef at a number of area restaurants, including Chaucer’s, but “having my own restaurant was always my dream.”

He named it after his daughter, and the family feeling extends into the dining room where the servers, who are well versed in the menu’s offerings, are happy to help you choose your meal. And if you’re completely stumped, the menu has an unusual extra: “If you don’t see it, ask. We will make it if possible.”

“People do make requests,” says Pollock. “I get a lot of them, because people like that personal touch.”

There’s an Italian feel to the veal, chicken and pasta items, but that’s just part of the continental style of the menu as a whole. Seafood starts the entrée list, with broiled or fried items like shrimp, sole and scallops along with combo platters, lobster tails and even pan-seared trout, all but the lobster priced no higher than $17. The lobster or a choose-it-yourself surf-and-turf dinner are $25 apiece.

Then there are the steaks. I can attest to the excellent flavor—and cut of beef—in the steak au poivre ($20), a 12-ounce sirloin dressed with cracked pepper and a brandy-cream sauce. Look for unpeppered sirloin in 12-, 16- and 20-ounce sizes ($16-$25), or try what I’m heading back to taste: sliced garlic sirloin ($16). Filet mignon is served with herbed butter ($19) or au poivre ($22).

Pricing is significantly lower than similar west-of-the-Hudson restaurants—veal parmigiana for $14, for instance—so I’m suspecting that Rensselaer County regulars simply don’t tell us that Teagan’s exists so they won’t have to share. I’m looking at items like the Chicken Tuscany ($15), a vast dish of seared breast meat with spinach, prosciuto and mushrooms tossed in a cream sauce, another leftovers-yielding portion. Keep in mind that dinners come with soup or salad, so you’ve got meal enough right there.

But even if you’re looking for less, the appetizers can be daunting. Eggplant roulade ($7), for instance, is a dinner portion of eggplant slices rolled around prosciuto and cheese, in a garlicky wine sauce. You could even make a light dinner out of the onion soup au gratin ($3.50), which has a good flavor and an amazing amount of cheese on top.

You’ll find nothing very fancy about the restaurant and its food, but there’s nothing fancy about the prices, either—a satisfying experience we’re looking forward to repeating.

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