Dan's Place Two

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Category: Restaurant Reviews

In a time where most restaurants and diners are face-lifting their decor or their menu in attempts to change with the times, you will find that 'one' diner that will stand their ground. No frills, no fancies, just a straight up, hole in the wall diner. Dan's Place Two is that diner.

Dan's Place Two is located at 494 Washington Avenue in lower Albany (as in not quite downtown). If you drive down Washington Avenue frequently, and can't seem to put your finger on where this place is, don't feel bad. Unless you know exactly what you're looking for, or you're a regular, you'll miss it every time. It's almost literally a hole in the wall. Inside, you will find no frills. There's a diner counter along the left side, and roughly 3-4 tables on the right.

Just like an old fashioned diner, you're greeted immediately when you walk in. We found the place was pretty hopping, and the chef seemed to know just about everyone seated there. The chef grabbed us coffees while we waited for the waitress. Brian ordered their "Beat the House," which was eggs, choice of meat (he chose sausage), potatoes, and toast. I ordered French Toast (of course), with a side of their corned beef hash. Now, one of the internet reviews I found raves about their corned beef hash, so I presumed it was homemade. You'll enjoy the following conversation I had with our waitress:

Me: Is your corned beef hash homemade?

Waitress: No

Me: Oh ... *disappointed face* So it's out of a can.

Waitress: Yes, it's chef made. The chef makes it.

Me: *confused face* So it is homemade.

Waitress: No, it's out of a can, but it's chef made. It's really good, we sell a lot of it.

By this time, Brian was done with being amused at the exchage, and advised me to order the hash.

With the grill just off to the side, we were able to watch. The impressive part was that the chef didn't use tickets. The waitress called out the orders, and he memorized all of them. Like I said; impressive.

Our meals arrived. For Brian's platter, the sausage was absolutely amazing. It was crisp on the outside, juicy on the inside, and filled with flavor. Either they make it in house, or they have a damned good supplier. The eggs were nice and fluffy, but in desperate need of salt and pepper. In much the same way, the potatoes were cooked perfectly; they were fall apart tender on the inside, and delightfully crispy on the outside, but suffered from a screaming lack of flavor.

My french toast was no frills. Three slices of bread, and for once they were soaked in the batter! Why is it only an old school diner can get this right? They were eggy in the middle, which is how I liked it. Granted, I can make the same french toast at home, but isn't that part of why you go out to eat at a diner? Home cooking with no hassle. The dish came complete with a glob of butter on the side of the plate (this made me chuckle), and a ginormous bottle of Aunt Jemima's syrup. No frills. They don't even put the syrup into another container.

Oh, and the corned beef hash was slung out of a can. Sure, the chef made it by crisping it up on the grill, but by that definition everything on the menu is chef made! I had several laughs on this one. Part of me feels like it's my duty to bring in homemade hash one day. I know they rave about theirs, and apparently some customers do to, but in my opinion the difference is night and day.

The gist? While I won't go out of my way for a revisit to Dan's, if I found myself in the area and hungry for breakfast, I'd more than likely stop by. I'll just avoid the hash :)

"Beat the House" Platter	French Toast

Corned Beef Hash

Milestone Restaurant & Bar

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Category: Restaurant Reviews

Milestone Restaurant & Bar is located in Glenmont, just off to the side of Route 9W. From the outside, you don't really know what to expect. The building seems non-descript, and with a restaurant/bar that shares lot space with a hotel, you wouldn't think it would be a place to find gourmet fare. All I have to say is, prepare to be wonderfully surprised.

Inside, the restaurant is divided into two separate spaces. There's the lounge area, that hosts the bar, and is their more 'casual' seating. Though we chose to be seated in the second space (the dining room), I snuck a small peek at the lounge, and loved the fresh, warm tones. The second space, the dining room, is elegantly decorated from start to finish. There's a delicate balance of rustic and fresh that makes the space warm and inviting.

The service I'll mention next, because it's top notch and deserves to be highlighted. From the hostess, to the server, everyone was friendly, attentive, knowledgeable, and accommodating. I can't say enough about the service. It was just impeccable. Every aspect was some of the highest quality I've ever seen.

The theme of elegance, and high quality continued through the food. For appetizers, we ordered the Blue Cheese Chips ($8), and BBQ Pork Dumplings ($9). The chips were cooked well, but there were a few that were on the greasy side. Also, the chips really didn't hold up well to the sauce, resulting in a few that were limp. The sauce could have used a punch of flavor. Though the blue cheese crumbles were quite flavorful, there weren't enough of them to balance the bland mornay.

Now, I know what you may be thinking. How can I rave about a theme of elegance, and high quality while having picky notes about the chips? Quite frankly, even having my picky notes, they were not enough to completely detract from what was still a tasty dish. Though I might not order the chips a second time, they were worth ordering the first time.

Our second appetizer, the BBQ Pork Dumplings, were out of this world. The pork was tender, and juicy. The BBQ sauce was sweet, tangy, and absolutely incredible. I almost wished there was a bottle of that on the table alone (or available for sale!). The blue cheese crumbles on top added an awesome smokiness, that just brought it all together. If I had one critigue, it would be that the 'dumpling' component really served no purpose. Just pile that pork on a plate, doused with sauce, and topped with blue cheese, and call it a day. I can't say enough about that pork, and sauce. Honestly, there are BBQ joints in the area that could stand to take some notes on how this pork was done.

Our entrees we ordered off their specials menu. Initially, we were going to order from Mileston'es regular dinner menu, but the menu components had changed drastically from the last time we were there for Restaurant Week a couple of months ago. Though we were sad that the menu had changed, we understand that's just the way things work sometimes. Given that new information, the specials menu stood out to us more than the regular menu.

Brian ordered the Seafood Risotto ($29), and I ordered the Rack of Lamb with Goat Cheese & Rosemary Bread Pudding ($35). The risotto was out of this world, amazing, and to die for. Instead of using cream, or chicken stock, the base of the risotto was made with lobster bisque. That bisque was a stroke of genius. It's the first time we've seen that done with risotto and it paid off in spades. The rice itself was cooked to absolute perfection. There were huge chunks of perfectly cooked scallops, lobster, and shrimp without tails. Every bite of the risotto was rich, and heavenly. I wish this dish was on their regular menu.

The rack of lamb was cooked to perfection. It needed a little salt, but it was seared perfectly, cooked to a perfect medium rare, and was tender and juicy. It almost looked too good to eat. By contrast, the sides were alightly underwhelming. Our waiter had forgotten that the dish came with the Goat Cheese & Rosemary Bread Pudding, and had given me choices of different starches. I was confused, and ordered the baked potato, but was looking forward to the bread pudding. I finally asked the waiter about the pudding once I saw my dish, and being the exceptional waiter that he was, I received the bread pudding within minutes. The savory bread pudding was intriguing. It had a nice, warm, floral, and rich flavor. Unfortunately, I think it suffered from slight dryness. It wasn't overly dry, but it was still just out of balance. I give Milestone sredit for doing a savory bread pudding. With a little more moisture, it would've been perfect.

Overall, the visit to Milestone was delightful. It's a pricey venture, but the service and food quality make the indulgence well worth it.

Rack of Lamb	Seafood Risotto

Blue Cheese Chips (top), BBQ Pork Dumplings (bottom)

Gateway Diner

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Written by Brian

Category: Restaurant Reviews

Gateway Diner is located on Central Ave near Colvin.  I used to go to Gateway Diner all the time when I lived in the area, and it has undergone some renovations several years ago, so I was excited to see the new setup and try the food I remembered.  Just like everything you remember as a kid, it is nowhere near as good as I remembered.

After being sat, it was about 5 minutes until our waitress came over to greet us.  Her greeting was, "what can I get you".  No hello, or my name is, just straight to the point.  We asked if there were onions or peppers in their homemade corned beef hash, and she said no, but the can add them.  We ordered them plain.  They also had canned corned beef, which was interesting.

I ordered chocolate chip pancakes.  Awful. They looked good when the came out, but the bottoms of all of them were completely burned.  I mean black, not just a little overcooked.  I counted 7 chocolate chips in one of my pancakes.  If it is going to cost an extra dollar for chocolate chips, there should be more than 7.  One pancake was so murdered that I just set it aside and tried the others.  They were fluffy, but even without the burnt flavor, they had a strange aftertaste.

My date ordered french toast.  The bread barely had any batter on it, so it was quiet dry, and the parts that had the batter were rock hard, it was almost like the batter caramelized instead of cooking properly.

The homemade corned beef hash came out, and had a ton of onion in it.  Even though we were told it didn't.  It also had a bit of a strange taste to it, and parts of it were burned.  I would order the canned crap over this (which might explain why they have both)

Service was poor throughout the meal.  I eventually got a refill of my soda, and it was diet, not regular that I had been drinking.

Gateway Diner was just awful.  I wish I had never gone back, so I could have just remembered it as how it was.  If you are thinking about going there, I would recommend dumping your money into a hole.  You'll get about the same amount of enjoyment, and you'll still be hungry afterwards.

Gateway Diner has earned the right to be my first 1 Fork rating.

Chocolate Chip Pancakes	French Toast

Homemade Corned Beef

Peaches Cafe

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Written by Brian

Category: Restaurant Reviews

Peaches Cafe is located in Stuyvesant Plaza, it is well known in the area for it's brunch offerings. 

I ordered the Strawberry and Cream French Toast - $8.50.  It is two pieces of French toast with cream cheese and a strawberry compote.  I wasn't a fan of this dish at all.  The french toast had very little batter on it, so it was very dry.  The cream cheese was just a big lump in the middle, not spread out at all, and the strawbery compote was warm and tasted like it was out of a can.  I scraped all the compote and cream cheese off and doused the french toast in syrup, and it still wasn't very good.  I have nothing nice to say about the dish at all.

She had the banana bread french toast - $8.95.  Two nice big pieces of banana bread dipped in a cinnamon batter.  The banana bread was flavorful, but again, the batter didn't soak past the outside of the bread, so flavorful bread wasn't able to make the batter's shortcomings (it was very dry).  The menu describes this dish as, "so good you won't need syrup, but we'll bring some anyway".  I agree with the statement.  Although a bit of syrup makes it even better.

We also ordered a side of corned beef hash because the waitress said it was homemade.  We had the option of adding peppers and onions, but I decided traditional was the way to go.  This was amazing.  Normally you have a bunch of potatoes with some corned beef in it, in this case it was a bunch of corned beef with a couple potato pieces thrown in.  It was well seasoned and still seemed creamy.  I almost would have preferred a bit more potatoes in the mix, and a bit more of a crisp to it, but was it was, it was a complete home run.  I would highly recommend this to anyone stopping in.

The hostess (also the owner) was friendly and greeted us immediately, even though there was a very short wait for a table, and our server was pleasant and suggested the corned beef hash, so that is a definitely a positive.

Overall, the service was friendly and our sides were amazing, but the entrees need some work.

Strawberry and Cream French Toast	Banana Bread French Toast

Homemade Corned Beef

Delma's Diner

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Category: Restaurant Reviews

Delma's Diner is located on Central Avenue near Fuller Road. It shares a parking lot with the Kurver ice cream shop. The location may sound familiar as the previous site of Pancho's Mexican Restaurant.

When you walk into Delma's, the decor is confusing to say the least. So much of the Mexican theme remains, including the layout, the hacienda style stucco above the booths, the colorful seatbacks of the booths, and matching colorful carpet. The new restaurant is supposed to be Italian themed, but the only signs of that are the window treatments that clash with the rest of the decor.

We were seated promptly, and immediately greeted by our waitress. She was very friendly, conversational without it being too much, and she really knew the menu. We were impressed.

The actual menu at Delma's took us on another journey of confusion. There was diner fare, Mexican fare, and Italian fare all made by an Italian chef. There's no real clear focus, which begs the question of what do they specialize in? It also lends itself to a very large , and overwhelming menu.

We decided on breakfast. I ordered the homemade Challah Bread French Toast with a side of Bacon ($7). Brian ordered the Belgian Waffle with Strawberries and Whipped Cream plus a side of Bacon ($9). We were asked how we liked our bacon cooked. I ordered mine less than crispy, and Brian ordered his crispy. I was also intrigued by their homemade Corned Beef Hash and ordered a side of that as well ($4). Curiously enough, Delma's also keeps the canned Corned Beef Hash on stock as well. I'm not sure why. I know if I had a choice between canned and homemade, I'd choose homemade every time.

Onto the food! Our dishes arrived very quickly. The homemade Challah was delicious. However, the French Toast component of the dish had some missteps. This was another case of the bread being barely dipped into the egg batter, rather than soaked through. The center was untouched by the batter. Honestly, the main reason I did end up enjoying the dish so much was because the inherent custard moistness of the homemade Challah helped make up for the lack of batter distribution.

Brian enjoyed his Belgian Waffle, and the fresh strawberries had a nice balance of sweetness ad tartness. I didn't enjoy my bacon so much. It arrived crispier than I ordered it. For the first time, in a longer time than I can remember, I did not finish a plate of bacon. Brian enjoyed his. Both plates came out crispy, so it was exactly as he'd ordered.

The Corned Beef Hash was intriguing. It had a "melt in your mouth" crispiness and wonderful flavor. The oddity came when we noticed how greasy the hash was. It almost seemed as if it had been deep fried, and that's what puzzled us the most. The hash was also prepared with peppers and onions, but they were subtle enough to provide a delicate sweetness and not overpower the dish.

Overall, our visit was better than anticipated. We weren't sure what to expect, and there were some bumps, but solid homemade dishes combined with exceptional service made for a very pleasant breakfast experience.

Homemade Challah Bread French Toast w/ Bacon	Belgian Waffle w/ Strawberries & Whipped Cream
Homemade Corned Beef Hash	Bacon