Beer, Booze & Brunch
Last weekend I got to organize something amazing. I say organize, because part of my “day job” is to put together Official Yelp Events with local businesses.
We call them OYEs and they are always a lot of fun. They are free, private events for the Yelp community, where businesses have a chance to demonstrate what it is that makes them super special.
There are people like me who work for Yelp in cities all around the world. And we all take different approaches to event planning. Mine is finding a great partner, who understands the value of the opportunity, and letting them run with it. Kurt from Artisanal Brew Works in Saratoga Springs got in touch with me over the summer, and wanted to get the Yelp community into his brewery. We found a date in September that worked for everybody. And from there, Dan Kravitz who is the new General Manager over at Artisanal took over.
Dan brought a couple other partners on board. Upstate Distilling Company has its still and tasting room in the same building as Artisanal Brew Works. Ryen and Glenna were giving tours and pouring samples of their spirits to taste. Chef Jeremy Roosa worked with Dan at The Bier Abbey, and is now working to elevate the food program at Gaffney’s. Currently his brunch menu runs on Sundays, and he agreed to come in and cook a few of his favorite dishes.
Coming out of this event, there are a few things I realized you should know.
Restaurants, Food Culture, and Lists
Lists. So many lists.
One of these days I need to talk with you all about the recent list from the Daily Gazette about the best apple cider donuts in the region. Their poll was interesting. But I’m not really concerned with the results and how far off it is from the findings of the Tour de Cider Donut. But the story did identify donut places which were off my radar. And at this point, that is just confounding.
The other big newspaper made another big list. The Times Union posted the Capital Region’s 50 Essential Restaurants. Usually, I hate these things, because they are awful. But this year’s list included some off the beaten path places, making it a decided improvement on previous attempts.
There is actually one list I look forward to reading every week. It comes out on Wednesdays. And that is What’s up in the Neighborhood on All Over Albany. It’s a list of interesting stories about the region, written by local bloggers.
This list has been getting smaller over the years as people give up writing blogs for other pursuits. But some of us persist. Some of us even persist writing about the Capital Region after we move away. And AOA picked up such a post from Greg K. which just so happens to contain yet another list.
Harvest Evening Celebration
Today for breakfast I had some greek yogurt with granola and walnuts. Little Miss Fussy had Cheerios with nutritional yeast. The young man had peanut butter and honey in a bowl, with some skim milk to wash it down.
He brought $3.05 to school so he could buy the one hot lunch that’s not completely disgusting. It’s called Italian dunkers. As far as I can tell it’s deconstructed pizza, which is funny because the he doesn’t care for pizza. The meal consists of bread sticks, fried cheese sticks, and some kind of tomato sauce.
Little Miss Fussy was sent off with a ham sandwich made with 100% whole wheat bread and the exquisite european-style ham from Niman Ranch. That was accompanied by a half cup each of frozen peas and frozen mango. Snack was a bag of Trader Joe’s cheese puffs.
I’ll try to have a light lunch, probably assembled from leftovers in the fridge, because tonight I’m abandoning my family to try My Dacha, the newish Slavonian restaurant on Lark Street with a few people from the local Yelp community. Mrs. Fussy will feed the kids something. I have no idea what. There is plenty of food in the house.
Bear with me for a moment, because the above list of foods is about a much larger point.
Hot for Fall
One of my friends closed up her pool for the season. A couple of weeks ago. I bet she’s regretting that choice. But how could anyone have ever known that the climate might be changing?
It’s fall. Oh yes it is. I can tell by all those leaves on the lawn. I think they are simply falling out of habit though. Because it still feels like summer. And in some ways, it’s positively gorgeous out there. Don’t think for a second I’m complaining.
The things that are causing me trouble are problems of my own making.
So About That Diet…
Tomorrow is Rosh Hashanah. It’s the Jewish New Year. And while it’s different than the secular new year, it does pose yet another time for self reflection. Granted, one’s spiritual fulfillment should probably not be pegged to such earthly desires as wanting to drop ten pounds or so. But the idea of taking better care of your body is probably well within the parameters of the day.
For the past several weeks, I have been hinting that some version of my past diet had resurrected itself from the embers. And I have been meaning to tell you all about it. Because how can a donut tour fit into an effective and meaningful healthy diet?
Well, I think I’ve found the way.
Trial by Combat 2017
Yesterday, we left off with three identical bags of glorious local ingredients sourced from the Troy Waterfront Farmers’ Market. And hopefully you were thinking about what delicious dishes those ingredients could make.
The participating chefs only had thirty minutes to transform them into three portions of a single dish. If that wasn’t challenging enough, they had to cook outside from their tent in The Enchanted City.
Two of the chefs had done this before. Gladys Hirsch competed for the first time last year under the La Petite Crêpe banner. This year she was representing her newest venture Mab’s Kitchen. Marla Ortega from Illium Cafe was the defending champ. Actually, you can see the run down of last year’s dishes here. DeFazio’s was the new kid on the block, and John DeFazio was attempting to assemble a dish using nothing but a wood burning stove.
Here’s how it all went down.
Ten Farms in a Basket
Happy Monday! This week is madness. Rosh Hashana starts Wednesday night, so there will be no post on Thursday. I know that a day without Fussy is like a day without sunshine. Fortunately, we’ll have plenty of sunshine this week. So, crisis averted.
Saturday is an Official Yelp Event. We are having a Beer Brunch at Artisanal Brew Works in Saratoga Springs. But that name doesn’t quite do the event justice. Upstate Distilling Co. has signed on to participate in the event, so there will be spirit samples too, including bloody marys made from their vodka which is made in the very same building as the brewery. Also chef Jeremy Roosa is now in Saratoga Springs at Gaffney’s and doing great things with brunch. He’s going to be cooking a few of his favorite dishes at the event for us to try.
You should come. It’s free for anyone with a Yelp account, and as of this moment, there is still space. The link to all the details, including the button to submit an RSVP and get on the guest list, is here.
Last night, I had to miss Josh’s and Michael’s dinner at Peck’s Arcade. Some of you went. Now I’ll just have to hear the tales from those who got a taste. The story I have to tell today is from Saturday’s cooking competition at The Enchanted City in Troy. But there is so much to tell, that I’m going to have to break it up into two posts.
Today is the Pretty Woman part and tomorrow will be more like Chopped, or Hell’s Kitchen, or maybe more like 30 Minute Meals. For those who like pictures, you’re in luck. Today we’ve got a lot from some amazing vendors at the Troy Waterfront Farmers’ Market. Because that was the source for ingredients in the Trial by Combat cooking competition.
A Grain of Salt
Even before it was my job, I read Yelp reviews like it was my job. They are an amazing resource for keeping up with not just the food landscape of a region, but the ongoing output of a restaurant.
There are some people who believe that Yelp is a better tool than the Michelin Guide for staying on top of the world’s best restaurants, because while the guide is amazing in its meticulous attention to detail, it only comes out once a year. On the other hand, if a three-star temple of fine dining starts to slip, it will be all over Yelp long before the next Michelin Guide is published.
But today I want to talk about something else inspired by a Yelp review. Review might be a little generous, because it was one of the less helpful write ups and more of a bitter screed about something off at the business. But before jumping into the pool of negativity and getting to use all the fun words that come with it, the reviewer prefaced his write up with a line that got me thinking.
“Take this with a grain of salt.”
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