MezzaNotte

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Category: Restaurant Reviews

MezzaNotte is located on Western Avenue in Guilderland. It's decor is tasteful Italian, boasting an open kitchen, an elegant bar area and separate yet open dining room. Our party of four arrived at approximately 6:30 Friday night. Parking was problematic, but seating was immediate.

Our server was courteous and attentive, explaining the specials and answering any questions we had. He gave us the time needed to make our decisions, while also making certain we didn't feel neglected.

We started our meal with martinis (Tiramisu, MezzaNotte Punch, Spicy Martini, and Regular). We were all pleased with our selections. We ordered the Saratoga Chips appetizer, topped with a gorgonzola cheese sauce. The chips were crispy, salted just right, and the cheese sauce was fresh and delicious.

Warm bread was served before dinner. The bread was accompanied by an olive tapenade, extra virgin olive oil, and balsamic vinegar. For entrees we ordered the seafood trio (scallops, shrimp, and swordfish) with a vegetable capanota, linguini with clams in a white wine butter sauce, sushi grade yellow fin tuna (seared very rare) on top of a bed of faro and grape tomatoes, and a duck confit butternut squash risotto.

The linguini dish was enjoyable, though some of the pasta was a little too al dente. The risotto dish had onions in it which weren't mentioned in the menu, but the flavor was impeccable. The confit was tender, as was the squash, and the rice was perfectly cooked. The seafood trio had a decent flavor, but the portion size was less than expected. There was one skewer which held two shrimp, two pieces of swordfish, and one scallop. Sadly, the scallop was overcooked. By contrast, the yellow fin tuna was seared to a perfect rare, was tender, moist, and as fresh as could be. The dish as a whole had very good flavor.

We ordered tiramisu for dessert. Though delicious, the espresso flavor seemed to overpower the custard and marscapone, and took some getting used to before it could be enjoyed.

Overall, the experience was a pleasant one.

Yellow fin tuna	Duck confit risotto
Seafood Trio	Linguini with Clams

Union Cafe

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Category: Restaurant Reviews

Written by Brian

Union Cafe is located on Union St. in Schenectady.  We stopped in on a late Saturday morning during harvest festival (also being held on Union St.)  The place was relatively crowded.  Even with the crowd, we received the best service I have ever gotten at a restaurant.  The staff was friendly and promptly seated us, and our server was great.  She was very friendly, recommended some dishes to us and was incredibly quick to offer a refill or take a plate out of the way.  The food was in front of us about 10 minutes after ordering.

Great service always sets a place apart from others, but the food is the still the focal point of Union Cafe.  Their breakfast menu is your typical menu with eggs, omelets, pancakes, french toast, nothing out of the ordinary.  I decided to go traditional and order 2 scrambled eggs with sausage (it comes with home fries and toast)  - $6.50.  The eggs were cooked well, but the home fries and sausage were the stars of the plate.  The sausage had a nice flavor, and the home fries were really well seasoned and were cooked well.

Josie ordered the short stack of french toast with blueberries on it - $7.  The french toast was made with brioche, it was moist with a nice flavor.  She pointed out that the blueberries were frozen, but since they aren't currently in season, that wasn't a shock.

There looked like there was a parking lot in the back, but with all the stuff going on on Union St. we just parked on a side road and took a short walk, but it shouldn't be hard to find parking any time of the day.

If you want amazing service, and a good meal, try out Union Cafe.

Scrambled Eggs with Sausage	French Toast with Blueberries and whipped cream

Cafe Madison

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Category: Restaurant Reviews

Written by Brian

Cafe Madison is located at the Western / Madison split.  They are only open for breakfast / brunch / lunch (until 2 or 3 depending on the day).  It is always busy, and a well known place for breakfast in the area - for good reason.  Food is cooked perfectly, and they have weekend specials that are well constructed mixing in various flavors that come together perfectly.

Both Josie and I both ordered off their weekend special menu, I got the Pumpkin & Spice Pancakes - Three buttermilk cakes mixed with Kentucky Bourbon and spiced with pumpkin, cinnamon and nutmeg and stuffed with walnuts, marshmallows and roasted butternut squash with a brûlée finish. Served with pure maple syrup. ($10).  The pancakes were loaded with squash.  Each pancake was individually brûlée'd giving it a nice sweet crunchy top.  The marshmallows and walnuts enhanced the flavor profile with a creamy and crunchy mix.  It came with real maple syrup, which wasn't really needed, but a nice touch.

Josie ordered the NY Style Cheesecake Stuffed French Toast - Homemade cinnamon swirl bread dipped in a Guinness Stout flavored batter and stuffed with cheesecake mascarpone with graham cracker crumbles and a caramel drizzle. Served with real maple syrup.  It was also amazing.  I was afraid the mascarpone would make it too sweet, but it was a nice balance.  the graham crackers on top gave it a nice crunch.

My biggest complaints about Cafe Madison would be there is no parking lot, but generally plenty of nearby street parking and that the place is always so busy you often have to wait for a while to get a seat (today was only 15 minutes, but normally I would plan for at least a half hour), but I can't really take off for that, since it is kind of like punishing someone for being too awesome.  Staff is very friendly and fast.  Our waiter seemed very knowledgeable about the menu and recommended the pumpkin pancakes I ordered.  Cafe Madison deserves the 5 fork rating we gave them.

Pumpkin & Spice Pancakes	NY Style Cheesecake Stuffed French Toast

Sushi Tei

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Category: Restaurant Reviews

Written by Brian

The 'Best Of' page has a category for best sushi, and I have listed Sushi Tei as my best sushi in the capital region.  I have been to dozens of sushi places in the area, and while there are a ton of amazing places (Yoshis, Mr. Wasabi, Mr. Fuji... the list goes on), this place gets my vote.  They have a fusion style of sushi.

Staff is always fast and friendly, and occasionally you get a plate of fruit for dessert.  This particular trip, we got an appetizer of rock shrimp ($8).  They are new to the menu here.  They are small shrimp fried with a spicy mayo on them.  They had a nice kick to them, and came with a sweeter sauce decorating the plate which complimented them well.  The price of $8 for about 20 shrimp was ridiculous.  While the shrimp were good, I wouldn't pay nearly that much for them again.

The rolls I ordered this trip were a spicy yellowtail with crunch roll ($6) and a Sushi Tei roll - shrimp tempera and avacado with a spicy crab mixture on top ($11).  Josie ordered a Spicy Girl Roll - spicy yellowtail and crunch topped with avacado and spicy tuna ($13).  As always, the fish was fresh and the rolls were well prepared.  Presentation was nice on all dishes, although the presentation for the rolls wasn't anything special.  The crunch in the spicy yellowtail was lacking, as was the spicy in the spicy girl roll, but they were still very good rolls.

Rock Shrimp	Spicy Girl Roll	Spicy Yellow tail and Sushi Tei Roll