Albany and Central New York Restaurants
We’ve compiled the best of the best in Albany and Central New York - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
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We’ve compiled the best of the best in Albany and Central New York - browse our top choices for Restaurants during your stay.
The brewpub occupies a circa-1850 riverside warehouse. In warm weather, locals linger on the outdoor deck overlooking the Hudson; inside, exposed-brick walls set off local memorabilia, antiques, and old photos. A slew of beers is concocted on-site, including the smooth oatmeal stout, which won a gold medal at the World Beer Cup. The pub menu has been expanded and offers classics like burgers as well as sophisticated seafood dishes.
Locals love this place and have savored its Italian specialties since 1943. Start with the clams in wine, butter, oil, and garlic, or a hot antipasto. For a main course, consider the braciola, a longtime favorite; the tender rolls of beef are filled with sausage and baked in meat sauce. The restaurant is part of Schenectady's emerging Little Italy community on North Jay Street.
Utica's Italian community has gathered for years at Delmonico's, which bills itself as a steak house but really dishes up some of the region's most authentic Italian food. For an appetizer, try some Utica greens—sturdy greens cooked with olive oil, hot and sweet peppers, ham, and cheese. Rachel Ray did, and loved them so much she devoted a show to them. If you're not too full from the huge portions, sample the chicken Sinatra, which is simmered with hot peppers, mozzarella, and mushrooms. A waitress in pinstripes and a fedora will bring your food and offer you a selection from a long and tasty wine list.
Everyone knows this big, busy restaurant 3 mi north of Amsterdam—including Hillary Clinton, who lunched here during her 1999 Senate campaign. Dining is casual, in cozy booths or at tables in wood-paneled nooks. Specialties include beef-and-seafood combo plates, such as salmon and filet mignon or Alaskan king crab and prime rib. Help yourself at the soup-and-salad bar.
At this Italian restaurant you can enjoy an intimate meal or just sip cocktails at the bar and listen to live piano music. The walls are covered with photographs of celebrities who have visited since the place opened in 1908. The menu offers pasta and seafood dishes as well as traditional preparations like manicotti and chicken cacciatore. The fried meatballs (greasy and rich as they are) are a popular appetizer. The cocktails are imaginative and generally well mixed. Try the Savoy Manhattan for a smooth, refreshing twist on an upstate favorite. The bar, separate from the dining room, has intimate seating.
A hostess dressed in a kimono is likely to greet you at this bright and airy restaurant with pale wood furnishings. A sushi bar serves a large selection of sushi and sashimi combinations; entrées include teriyaki, tempura, and kutsu dishes as well as Thai curries and noodles. Try the ika yaki (grilled squid in teriyaki sauce) or the fried soft-shell crab for a truly delicious indulgence.
This intimate restaurant draws mostly business executives who come to savor curry and coconut-milk dishes. The menu, a blend of Indonesian and Continental fare, includes winners such as pistachio-crusted chicken breast in Madeira sauce and rack of lamb. If you want an experience to savor and linger over, order the Rijstaffel, a five-course Indonesian-style meal that includes appetizer, soup, salad, entrées, and condiments. For dessert consider the Kentucky bourbon nut pie. The wine list, covering more than 700 bottles, has been lauded by Wine Spectator.
Thanks to the meticulous owners, you'd never know that this 1860 castle, now a fine American restaurant, had survived fires and years of abandonment. The place is said to be inhabited by ghosts, and that's not hard to imagine. Stone archways separate the five cozy dining rooms, where white cloths cover the tables. The food doesn't detract from the haunting ambience. Many entrées come grilled, such as pork loin with compote or honey-glazed duck with fig relish. Meat-free dishes like terrine of grilled vegetables also appear on the menu. For a really spooky treat, have a drink in the dungeon, located in the castle's basement. The restaurant is 6 mi east of the center of Little Falls.
A favorite of local politicos, this intimate, wood-paneled eatery serves northern Italian and Mediterranean food. The breads and pastas are made on-site, and you can't miss with the risotto of the day.
This family restaurant, a favorite for two decades, occupies a brick storefront with tin ceilings and Tiffany lamps. The kitchen serves traditional Italian dishes as well as local specialties such as chicken "riggies" (bite-size chunks of chicken breast tossed with pasta, hot and sweet peppers, cheese, and onions). Sip a selection from the nice wine and cognac list.
The menu of this tiny basement eatery offers a smattering of inexpensive dishes from Thailand, Mexico, England, Italy, and the Middle East. There's counter service only and just a few tables. Top a quick chimichanga with fresh fixings from the salsa bar.
Since 1938 this casual restaurant has been serving such Southern favorites as fried chicken, ribs, pork chops, and jambalaya—a warm welcome to those born south of the Mason-Dixon. Meals include homemade biscuits and corn bread and a choice of sides, including macaroni and cheese and sweet potatoes. In nice weather you can eat on the courtyard patio. Inside, tables—in checkered cloths—crowd together; overhead fans and a banging screen door keep the air circulating. The place does not take reservations in July and August; you just show up and wait.
For great seafood, this Albany establishment with tiled floors, white tablecloths, dark wood, and polite service is the place to go. Two menus are offered at dinner: one has dishes from 1913, the year Jack's opened, and the other lists more-contemporary preparations. Oysters, steak, and prime rib are regular features. Signature dishes from the 1913 menu include calves' liver sautéed with bacon, and Jack's Seafood Grille, which contains scallops, shrimp, and salmon.
You can watch life on the lake go by from this shipshape casual dockside restaurant that's part of a motel complex. Prime rib is a favorite here, and seafood au gratin—lobster, shrimp, and scallops smothered in a white wine–cream sauce and cheddar cheese—is rich. The food is good, but the view is the real reason diners head here.
Veal Scorsese, one of the more popular entrées at this northern Italian restaurant, is named for Martin Scorsese, who dined here regularly while directing The Age of Innocence. The dish pairs wafer-thin pieces of veal with mushrooms, artichoke hearts, prosciutto, and capers, all covered with cooked tomatoes. Fresh seafood and pasta dishes are also good choices.
Young professionals, important legislators, and out-of-towners flock here to eat northern and southern Italian fare in a dining room where casual clothes mix easily with jackets and ties. Lombardo's is known for veal, pasta, and seafood dishes, and has some of the best waiters in the region. The lengthy menu manages to be a mix of sophistication and comfort food. The shrimp wrapped in savory prosciutto and silky mozzarella and baked in tomatoes is a winner.
Whether you're looking for drinks or an interesting meal, this always-crowded spot is the place to see and be seen in Albany. The innovative chef has put together a menu that ranges from Kobe steaks to Peking duck breast to tandoori pork tenderloin. Appetizers include yellowfin tuna and fig salad.
The restaurant is part of the Beeches, an estate with a lovely manor house. The place serves top-quality Continental fare that's full of flavor and attractively presented. Rack of pork, rarely encountered on menus in these parts, is marinated and slow roasted so that it melts in your mouth. Salmon steaks are broiled and dressed with the restaurant's tasty dill sauce. The dining room, with a large fireplace and hand-painted ceiling panels, exudes 1920s style. The chandelier, crafted by Raulli Ironworks of Rome, is original.
Shirt-and-tie wearers mix with jeans-and-sneakers types at this tiny Italian diner across the street from Union College. The best seats are at the counter, where you can watch the soup simmer and smell the tomato sauce. Melt-in-your-mouth eggplant parmigiana sandwiches are the specialty. Daily pasta dishes might include spaghetti, ravioli, or linguine with red or white clam sauce. On a cold day, warm up with a bowl of stracciatelli (a soup made with eggs, semolina, and cheese).
You can smell the smoke pit for miles before you pass this '50s-style drive-in. Seating at this seasonal local favorite just south of Spa State Park on U.S. 9 is either under a roof shared with the kitchen and order counter or at outdoor picnic tables; a small section has table service. Chicken, ribs, and beef brisket are the specialties, but you can come just to have ice cream, listen to the DJ spinning oldies, and gaze at the classic cars that congregate in the lot on Saturday night.
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