One Day in Albany

Albany is just not that big. It gets a little bit bigger when you start including the neighboring suburbs. But when you add up the nearby cities to the north, east and south (and their respective suburbs, towns and hamlets) the place gets a whole lot more interesting.

People pass Albany by all the time. Tourists come to Saratoga Springs and they drive by. Tourists head up to Lake George, or the Adirondacks, or Montreal, and many don’t stop here along the way.

Albany gets a bad rap. Some of that is our own doing. Some insist that we have great restaurants here, and for the most part that’s simply not true, especially when comparing our top places to similarly priced options in the big city. Overselling and underdelivering is never pretty. But there are good things here. Things that you can’t find in other cities. And many of them can be wrapped up in a single day of eating your way around the city.

It’s no easy task, but here’s your itinerary.

Breakfast
You know what’s great about Albany? It’s surrounded by farms. And not all of those farmers drive down to New York City to sell their wares. Some work with local restaurants. All Good Bakers highlights all of their farms on their chalkboard, and it’s one of the few places where you can get eggs for breakfast that didn’t come from tortured chickens. But you can also get some great savory accompaniments. Their savory scones are great. They use real maple syrup. And if johnny cakes are on the menu, theirs are tender and moist. It’s a funky little place, next to the best gourmet market in town. It’s nothing fancy, but it’s proof that food grows here. And that’s special. But stick to savory foods (maple syrup notwithstanding as sweets are to come).

Coffee
Yes, you can get coffee at breakfast. But coffee is more than a drink to wash down eggs. Coffee is also an experience. And I like to drink as much of it as I can. Especially if it’s good. Meander up Delaware Avenue and you can find a good brewed coffee spot in Tierra Coffee Roasters. They’ve got a Chemex and they know how to use it, especially with their single estate beans that they lightly roast across the river. A bit further up, after Delaware Avenue ends and Lark Street begins, is Caffe Vero which has the best espresso in Albany. Actually, it’s the only place to get espresso in Albany itself that’s worth a damn. Vary from this instruction at your peril.

Morning Snack
If you didn’t make it up to Lark Street, now is your chance. You can either call this morning snack or dessert of breakfast. It doesn’t matter to the profussor. But Crisan is a cute Eastern European bakery that has a delightful selection of little cakes. These aren’t cupcakes. Rather they are slices of layer cakes, made in house out of some incredible ingredients. Sit. Take it in. Enjoy the heavy and perfectly proportioned miniature fork for eating delicate bites of cake. And don’t worry, because soon you’ll be walking to work up an appetite for lunch.

Morning Walk
It’s not all food. Especially since you are only a block away from Washington Park. It looks a lot like Central Park, except it’s not. And the park is full of history. And nature. Blah, blah, blah. You are also going to walk east and gaze upon the mighty Empire State Plaza with our one tall building and the theater that looks like an egg. You don’t see that kind of architecture just everywhere, you know. When you consider this crazy place is the political nerve center of the great state of New York, the wild and wooly world of state politics starts to make a little more sense.

Lunch
I might take some heat for this, but you really should go to Jack’s. Jack’s is so old, that the story of Jack’s is almost the story of Albany. You aren’t there for the food. You are there to eat in the place where governors have eaten for generations. It’s a piece of the past, and it’s all a bit formal. Keep lunch light, because there’s a lot more eating to be done. Perhaps their 1913 recipe Manhattan clam chowder and a salad. Or if you are in particularly good health, maybe a plate of liver and onions. But be careful, because there’s a lot of heavier food right around the corner. So you might want to skip dessert. But consider a martini, because a place for old men knows how to make them well.

After Lunch Activity
If it’s a Saturday, the Albany Distilling Co. opens at noon, so you are in luck. Weekdays the tasting room opens at 4 p.m. But if you are going to be in the area it’s worth a call to see if they’ll let you in early. The distillers are almost always there, and they are great guys. Walking to the distillery from Jack’s will take you up Pearl Street. There are a lot of bars there that don’t exactly bring out the best of the city. But this distillery is sourcing grain locally and turning it into whiskey and rye. Honestly, the ingredients they are getting are so good, and their distilling is so clean, that I actually prefer the unaged spirits. They are just so intensely grainy and aromatic.

After Distillery Walk
Outside the distillery is a giant highway. It’s impossible to miss. One might not imagine that on the other side of that highway is the Hudson River. Without that river there would be no Albany. So either squirrel your way under route 787 or find the pedestrian bridge to cross it from above. But by hook or by crook get yourself to the waterfront that our civic planners didn’t want you to see. Actually, I can’t imagine we have any civic planners here. I mean if we did, I expect they would be tearing down that monstrosity of a highway instead of investing in repairs. But enough about that, because it’s time to sober up, walk up an appetite, and enjoy the undulations of a tidal estuary that’s posing as a river.

Afternoon Snack
Paris has its bistros. London has its pubs. Albany has its taverns. They are old, a little run down, but they are centers of the community. Every neighborhood has one. In the summertime they may seem a bit peculiar. But imagine an Albany winter that’s bleak and cold and bereft of hope. These beacons in the everlasting night offer the warmth of camaraderie, comfort foods, and plenty of everyday beer to wash it all down. Ralph’s is a great one, especially for the regional specialty of fried mozzarella with melba (AKA raspberry) sauce. It’s greasy, cheesy and sounds weird. But it effectively has the same flavor profile of baked brie en croute with jam. It’s just a working man’s version of the dish. Get that. Split an order.

Free Time
You may be tempted to take a nap. I don’t blame you. Or maybe just to sit down somewhere cool and not eat. Personally, I love malls. I enjoy people watching, and they are great for just walking around. Colonie Center is just around the corner from Ralph’s on Wolf Road. That’s where we keep all of our big chain restaurants. But the movie theater there is large, and relatively new. And there is a spiff L.L. Bean store to check out the kind of equipment you can use in all of the nature that surrounds Albany. When the kids get older, I really want to canoe with them.

Dinner
Forget the fancy places. You can get better fancy food elsewhere. Forget the ethnic places, as good as they are. We don’t have anything in Albany that you can’t find in the big city. But what we do have is our own style of fish fry. And it’s kind of ingenious. It both maximizes the ratio of golden crisp crust to moist flakey fish, and finds a way to do that without the breading getting soggy. How? Long narrow strips of the stuff are placed in plain hot dog buns. While the neon sign at Bob & Ron’s is totally rad, the fish fry itself is better at Ted’s on Wolf Road in Albany. Really, there are better versions across the river, but this one is absolutely solid, and will give you an appreciation for the form. They also do a really good job with fried oysters.

Drinks
Since the day has largely focused on the classic and the old, after dinner get back downtown for drinks at the new speakeasy in the basement of The City Beer Hall. You are going to need reservations and lots of cash. But you can ask their bartender to make you a potion that’s good for your digestion, and I bet that will fix you right up. As opposed to the other bars in town, this one is always quiet. Respect that.

Now have you done everything in Albany? Not really. But you’ve covered the major items. To get our miniature hot dogs with meat sauce, you really need to get to Troy (or at least Watervliet). Apple country is just about 20 minutes outside of town in any direction, and those orchards are home to our famous apple cider donuts. Our wings aren’t as good as Buffalo’s, but they are better than most of the country. Same thing goes for pizza, but mostly because the state of pizza in America is atrocious.

Others may suggest different itineraries for spending a day here, and I’d be curious to hear them. But I think this day really highlights the things that make Albany special. And maybe it’s still not quite worth a trip on its own. But if you are passing through, you should definitely stop and check some of this out.