About 400 elementary- and middle-school students taking part in the Shenendehowa Inventors program will display their inventions at the former Cotton Market store at Clifton Park Center from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Saturday.
Sometimes you need a scorecard to help you keep track of the comings and goings on the Capital Region restaurant scene. Add to the “new” column Brandon’s Steak & Seafood, a full-service restaurant with a long pedigree that opened in December at 1702 Chrisler Ave., former home of El Divino and, briefly, Shalimar. At left is the Veal Sorrentino, a dish from Italy’s Amalfi coast.
On a cold winter night, we sought refuge — and something to warm our innards — at Joe’s Tavern, an unpretentious neighborhood place whose food came highly recommended to us by one of our readers.
The Epicurean has evolved naturally into the kind of restaurant you'd expect the talented staff to assume, given experience and greater resources: full menus for brunch, lunch, and dinner. Fixed-priced menus, wine-paired dinners, seasonal menus featuring different regions of France.
The grapevine sent me this one, a small, family-owned and -run market/restaurant on State Street in Schenectady. My source gushed: “La Mexicana is a very authentic neighborhood Mexican joint. It’s a taqueria with a few special plates that go beyond. Nothing more than $10. What a place!”
Asian and Italian cuisine dominated our restaurant reviews in 2011, but there’s also a cross-section of contemporary American, pub and barbecue selections among our choices for the tops in dining out this year. At left is Maestro’s at the Van Dam.
If you’re Irish, you’ll love Power’s Irish Pub, in the historic old farmhouse just off Route 9 that was the Old Dater Tavern and, more recently, the Old Dublin Inn. If you’re not, you’ll still find the restaurant attractive and pleasant.
The Ritz Terrace in its latest incarnation as R.J.’s Ritz Terrace is as good or better than ever. That was our impression after our dinner there the other evening.
Tired of turkey on a recent weeknight, we trotted over to the Stockade Home Market — the new name for the venerable Arthur’s Market at the Indian circle — and enjoyed a light supper in the newly opened convenience store and deli.
One of the most pleasurable, if indulgent, ways to while away a Sunday evening in Schenectady is to treat yourself to a wine pairing dinner at Cella Bistro. Chef Michael Cella and his family offer these lavish, hours-long affairs only occasionally, and I suspect their rarity makes them even more popular. The most recent event featured wines and foods of the Mediterranean islands, and there wasn’t an empty seat in the house that I could see.
We didn’t plan to go to Benevento, but ended up there after we discovered our original destination was closed. It turned out to be a serendipitous detour. The place has an extensive menu from which we sampled liberally, and the food is much better than I expected to find at a pizza place.
We talk about food a lot in my family, but that’s not why Mom and I remember exactly what we had for lunch at The Jonesville Store six months ago. It’s because it was so good. A quick trip to their website revealed an appealing dinner menu and an excuse to go back.
State Street Station is a small, family-owned restaurant with a menu like a diner’s, a homey atmosphere and friendly service. It’s charming, and the food is very good.
Friends invited us to dine with them at Hudson Harbor Steak & Seafood, and we looked forward to the evening because they had raved about the food. There’s a touch of faded glory about the place. Not surprising considering this was the home until the late 1990s of L’Auberge, the popular French restaurant which for decades specialized in haute cuisine dishes for its well-heeled and celebrated guests.
