Visiting Mom, dropping off daughter and visiting friends. The circuit is becoming familiar now, and so the food is improving with each visit. First, Schenectady.
I return again and again to Cappiello's. Their specialty is mozzarella, fresh, plain and braided with flavor. My favorite now is the smoked braid. Worth checking out. They also have a full deli, including house made sausage (very good, sweet and hot) of the dried cured variety. Various pasta dishes made and frozen. Bread that I think they make on the premises. Sandwiches - italian subs and smoked turkey with their own Mozzarella. Strangely disappointing, given the impeccable ingredients. The bread is a small sub roll, with soft crust. Inside is the meat and cheese, plus some sun dried tomato and vinegary peppers. No dressing at all, and they only offer mustard (!) on the side. Next time I will bring some italian dressing and I bet it will be great. Last but not least there is the pizza (large, bready sicilian type, full of tomato, almost a salad on bread) and stuffed breads. The daughter and I both loved the plain pizza. I enjoyed the eggplant stuffed loaf, a chewy shell of crust and bread full of flavorful and garlicky eggplant. I spent 5 days in Schenectady and went to Cappiellos no less than 5 or 6 times.
Almost next door is Nick's diner, which I almost missed. Nick's is notable for its demonic statuary. About 4 feet tall, each, there are a hot dog and an order of fries on both sides of the entrance, graced with truly crazed faces. I will see about getting my pix posted, rather than offering further description. On my last day I arose too late to have breakfast at the hotel and so discovered the glory that is Nick's. A great old grill, packed on a Sunday morning with Nick working the crowd, and he knew half of them. Reminded me of some parts of Pittsburgh, as it happens. Just had pancakes and bacon, but the offerings were impressive, and I should have gone more.
Both are on Broadway, just north of the I 890 exit (there also is a fabulous old coke sign painted on a building just north of them). If you continue north on Broadway, you will encounter the Pro Wrestling Hall of Fame, which never seemed to be open, and then State Street and downtown Schenectady, which shows so clearly how getting more than your fair share of state and federal funds still will not reverse a century-old slide, but I digress.
In the area, I also had some other decent meals, though my recommendation is to stick with those two as much as possible.
Scotty's (Union St.) and Da Vinci (State St) in Schenectady offer decent old school Italian. Both were okay, not fabulous. Marino's (State St) offers cheap Italian, a step below the other two, but it is more informal and a Red Sox bar of sorts, so it has its charm. i suspect their pizza is better than the pasta and eggplant we tried. Da Vinci was the best for me, but each has its pros and cons.
Further down route 5 (which is State Street in Schenectady, but changes as it wends through Colonie and Albany) is You Love New York Pizza, which sells very respectable slices. A little thinner and crispier than true NYC Pizza, IMO, but tasty and they had ay least 7 or 8 different pizzas by the slice. Lastly, there is L'Ken's drive in, which was pretty darned good. A high quality, real meat, peppery coating chicken nugget was good, and the steak sandwich was even better. Tender little steak bits and nice cheesiness. It came with onions and sauce which I would skip next time. Canned onions, it seemed, and bland barbecue sauce, but beneath that as a good sandwich.
Lastly, let me point out that my research on Albany with this group and elsewhere has turned up so little information that I began to wonder. But now I know, there are good places.
Next: A couple more places in Albany, and then Maine and the cheeses of Vermont, plus those pictures, I hope.
d
Feeling (south) loopy