Category — Restaurants

Back when Daniel B. posted on All Over Albany about Tacos at La Mexicana Grocery & Restaurant, Cute W and I sent each other the link with messages laden with multiple explanation points about how we must try it soon. But of course, the holidays were busy. Over the weekend, Cute W planned a menu out of one of his Rick Bayless cookbooks, so it was the perfect opportunity to shop and get some takeout at the same time.

Mmmm, it was a hit with the family. If you want the nuanced, well-considered, foodie review, check Daniel’s. I’ll give you J’s review. Regarding the chicken taco, she said, “I think that I have found something new which I adore.”

And the tacos are $2. So that’s awesome. Cheaper than Chipotle, for sure.

Of course, Cute W’s dish was delightful as well: tostadas with a black bean concoction, shredded chicken, romaine lettuce with a bit of dressing, Mexican cheese, roasted tomatillo salsa, and tomatoes. Just typing it is making me a little bit sad that the leftovers are gone.

Cute W is not the only cook in the family. J invented a new dessert recipe. Simply unscrew an Oreo, add a dollop of cranberry sauce, replace the tip, and voila! Very sophisticated if you are 7 years old. And Cute W thought it was tasty, too.

We went on a date on Wednesday! It was impressive, too, because instead of a movie-and-the-usual, we tried all new things.

First, we went to Blue Spice in Clifton Park for some Thai food. (By the way, if you don’t take your kids out for ethnic food, read my old post in which I urge you to try it!) This was our visit, and it was all very tasty. As soon as we started eating appetizers, I had to yank out the camera and take a photo, because I deemed it bl og-worthy. These are Crusty Crab in the foreground and these crazy beet-and-peanut wontons that were a special that night. They were so sweet that they almost seemed more like dessert than an appetizer, but still yummy.

We also loved both our entrees, a yellow curry and a drunken noodles dish. The only thing we didn’t love was the ginger iced tea, which was just too gingery for us, because we’re wimps.

We couldn’t finish all our food, but of course we always make room for dessert.

So we tried out 16 Handles, a fairly new make-your-own yogurt place. This is the most “family-friendly” portion of the date, so here’s how it works:

You grab a cup (in my opinion, even the smalls are pretty dang large):

Then you get yourself some yogurt from one of the many machines (16 flavors). Here I’d offer two tips. First, you can ask for teensy sample cups to taste, and second, go easy on the yogurt, because it’s really not about the yogurt. In my opinion.

Because there are roughly a ga-jillion toppings, including all the basics as well as non-basics.

Then they charge you by weight. Our not-particularly-overloaded small cups each cost about five dollars and change, which is a bit expensive.

Of course, you’re paying for the experience (which, it seems to me, could be splendidly fun or a freakin’ nightmare, depending on your children and their mood on that particular day), and for the opportunity to make something both creative and delicious.

I went with coffee & chocolate yogurts, topped with chocolate sprinkles, Heath bar, and brownie bits. The brownie bits were particularly yummy. Cute W had cake & chocolate yogurts and topped it with Cap’n Crunch cereal. As we say at our house, concerning taste there can be no argument.

Then we rolled ourselves out of the store and headed to Northern Lights to see The Airborne Toxic Event (if you don’t know them, they do that song Sometime Around Midnight). So, first of all, I was ambivalent about Northern Lights because, let’s face it, it’s in a strip mall. Also, I feared that we might be the oldest people there. But not only was it a friendly and enthusiastic mix of young and old (including some mom who brought her kids, which seemed somewhat ill-advised with the f-bombs and pot fumes floating about), and I almost felt magically transported to my 20s in New York City.

And the concert was great. Excellent music and likeable band. They seemed pretty super-pleased to be there. At the end, the lead singer, Mikel Jollett threw a water bottle into the crowd and I caught it and took a picture of it for you.

I snatched it up in the middle of concert fervor,  but once I took it home, I thought, “Well, that’s silly. I need to recycle this.” If it were Elvis’ water bottle (or, you know, John Lennon’s or Bruce Springsteen’s), I’d keep it forever, right?  Or sell it on E-bay? And if I were, say 12 years old, I’d be perfectly age-justified in keeping a water bottle, even if it just belonged to the cute boy in my social studies class. So I started to imagine a possible chart, where the X axis is the super-famousness of the water-bottle-drinker and the Y-axis is the age of the water-bottle-gatherer. And however that chart would be drawn, we’re clearly in the “just recycle the damn thing” zone of the chart.

Anyway, we had a wonderful date.

Sunday was Cute W’s birthday, and we ended up having an impromptu lunch party at Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Troy. We’d visited the one in Rochester, but this was my first time here in Troy.

Yes, I know: I try all these vegetarian and vegan recipes (like here and here), but the truth is, I love me some BBQ. So I was excited to visit and it didn’t disappoint. If you’re BBQ-inclined, I presume that you have your favorites already. Among our party, the adults were enthusiastic about the appetizer sampler platter, especially the fried green tomatoes and wings.  Here are some kids-in-the-restaurant-specific information that I gleaned from our visit.

First, they officially open at noon, but when I arrived at 12:01 pm there were people already seated with food, so you do the math. They don’t take reservations and they’re always busy, so timing is crucial. My more-prompt friend said that she saw people literally running through the parking lot to beat out other diners. It’s pretty frightening what big slabs of smoked pork can do to people.

Anyway, we were quite fortunate because with a grand total of 20 people, they opened up the small party room to the right of the foyer. There were three large tables, two small tables, and just enough space for a small conga line when the kids (10 of them altogether) got rowdy toward the end.

Obviously, we wouldn’t normally allow such shenanigans, but the room gave us a little freedom and made lunch much more relaxing in general.

The service was excellent. First the servers doled out coloring page/kids’ menus & crayons, and the children fell upon them with such concentration that it was comical. Seriously, I’m wondering if modern children have been trained to have this Pavlovian response when they get to chain restaurants, as if perhaps they fear that the food won’t arrive if they haven’t colored the placemat menu with proper diligence? The servers were also attentive with kid-savvy details like determining who got custody of the pitchers of drinks (not the kids), putting the kids’ orders in first, and providing little wet-naps for a pre-lunch wipedown.

I couldn’t find the kids’ menu online, so from what I remember, there were cheeseburger, pulled pork, or brisket sliders; chicken fingers; macaroni & cheese; and a couple of other options that I can’t remember as main dishes, along with two sides. For the kids, food received mixed reviews.

Chicken Fingers, Fried Rice, Fries

The chicken fingers, fries, and beans were enjoyed by all. The fried rice was just too weird-looking for most of the kids to look beyond for the try.  Usually my girls will give it a shot, but they focused on other options. They missed out, but I was happy to polish off their leftovers.

Cheeseburger slider, Macaroni & Cheese, Fries

The sliders were yummy but small. I know they’re sliders, but I had expected (without asking) two. The result was that the main dish was less than the sides, although, in fairness, it’s not as if the main dish is particularly more healthful than the sides, anyway. I mean, one doesn’t go out for BBQ for one’s health. But if you have a bigger kid, I’d ask for two sliders if that’s what your child wants to eat. Adults relished the macaroni & cheese, but it was too spicy and peppery for most of the kids. In fact, one of our young friends had recklessly ordered mac & cheese as both a main dish and one of her sides, so she was quite brutally disappointed. However her dad and (currently nursing) mom were happy to take on the burden of finishing it off for her. If your child’s a mac & cheese enthusiast, I’d suggest that you let her try some of yours before making a commitment.

By the end of the meal we were all too full for dessert. Cute W even waved off his free birthday pie, which is just inexcusable, in my opinion. But meanwhile the kids were getting antsy, as you can tell, and there were roughly a gajillion people waiting to sit down and eat. But it was so tasty and enjoyable that people were scheming to plan a regular party–the only way to reserve the room–and get together every few weeks.  The servers left us with a stack of temporary tattoos for the kids. Who doesn’t like temporary tattoos?

We spent Friday night at my sister’s.  I always say that if I had three times as much money and ten times as much personal style and I didn’t have children running my house, I’d have a house just like hers.  Everything is carefully chosen and beautiful.  But I have to say, we did provide her with one of her favorite decor items, and I thought that it might be one worth sharing as we head into Mother’s Day season.

It’s the vase.  Isn’t it cute?  The girls made it for her birthday a couple of years ago.  I believe that this was our single most successful crafty-kid gift ever.  You take a plain glass vase.  If you have a husband like mine, you might even have a few hanging  around from when you received flowers in them (isn’t he dreamy?), but you can also find them at dollar stores or event the floral department at the grocery for cheap, cheap, cheap.  Then you do a little découpage action:  just tear up tissue paper into smallish pieces, and maybe add some cut-out drawings or photos.  Then you put it all in front of your kids with a pile of Elmer’s and let them have at it.  What I like about this project is that so many projects I see in magazines look really gorgeous when the style editors put them together, but when actual children do it–not so pretty.  But this requires no skill, and you can mostly use stuff you have around the house, anyway.  And you don’t really have to help the kids:  just tell them to keep covering until they can’t see through it anywhere.

You may recall that we were racing back Upstate  so that we could make it to see Bill Cosby.  I had carefully planned that we would leave by 3 pm so that we could get home by 6 pm, unpack the car, and run as soon as the babysitter arrived at 6:30 pm so that we could hopefully pick up at least a snack before our 7 pm date with Bill.

We did an excellent job with leaving on time, which was good, because apparently I’d told the babysitter 6 pm. So, if you can believe this, we drove in from our 3-hour car ride at 5:55 pm to see said babysitter standing on our porch ringing the doorbell.  Phew!  Glad we made it!  Don’t want to irritate the babysitter!   It’s difficult to find someone we can all agree on.  We’ve had two different babysitters download programs onto our computer without even asking if they could use the computer.  We had a lovely, delightful high schooler who apparently spent a great deal of time on the phone.  And the most tragic, our sweet and helpful neighbor who was a teensy bit young when we first tried:  M ended up sobbing and told me, “I like her as a friend, but not as a babysitter!”  Apparently she was uncertain her friend could handle a major crisis.  Possible, I thought, but then I knew that any major crisis would bring her parents running up the street.  Whatever.  The girls are ridiculously fussy.  And it’s just so much more pleasant to leave when they’re happy instead of crying.    So when they’re happy with a babysitter, I don’t want to leave the babysitter stranded on the doorstep.  All I can say is, it’s a good thing that nobody had to pee on that trip.

Bill Cosby was funny. (Well, duh, you say.) There were definitely a ton of very old people in the audience, but you know the problem:  Bill is pretty old.  We laughed and laughed, though.  After the show we  hit  Bangkok Bistro for some snack food.  I’ve always like Bangkok Bistro, and the girls love to eat there, too.  I mean, as far as they’re concerned, you can’t possibly beat chicken on a stick.  But it was never super-pretty–particularly the entrance.  I swear, you’d walk in and your feet would stick to the disgusting, disgusting carpet.  In fact, we were discussing it earlier in the evening, if perhaps they would upgrade now that there’s so much activity in downtown Schenectady.  So, imagine our delight when, as we sat at the bar, we looked over and realized that there are new, stylish, and easily washable tiles in the entry foyer!  Hooray!  Even better:  there was a flyer saying that all appetizers at the bar are half price from 9 pm-12 am on Fridays and Saturdays. Woo, hoo!  We had two appetizers and W had a soda and our bill was $8.  Excellent.  So next time you hit the early movie for date night and you think, gosh, we should have spent some time talking to each other instead of looking at a giant screen, you can trot on over there.

As you can see, I’m way behind, but I fully intend to get the week’s activities out there soon.  Or, you know, soon-ish.

M enjoys chocolate.

That’s right, baby!  All of those seasonal fried-food-and-ice-cream places are gearing up!  Bring it. . . . b-r-i-n-g. . . i-t!

• The Control Tower on Route 7 opens Monday, March 15th.  Although I resent the new go carts and high prices, I love me a Chicken Caesar Wrap.
• Kurver Kreme on Central Avenue opens Monday, March 15th.  Always yummy, always crowded.
• Jumpin’ Jacks in Scotia opens Thursday March 25th.  Ah, an institution!  Better onion rings than CT, I think.  Also, the hill next to the dining area is a great place for finding milkweed plants and caterpillars.
• Bumpy’s Polar Freeze, which is on 2013 State Street, is likely to open for the last week of March.  The poor man–I called him within 5 minutes of his walking into the joint for the first time to get ready for the season.  They don’t have a website, so you can call 395-3314 to see if they’re available.
• I called Curry Freeze in Rotterdam, but I haven’t heard back yet and they’re opening on St. Patrick’s Day, March 17th.  They’ve got a swing set, too.
• I also called The Eatery @ Rte. Fore in East Greenbush, but. . . they’re open year-round!  How very awkward that was!
• Long after this post went up, a friend suggested the Country Drive-in on Vischer Ferry Road in Clifton Park for basic outdoorsy fare.

A bunch of places that are more food-and-entertainment-emporia, including the FunPlex in East Greenbush, Glenville Sportsplex, and Hoffman’s Playland, will open in April.

If this post has gotten you into the mood for ice cream, check out All Over Albany’s Ice Cream Tour of the area.  More blogginess: Momxchange talks Emack & Bolio’s for Birthdays, Albany Kid reviews Lickety Split in East Greenbush, Albany Eats suggests biking to Snowman in Troy, the Cone Zone in Guilderland is Examined,

J enjoys ice cream at the Control Tower, back when it had a lovely green field (sniff).

So, what’s your favorite place to go for ice cream or fried whatever in the summertime?

We ended up going to Cella Bistro last night.  Mmmmmm. . . wild mushroom salad.  Super tasty.  Today was the first day that I really felt like spring was around the corner.  The girls must have spent 2 hours playing in the backyard.

Cute husband’s working for the rest of the day (on a Sunday!  I know!), so I’ve barely scraped this post together–alas, no witty prose for you.  There are also a few different fun theater events coming up, so I’ll be posting about them sometime this week.   I also noticed, while I was poking around and looking for fun for you, that Tumbling Tykes is offering classes for the toddler/early preschool set in Clifton Park in March.

Meanwhile, here’s what else is going on:

Monday, February 22^nd

• The Little Book House at Stuyvesant Plaza has a Storytime at 11 am.
• At the Mont Pleasant Branch Library, they’re celebrating Chinese New Year with teens at 3:30 pm and for elementary school kids at 4:15 pm.

Tuesday, February 23^rd

• The Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library has a drop-in Storytime for 4- to 6-year-olds at 10:15 am or 1:15 pm
• The Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library has a Pajama Storytime at 5:45 pm or 6:30 pm.
• At 6:30 pm, there’s a Pajama Storytime at the Niskayuna Branch Library.
  
• The Bethlehem Public Library has Pajama-Rama at 7 pm. It’s designed for kids 3 to 6.
• The Albany Jewish Community Center has their Annual Purim Carnival from 5:30-8 pm. They’ll also have information about their summer camp.

Wednesday, February 24^th

• At 10 am there’s a Storytime at the Quaker Street Branch Library.
• Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library has a Storytime for 2- and 3-year-olds at 10:30 am.
• Moreau Lake State Park has a Snowshoe Hike to Potter’s Point from 1 to 4 pm.
• The Clifton Park-Halfmoon Library has a Storytime for 3- to 6-year-olds at 1:15 pm.

Thursday, February 25^th

• The Schenectady Museum’s FETCH! Lab is Float My Boat. It’s from 2:30-4 pm on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. Free with museum admission
• Moreau Lake State Park has a Hudson River Eagle Watch from 10 am to noon.
• At 10:30 am, there’s a Family Storytime at Schenectady’s main branch.
  
• Saratoga Spa State Park has a Preschool Naturalists program at 11 am. It’s $3 per child or $5/family, and you have to register.
• The Duane Branch Library has a Chinese New Year Celebration for kids in grades 6 to 10 at 3:30 pm and for elementary school kids at 4:15 pm.
  
• The Barnes and Noble in Niskayuna has a Teen Book Club at 7 pm.

Friday, February 26th

• There’s a Porcupine Dine Snowshoe Hike at Moreau Lake State Park at 10 am.
• Doktor Kaboom! is at the Palace Theatre at 10:30 am. I’m a liar.  It’s next month.  But you can get a group together now to go for the discount, so it’s not a total loss, right?
• At 10:30 am there’s a Family Storytime at the Scotia Branch Library.
• There’s a Lions and Lambs Storytime at the Colonie Center Barnes & Noble at 11 am.
• At Schodack Island State Park, there’s night ice skating until 8 pm.

Know about some other fun going on in the Capital District?  We’d all love to hear about it.

Wow, when it’s this cold, I just want to stay inside.  Luckily, there’s lots to do this weekend, but the freezing weather and a visit to Mohawk Commons last night reminded me that I have another list I’m working on, which I like to call  “Indoor Desperation”.  You know–for when you must get out of the house,  but it’s cold or rainy and so you’re looking for something indoors.  Now, I already have a list of Indoor Playtime spots on the Big Ol’ List of Links, but some days you just have an hour to kill, or you’re feeling cheap, or whatever.  So if you have suggestions that you think might be appropriate for the Indoor Desperation list, please do email me.

One of my best timekillers-with-little-kids has always been that strip in Mohawk Commons that includes Old Navy, Petsmart, and Barnes & Noble.  Years ago, now, Old Navy had that cute talking dog.  Last night I visited, and they had some groovy game projected on the floor that had kids kicking a virtual ball around.  In fact, one family was so busy playing that I didn’t even get a chance to try it out.  So if you need to kill some time (or you’re dying for a pair of flipflops), Old Navy is your destination.  Then, of course, Petsmart has animals.  With the under-six set, you can spend an hour there, especially if they’re grooming dogs or they have the cats out for adoption.  And Barnes & Noble!  So many fond memories from around the Thomas table.  Like the time I told 3-year-old M that she had 5 more minutes because J had a pooper.  And, like, 3 different adults stumbled over each other to offer to watch M so that I could go change the pooper right away.  Wow, thought I, she must smell extraordinarily bad.  Poor little stinkball.

Anyway, we’re heading out to store up an insulating layer of fat, ourselves.  On Saturday mornings, we usually split up for classes and then spend a little Quality Time and lunch as a date, 1 parent per child.  But this week my cute husband has another engagement, so we girls are headed over to the Golden Phoenix.  While it’s not overwhelmingly authentic, the buffet has kid delights like dumplings and mandarin oranges and jello, while I get some Mongolian barbecue.  And we all appreciate a self-serve ice cream machine.  And J could easily spend half an hour at the little fish pond if I ever let her–it would be great for killing time if we ordered food, but there’s no need to kill time.  Nothing like a buffet for immediate gratification-yum.

Stay warm!

Voici, c’est la raison que j’aime travailler sur ce blog.  Et aussi, la raison que j’aime le Google translate.  Okay, I’m getting silly now, but between my lapsed college French and Google translate, I can sound convincing as. . . someone who used to vaguely know some French.   As I was saying, this is why I love working on this blog.  Because in the process of looking for teensy baby activities, I stumble across other things, like the fact that you can go to Chez Daisie in Schenectady every third Wednesday evening of the month to hang out and speak French!

Will I ever actually get around to doing this. . . peut-être non.  But do I like the idea that I could? Mais oui!

Over my oatmeal this morning, I read in the Gazette that Hot Harry’s on Union Street in Schenectady will be opening for lunch today.  Don’t bother to click on the Gazette link unless you’re already a subscriber: they are one of those websites that make you pay for the privilege of reading them (bitter?  yes, I am).  I tried to find a better link for you, especially when I heard that they have a group on Facebook.  But when I started to look, “hot harry” pulled up more than 1000 groups.  First, “Prince Harry is Hot”.  Well, maybe, in a “bad boy” sort of way, but I think that it’s really crown-related.  Then many “Harry Potter is Hot” variations:  he’s always seemed delicate and childlike for me, but perhaps that’s because he’s practically a child, which can’t be helped.  And it’s true that he’s been working out. . . . But anyway, for those who don’t know, there was a fire at Harry’s and it was closed for quite a while, making our family rather sad.  Now, for my grown-up tastes, I’d go for Chipotle any day (it also has grass-fed beef and other animals that were at least happy before that last bad day).  In my opinion, Hot Harry’s is a little bit more basic and less flavorful, but let’s face it:  that’s great when you’re trying to feed children.  And they have a super-yummy self-serve salsa bar which can convert dull to delicious.  And we can walk there!  Excellent, because after a large burrito, you feel like you need to take a walk.  So, hooray for Harry’s, glad to have them back!

Meanwhile, in the Albany Times-Union, there’s an article about the impending move for  Seton Health/St. Mary’s birthing center to the Burdett Care Center, which is part of the hospital merger in Troy.   There’s quite a stir over whether the new care center will preserve the “midwifery model” of care.   I love midwives.  Midwives “caught” both of my girls, even though after an incredibly long natural labor & childbirth for M, I decided to drug myself up for J’s birth.   So, it’s not like I’m a natural childbirth activist by any means.

But this reminds me of what happened when I first moved here.  I must have been about 7 months pregnant with M, and we were still commuting up from Brooklyn on the weekends to house hunt and make other arrangements, like finding someone to help us with M’s birth.  At that point, little M was breech, and being first-time parents, we were worried.  First, we visited a doctor.  He was deeply concerned that M was still head’s up.  Well, we asked, is there anything that we can do?  Nothing, he answered, and he literally pulled out an appointment book to talk about tentative timing for a C-section!  Wade and I left nauseated by stress.  Then we visited a midwife.  She said, these babies have a way of getting ready in time–I wouldn’t worry.  Well, meanwhile, we asked, is there anything that we can do?  She pulled out a sheet printed with different ideas of things for me to do at home to encourage M to turn around.  Did some of them seem a little “out there”?  Yes.  Did I do them anyway?  Heck, yeah!   Who knows if I helped the situation, but feeling less powerless sure helped us.  And, sure, there are fabulous doctors, and there must be a god-awful mean midwife out there somewhere, but that’s my little bit of anecdotal evidence.  If, after reading this and the statistics in the article,  you’re feeling inspired to support the midwifery model, there’s a petition going around.

Usually I give you the weekend plans closer to the actual weekend, but there’s a big-deal event that’s really not for the family, anyway.  It’s the Albany Chefs’ Food and Wine Festival, and there are several events, but the cheapest you’ll manage is $50/person.   From what I hear, there are all sorts of delicious items to eat and drink, so I’m sure that you could make it worth your while if you’re willing to eat and drink to excess.  Hey, forget the babysitter!  Maybe you should let your significant other stay home with the kids, and you can take a pregnant friend along so that she can be your designated driver!