Food Review

Bakers’ Square

by Amy Halloran October 20, 2011

On a bright, warm September Sunday, people stroll and shop amid the ring of tents and vendors that constitute the farmers market in the park behind Hubbard Hall in Cambridge. Some of them wander over ...

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Under the Tuscan Sunset

by B.A. Nilsson October 13, 2011

Ca’ Mea Ristorante, 333 Warren St., Hudson, 822-0005, camearestaurant.com. Serving lunch noon-3 Tue-Sun, dinner 5-10 Tue-Sat, 5-9 Sun. AE, MC, D, V Cuisine: Northern Italian Entrée price range: $17 (spinach-ricotta ravioli) to $25 (New York strip) Ambiance: charming, ...

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For the Love of a Gadget

by B.A. Nilsson October 6, 2011

Earlier this year, the BBC aired a TV feature in which Stephen Fry looked at what he considers to be the hundred greatest gadgets ever invented. Not surprisingly, quite a few of them involved the ...

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Retro Contemporary

by B.A. Nilsson September 28, 2011

The Standard, 1 Crossgates Mall Road, Albany, 452-7007, standardalbany.com. Serving 11-11 Sun-Thu, 11-Midnight Fri-Sat. AE, D, MC, V. Cuisine: mix of old and new Entrée price range: $9 (chop-house burger) to $34 (Standard bone-in beef filet) Ambiance: Prefab ...

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Be Amazed

by B.A. Nilsson September 15, 2011

Sushi X Lounge, 710 New Loudon Road, Latham, 713-4102, sushixlounge.com. Serving lunch 11:30-4 Mon-Fri, dinner 11:30-10 Mon-Thu, 11:30-11 Fri-Sat, noon-10 Sun. AE, D, MC, V. Cuisine: Japanese Entrée price range: $20 (Mon-Thu), $22 (Fri-Sun) Ambiance: colorfully unique Picture your ...

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The Chips Are Up

by B.A. Nilsson September 7, 2011

Lil’ Britain, 116 North St., Bennington, Vt., 802-442-2447, lilbritain.com. Serving 11:30-8 Tue-Sat. D, MC, V. Cuisine: classic pub fare Entreé price range: $4 (chip butty) to $11 (seafood combo & chips) Ambiance: bright and friendly London’s first fish-and-chips shop ...

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Hamming It Up

by B.A. Nilsson August 31, 2011

Panzur Restaurant and Wine Bar, 69 Broadway, Tivoli, 845-757-1071, panzur.com. Serving dinner 5:30-9 Tue-Thu, 5:30-10 Fri-Sat. AE, D, MC, V. Cuisine: Spanish-inspired modern Entrée price range: $8 (tortilla Espanola) to $23 (New York strip) Ambiance: artistic bistro There’s evidence ...

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A Rare Cut

by B.A. Nilsson August 25, 2011

The Raindancer Restaurant, 4582 State Highway 30, Amsterdam, 842-2606, raindancerrestaurant.com. Serving 11:30-close Mon-Sat, 12:30-close Sun. AE, D, MC, V. Cuisine: American steakhouse Entrée price range: $9 (Raindancer burger) to $40 (king crab legs) Ambiance: charmingly rustic In my neck ...

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A Summer Tradition

by B.A. Nilsson August 10, 2011

If you live in, grew up near or frequently visit the Burden Lake area, you’re already nodding your head in anticipation of a good review of a place you revere. That’s what it is. That’s ...

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Puppy Love

by B.A. Nilsson August 3, 2011

Summer in Saratoga: It’s a gamble. Will there be a parking space? Can you tolerate such a crush of hoi polloi? Will you find a seat at a restaurant? Once there, can you get service? ...

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New Life

by B.A. Nilsson July 27, 2011

Chubby Sperry was a Saratoga fixture in the 1930s, a racehorse owner who also characterized the social scene as Prohibition drew to a close. While I’m in no position to affirm what his namesake restaurant ...

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Simply Delicious

by Laura Leon July 6, 2011

Tucked toward the back of a pedestrian alley (in what locals call “the mews”) next to the more grandiose Red Lion Inn is a small gem of a restaurant called Once Upon a Table. With ...

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Oven Lovin’

by B.A. Nilsson June 29, 2011

The oven is an arresting sight. It’s Le Panyol Model 120, if you want to get technical about it, from a French company that dates back to the 1840s and specializes in refractory earthenware products ...

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Spring Roll Dynasty

by B.A. Nilsson June 22, 2011

We were waiting for spring rolls. Not any spring rolls, but the legendary ones we all discovered at Kim’s Dragon, a wonderful Vietnamese restaurant on Route 20 heading into ...

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Mediteroccan Logic

by B.A. Nilsson June 15, 2011

Fez is the nearly two-year-old brainchild of chef Niels Nielsen, whose Albany tie-in is a stint he served as chef at New World Bistro Bar when it opened. But he’s also been in the Saugerties-area ...

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For the Whole Gang

by B.A. Nilsson June 8, 2011

Sometimes you turn a corner and lose most of your bearings. It could be a plaza in a foreign country where you don’t recognize the dialect spoken around you. Or ...

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Chicken Riot

by B.A. Nilsson May 25, 2011

"Pio pio” is what a Spanish chick says, as you know if you’ve joined the United Farm Workers Union in singing “De Colores.” It would translate as “cheep cheep,” which isn’t so evocative as a ...

0 comments Mr. Pio-Pio

Under the Cedar Tree

by B.A. Nilsson May 19, 2011

My family’s civilian (non-reviewing) dining strategy is to seek, as I indelicately put it, “some hole in the wall.” Which is understood to mean a place where the food is interesting and the people friendly. ...

0 comments Beirut Restaurant

A New Leaf

by B.A. Nilsson May 11, 2011

Tea service remains the biggest letdown in the fine-dining arena. Too often it amounts to a cup of hot (and rapidly cooling) water with a tea bag beside it. The glories of the beverage are ...

1 comment Divinitea

For Your Indulgence

by B.A. Nilsson May 4, 2011

The executive chef at a world-class destination hotel walks a tricky tightrope. It’s a helm from which a significant reputation can be achieved, which invites the pursuit of innovative ...

0 comments The View at the Mirror Lake Inn

Little Astoria

by B.A. Nilsson April 27, 2011

My father grew up in Astoria, on Long Island’s western edge, in the 1930s and ’40s. Back then it was known as “Little Athens,” and most of his neighbors were Greek, which meant that he ...

0 comments Anton’s

Special Ops

by B.A. Nilsson April 20, 2011

I’m studying a steak, a 16-ounce slab of Angus sirloin, cross-hatched with grill marks. It lies atop a flurry of whipped potatoes, across which also are tilted a half-dozen ...

0 comments The Pentagon Restaurant

Raising the Bar

by B.A. Nilsson April 13, 2011

There are hints in the menu of Blu Stone Bistro that this is a hotel restaurant—at least, that it knows it occupies space adjacent to the Hotel Indigo and therefore ought ...

0 comments Blu Stone Bistro

By the Book, Cheerfully

by B.A. Nilsson March 30, 2011

It was my first-ever visit to this longstanding restaurant, and I felt as if I’d walked into somebody else’s house. Somebody very gracious, someone who’d been expecting me—but someone ...

1 comment The Redwood Diner

Confit for a King

by B.A. Nilsson March 23, 2011

Every so often, a Capital Region neighborhood collects enough of a variety of restaurants that it threatens to assert a dining-out identity. Cluster a bunch of good eateries together ...

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