NEW WORLD Bistro Bar on Delaware in Albany

tofu and watermelon Asian style

Tuna with chili coat

Many good places to eat in Albany are old world...like Jacks or Cappricios....and then there is New World. Here the Fried tofu and watermelon salad or the chili crusted tuna make you wonder what else to try next time. There is some al fresco dining and a great bar with a chance to meet Nick and there is nothing new about the leadership here; they spent time at Justin's and other area restaurants.

papardelle

Chicken and waffles---way good and much

Burke's SOUTH END TAVERN IN Troy

RYE HUMOR

You can't eat the memory of a 20 year old scallop dinner in Troy or the Old telephone booth but you can time travel to this well preserved tavern and enjoy a Killian's beer and those scallops fried with shrimp and served with two squeeze bottles of tartar and cocktail sauce and ignore the canned beans. The ladies only entrance is a vestigial reminder of the not always glorious old days, and you can only tell your friends if they appreciate the role of incongruity in humor and the irony of physical reminders of triumphs over inequity. Incongruity too remembering  Tim's use of the rye bread with two holes under the glasses. How nice to spend some good time with good guy Bill who refuses to enter from other than the Ladies' door out of solidarity.

Va Beh' 446 dean st

articoke and shaved parm

perfect pasta with pachetta

gnocchi

Andres from Milan-slope

torrone home made and gone

burnt wine..kind of mulled,,kind of grand

Anna said to go... so we went to 446 Dean Street ...across from the new mammoth JZ Netsidium...love i or hate the stadium  ,Va beh has an exterior windowed wall that can rise in the summer to the world of downtown bklyn and it has created an almost mythical Milan like cafe island blocks from where cousin Brucie and Alan freed held rock and roll shows with Wilson picket and Jackie Wilson... and just  a few miles from Wilson ave named as such when world war one  undermined Hamburg ave as a suitable name. This Va beh ' is different in a wonderful way. It is Andre's passion and drive and ingredients so fresh and pure that you will want to taste it all. Small and comfortable. Warm and enchanting. Nuts and a nutcracker like so many Bklyn living rooms and bruchetta and panchetta and burnt wine..gnocchi and no mularchy...olives and a bread with all the crack and crackle but none of the rigid tooth threat..with a soft chewy doughy greatness. This place is small not quaint and the people who welcome you do so with the generosity you know if you have been to Venice or Milan or Urbino and you luck upon a place where pleasing new friends rose to a life purpose. Location ,location, .....care and talent and food and wine and community.

Via Quadronno 25e 73st near Madison

Is it possible to provide a warm environment with excellent service and still make people feel like outsiders?

kind of egg drop soup

risotto

This cozy Milanese place offers good food and just that conundrum. Go anyway if your meeting is also on 72nd street. Wear Gucci shoes and eat the risotto.

CORVO, son of Al di la

lasagna

chickpea snack

Malfatti here too...fried chick peas are new...lasagna is  tasty and the Veltliner is perfect. Arrive early to avoid rejection but do arrive to taste the offspring of a great eatery.

Hecho en Dumbo...not in Dumbo...better than ever

Picaditas de crab

The small soft tortillas and the guacamole boosted the fine margarita and set the stage for cabbage slaw( ensalada de col) and a cheesy Fundido raja with peppers onions and Oaxaca cheese. The dungeness crab sat on masa corn cakes (picaditas de jaiba). Some say the portions are small... not really: they are rich and filling.

Fundido Rajas

Ensalada de Col

354 Bowery

IL BUCO Alimentary and Vineria

There are some Saturdays that a movie like Hugo and shopping and wandering can make almost perfect....and that become perfect when you step through an Italian Murano looking glass and are transported to an Italian wonderland of food and style. Here a glass of wine and fried artichokes and a risotto so lite it floats and ricotta so soft and herb scented that it glides and hovers in your mouth. Magical. Oh I can't even think about dinner...maybe Mexican?

Risotto

ricotta