Saratoga Restaurants

[richiebee]

Restaurants and f---ing picnic tables. All handicapping seminars to be replaced
by bon mots from Emeril and Flay. Rumor has it some thoroughbred races to
be run in between meals. Just joking.


Frank, sorry for that 509 AM ring. At 509 AM, \"516\" and \"518\" look awful close.
516 is Bad Luck Bennie out at Belmont. BLB is filling in as a night watchman for
two weeks and using me as a wake up service on the nights I work overnight
(please don\'t ask me why a night watchman needs a wake up call); his ingenious
plan is based on the assumption that I myself will be awake at my job, an
assumption which proved not to be true twice last week.

[PapaChach]

Just want to add a vote for Sperry\'s, went last year for wife\'s birthday. We have a house load of kids and don\'t get out as often as we like, so it\'s important to us that when we do get out, we have a good time. Got great food and phenomenal service (par for the course there) last year. Everyone has different opinions on what makes for a great meal out but for us, service has a lot to do with it, and Sperry\'s does it right.

Also agree on Mama Mia\'s. Fair warning, this is a classic red sauce place, some folks think red sauce places are old/boring/dated, etc., but the Papa Chach famiglia ain\'t those kinda folks, and sometimes you need a good classic chicken parm without the bother of making it at home.

If you want to take a 1/2 hour drive down to the state capital, highly recommend New World.

If you\'re looking for a place to get sammiches to bring out to the track with you ignore the Putnam Market hype and drive the few extra blocks to Roma.

Overrated in my humble opinion: Hattie\'s (despite the lofty reputation their dried, er, fried chicken chicken wasn\'t in the same universe as my Nana\'s), Brook Tavern (my wife got a shrimp dish there that may have been the single saltiest thing either of us have ever eaten at a restaurant) Forno (slowest service east of the Mississippi during my lone visit there). Cantina is an absolute must-to-avoid, cannot believe that place is still open, what with middling-at-best food and utterly putrid service.

[Topcat]

Dick Powell Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Joe,
> Augie\'s on route 50 burned down a few years ago.
> They are now on 17 Low Street in Ballston Spa
> which is a few blocks from where they used to be.
> Same family style but the other part of the
> building is a church so it\'s bit confusing when
> you drive up.
> Dick


I was touted on the place, too.  The touts didn\'t lie.

[belmont3]

Cliff\'s closed.  

Some locals introduced me Cliff\'s circa 1987.
Sorry to see them go.

Someone told me (maybe you Frank) that Chaz had stopped tending bar there and moved his tack. (to the old Joe Collins?)

Anyway, I would also endorse Sperry\'s. Not all that familiar with some of the other choices. Am taking notes.

Bob

[miff]

Frank D,

Joe Collins....wow.My 29 yr old daughter used to raise hell as a baby there.Guess you remember the once great(now ugh)La Villa Balsamo which was \"the\" Italian joint back when the Don Peppe crew from Queens moved their restaurant up there each SPA meet. Sergio\'s was good the first few years also.Those who mention Wishing Well are on target for a nice joint.

In the real good old days we rented a nice condo at Kadeross Park complex and only ate out during week as weekends at good restaurants were/are insane.

You youngsters really don\'t know how great the SPA was even though it\'s still incomparable. Sickening that Clueless Kay/NYRA making bad moves to the greatest race meet, by far.


Good Luck
Mike

[moosepalm]

miff Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
 Sickening
> that Clueless Kay/NYRA making bad moves to the
> greatest race meet, by far.
>

It\'s probably tiring for those who haven\'t been closely connected to Saratoga to keep reading the barbs and brickbats thrown at Kay, but if you\'ve been immersed in the Spa for any length of time (30 years for me), it feels like a link to a rare piece of greatness is being slowly severed.  I know I\'ve written this before, but at the moment, it feels like it\'s worth retelling.  I had a close friend with whom I shared the Spa experience for many years, no longer with us, but whose name adorns a park bench in Congress Park.  One evening, as we were making our rounds of the local watering holes, he looked up at the television monitor above the bar, and said, \"Every bar you go into, they have a horse racing channel on.  What a civilized town.\"  There are situations in which one can be too wedded to the past and the patina of the bygone days.  With Saratoga, that link is the crown jewel.

[Themig]

Wishing Well one of the best places to eat when vising Saratoga. Hands down. I spent Fiday night at Capriccio\'s near Congress Park. Italian, old school foods and taste. 12 tables inside, bar as well. 4 star service. pricing on the upside. Such a great meal first time there.

[lovetwogamble]

Gentlemen, longtime lurker, very seldom post, but habitually read every post.  

Will be making my \"first\" visit to the mecca from Sunny Arizona on Aug. 19-23 and can\'t wait to experience all that Saratoga has to offer for what I believe is America\'s finest historical race track.  

Thank you for the dining suggestions.  As the son of the very first butcher every hired by Omaha Steaks International, and as one of his 13 children, a good steak was easy for us to find. It was never any further than our backyard grill.   I only wish he were alive to experience this trip with me. So dining I got.  How about the drinking?

As for finding a place for revelry and storytelling where would I go?  And, if anyone wants to meet up at one of those $100 picnic tables, I\'m buying.  Would love to put the faces to the Expert profiles on this board.  

34 days and counting . . .

[albatross]

After the last, walk out of the track on the clubhouse side and listen for some music and follow the crowd to Siros. Overpriced, noisy , crowded , usually hot as hell but if you want some racetrack revelry, I\'d start there. Gets old fast, but can be a fun time as well.

[Blueskies]

If you like cold beer and a mix of people check out the Horseshoe just across the street from Gate 10

Often there is live music on the weekends

[Topcat]

Prime already overbooked beyond solid for sit-down dining for this Friday and Saturday night.