Jack’s is Back — the Albany Establishment Returns to the “A List”
OK… let’s be frank. Jack’s Oyster House disappeared from the “A list” of fine dining establishments for a bit. Then Chef Elliott Vogel and manager Josh White came aboard. …
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Chris’s Short Take: Mark Graydon
If you have ever been to Wolff's Biergarten, or the Olde English Pub, chances are you remember this man, Mark Graydon. Mark grew up outside London and brought a true passion…
Chris’s Short Takes: Loch & Quay in Albany
Lobster: NOUN
a large marine crustacean with a cylindrical body, stalked eyes, and the first of its five pairs of limbs modified as pincers.(Yeah, yeah, yeah,…or a…
Chris’s Short Take: Salsa Latina in East Greenbush
I don’t remember the girl’s name, but her boyfriend’s name was Brutus. Or at least that was what was tattooed across his throat. When my friend and I walked into Mother’s…
Half Price Dinners At 28 Albany Restaurants Today, May 18th
Split The Bill NY is a charitable initiative that aims to drive business to local restaurants dealing with the challenges caused by the coronavirus pandemic, announced…
Chris Shaw’s Five Rules of Fishing
Summer and the great outdoors are almost here, Fishing season is in full swing on the trout streams and lakes. Once more I wade into a stream running so fast that the…
Remembering Tony… Tony Markellis (1952-2021)
Editor's Note: Chris and Tony worked in the studio on an array of albums, and toured the US for several years for Taylor Guitars. Tony was also a member of the Mountain Snow…
Chris Shaw Chats with Chef Melanie O’Malley
Food and music. All my life the two have danced around each other, and there’s no better example of that than my friend Melanie O’Malley, founder and proprietor of…
Chris Shaw Chats with Chef Courtney Demarest
A really tight focus. Pastry Chef Courtney Demarest knows all about it. She founded the Brighter Days Cookie Company, purveyor of beautifully decorated sugar…
Chris Shaw Chats with Chef Chris Faraci
As the world starts the process of opening up, a lot of changes are surfacing in almost every aspect of our lives. In the culinary world it’s no different, take out has…
Chris’s Short Take: TORO Cantina
It's been a long year for diners waiting for a chance to go back to their favorite haunts. "I can't wait to get those Soup Dumplings!" "I can't wait to get that…
Chris’s Short Take: The Mercantile
We need to remember that exciting options for dining are still out there in greater Nippertown, and The Mercantile in Saratoga right on Broadway is certainly one of…
SUNY ADK Culinary Arts Program is ready for the Fall despite COVID concerns
When I went to culinary school there was no pandemic, and it was hard enough under those good conditions. So when COVID hit I tried to envision what the effect would be, and…
Chris’s Short Take: The State of the Restaurant Business
The State of the Restaurant Business: with Vic Christopher (Clark House Hospitality Group), Patricia Pendergast Novo (Taverna Novo), Jay Larkin (SUNY Schenectady Culinary),…
Cookin’ with Chris: Dark and Stormy Cookies
We all knew it was just a matter of time until the sweets recipes started to come out! This is quick, easy, and will please all you ginger fans out there forever...
…
Cookin’ with Chris: Asian Peanut Noodles
Editor's note: Chris Shaw is normally out and about writing about his restaurant adventures in the "Chris's Short Take" articles. In light of the quarantine, Chris has…
Chris’s Short Take: Something Completely Different…
So obviously I won't be writing here about the new places opening up, or the time-proven favorites latest direction, or even a new chef in town. The virus has sidelined…
Chris’s Short Take(out): A whole new ballgame…
My, how things have changed since I posted here last. I was on vacation in Florida when this all blew up, and wound up driving back through a country that resembled an…
St. Patrick’s Day: Here and There…
Editor's note: How times have changed in a week. Chris Shaw wrote this article a week ago today in preparations for St. Patrick's Day in the Capital Region. He did it early…
Chris’s Short Take: The Hot Dog Ranch
On a pretty lousy day last week, I drove out to Pittsfield MA and happened on a place a friend of mine mentioned to me a while back, The Hot Dog Ranch. I know, I know, I…
Chris’s Short Take: Unagi Sushi
I waited a bit to go to Unagi after Andy Dong , the founding sushi chef there, left. (Editors note: Andy Dong left in July of ’18.) Transition is difficult, but what has…
Chris’s Short Take: McAddy’s Pub
Back in the ‘80s, and even into the ‘90s, McAddy’s was known as Holmes and Watson, home of the “Around the World” Beer Tour where patrons received a T-shirt and certificate…
Chris’s Short Take: Wolff’s Biergarten Brunch Falls Short
Over the years I've seen hundreds of jersey-wearing families and rabid soccer fans descend on Wolff's Biergarten for weekend brunch and the sharing of a soccer match with…
Chris’s Short Take: Seneca, An Introduction
When I signed on to cook at Druthers years ago, the kitchen wasn’t open. The bar wasn’t built. Hell, I painted the women’s room waiting for the stove to show up. And as I…
Chris’s Short Take: Saratoga’s Chowderfest 2020
Okay... true confessions. I'd never been to Chowderfest. Well, sort of... I'd helped cook at it... true confessions Deux, I used to cook at Druthers. I was fortunate…
The 22nd Annual Saratoga Chowderfest this Saturday, February 1st
The 2020 Saratoga Chowderfest is taking place this coming weekend! This Saturday, February 1st, 11 AM to 4 PM all over town!!!
The event is free, family friendly, and…
Chris’s Short Take: Lime Leaf Thai Bistro opens in Troy
January 28th marked the Grand Opening of Troy’s latest restaurant, the Lime Leaf Thai Bistro. Mayor Patrick Madden, County Legislator Carole Weaver, Hannah Zinoman from the…
Chris’s Short Take: Little Peck’s (Brunch in Troy)
It’s been almost three years since the culinary and hospitality duo of Vic Christopher and Heather LaVine repurposed a space previously occupied by a gourmet shop into what…
Nationally Renowned Nettle Meadow Farm Cheesemaker to Move to Lake Luzerne
Regional Nettle Meadow Farm has made its mark in the cheese world and is moving its production facility to the former Hitching Post restaurant on Rt 9N in the near future.…
Chris’s Short Take: More Perreca’s
When you’re writing about anything out of town, it’s great to have a couple of buddies who are intimately familiar with the lay of the land. When you’re writing about…
The Band’s Visit – Proctors Schenectady
(Wait a minute,…isn’t this the food critic guy? Yup, it’s me. But in my life before this, I was a singer, songwriter, and storyteller for 40 years, and I love the…
Chris Shaw’s Holiday Shopping Pitstops in Schenectady
This last installment of places to grab a great bite while you finish up your holiday shopping takes in Schenectady, a town on a strong cultural comeback, and that certainly…
Best of 2019: Chris Shaw’s Restaurant Picks
I have seen some great years for food in the Nippertown Region, but none better than this one. Not just a few great plates, but a plethora of them!
Best New Restaurant
…
Chris Shaw’s Holiday Shopping Pitstops in Albany
Albany
The Olde English Pub683 Broadway, Albany, NY 12207(518) 434-6533
They call this place, “The Little House with Beer In It," but that’s hardly the whole story…
Snowpocalypse Cookin’ with Shaw
While cruising social media, I posted a picture of a breakfast I cooked today and suggested others do the same! We got a ton of responses and that prompted this piece, so…
Chris Shaw’s Holiday Shopping Pitstops in Troy
You know the drill. Make the list. Check it twice. Run like mad from shop to shop, find parking, remember Uncle Louis’ sweater size. Suddenly you’re starved So where to…
Chris’s Short Take: Oaxaquena Triqui
Mexican food has been a real favorite of mine for as long as I can remember. No small feat for a guy raised in the Adirondacks, but between early trips to NYC and points…
A Pig Roast at Riverside Maple Farms & Field Notes with St Croix Farms and Wolf Hollow…
To say it was good and cold would be painfully accurate in describing the weather that the crew at Riverview Maple Farms had to deal with for their annual pig roast out in…
Road Trip: Queens Food Tour with Rick Bedrosian
It takes a lot to get me out of bed before 6 AM these days. A lot. But when Rick Bedrosian suggested we go to New York City for one of his food tours and make a whole day…
The Enchanted City: A Steampunk Blitz (with a Food Competition)
Over the years I have been a very fortunate man. Back in my younger days, I had the opportunity to tour all over the world with my music and meet people in a wide variety of…
Farm to Table Event at Riverside Maple Farms
The Farm to Table movement has thrived here north of NYC, from the iconic Blue Hill at the Stone Barns, with it’s Time Magazine’s Most Influential People in the World (2009)…
Troy’s River Street Market: More than a Food Court
The River Street Market in Troy is a food hall by its own definition, but this place is far more than that. A bright, airy space in the Hedley Building is home to a half…
11th Annual Albany Chef’s Wine and Dine for the Arts
The 11th Annual Wine and Dine for the Arts will be January 16th through the 18th at the Capital Center in Albany. The Grand Gala Reception Dinner dinner will feature the…
Chris’s Short Take: Brazilian Steakhouse on Central Ave.
The log cabin at 1647 Central Ave. has been stuck in my memory as Truman’s Restaurant until recently. Now under the new banner of the Brazilian Steakhouse things have…
Chris’s Short Take: Troy Chowderfest 2019
An estimated 20,000 hungry participants took to the streets
of Troy for the 13th Annual Troy Chowderfest on a sunny Sunday the
13th. Booths and storefronts
all over…
2019 Saratoga Wine & Food Festival Grand Tasting
A crisp, sunny day was the setting for Saratoga Food & Wine’s Grand Tasting on Saturday the 5th of October, where the music was playing, the wine was flowing, and great…
2019 Saratoga Wine & Food Festival Farm-to-Table Harvest Dinner
It was a chilly night that ushered in the first Gala dinner celebrating The Saratoga Food & Wine Festival on the grounds of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. The…
City Beer Hall Changes Menu and offers Wild Game Dinner October 7
The City Beer Hall at 42 Howard St., Albany, NY has unveiled its Fall 2019 Menu, and there are LOTS of new choices for both lunch and dinner. Their Wild Game Dinner returns…
A Victory Lap for the Troy Waterfront Farmers Market: #1 in the USA
There was an unmistakable air of Esprit de Corps at the Troy Waterfront Farmer’s Market today after it won the top award for farmer’s markets in the country. The National…
Chris’s Short Take: Best (And Worst!) Food of Summer 2019
Well, folks, this one is your call! Where did you go eat this summer that really rocked your boat, on the good or bad side? No place is too big, or too small, too plain or…
Troy Waterfront Farmers Market named #1 in the Nation
The Troy Waterfront Farmer’s Market has been named the best in the country, and best in the Northeast by the National Farmland Trust, who have given the market the People’s…
A Taste of Wilton from Farm to Chef
A Taste of Wilton: From Farm to Chef may only be in its second year, but once again it drew a myriad of local farms, distillers, crafters and restaurants to share their best…
Climate Change Protest Marches on State Capitol
Audrea Din, a recent Schalmont High School graduate, and UAlbany student lead a protest and march culminating in a rally at 1 PM in West Capitol Park as Albany joined sites…
Chris’s Short Take: Oscar’s Smokehouse
As a born and raised Adirondacker, take it from me, there isn’t another place in the Adirondacks where culture and cuisine collide like this place. I’ve been going there…
Chris’s Short Take: Berkshire Palate
If you ask most folks from the Capital District what they think of when they hear “ What’s the best thing over in Williamstown”, I’m sure you’ll hear lots of “Theater!” or…
Chris’s Short Take: Ferry St. Night Market in Troy
If you’d like to graze your way through some fun Asian cuisine, talk with some cool folks, and sip a glass of wine, come on down to the Ferry St. Night Market on Thursday…
Chris’s Short Take: Oh Corn! Arepas and More
I’m a fool for a good rhythm section, and whoever the band was playing on the sound system at Oh Corn!- Arepas and More had everyone in the room swaying, working, or ordering…
Lunch with… Rex Smith @ Quang’s Vietnamese Bistro in Troy
Rex Smith, Editor of Times Union, and I headed to downtown Troy on a steamy 90° day for lunch at Quang’s Vietnamese Bistro, one of Troy’s latest culinary offerings. The…
Chris’s Short Take: 2019 NYS Food Festival @ Empire Plaza
Food trucks and purveyors from all over the state converged on the Empire Plaza to show their wares, despite the threatening thunderstorms. Locals flocked to the open-air…
Chris’s Short Take: Ala Shanghai Chinese
About two football fields off the Latham Circle headed east toward Watervliet, Ala Shanghai sits in an unassuming building just off the road. The menu is extensive, and runs…
NYS Food Festival at Empire State Plaza on August 7th
It’s summer in the Capital District, time to enjoy the food, music, and culture of the season right here on our own doorstep!
In excess of 15,000 people come to…
June Farms Jamboree set for August 3rd
Food and drink, a cake-baking contest, farm animals, and kids activities abound when Matt Baumgartner, (owner of June Farms, the Biergartens, and partner in the Olde English…