Drive too fast down Route 5 in Glenville and you might just miss it. Keep your eyes peeled for the “Your Beer Brewed Here” sign and pull onto the gravel drive. From the moment you pull into the parking lot, to the second you finish your last sip of beer, there is something distinctly special about Wolf Hollow Brewing Company.
Continue reading “Loving Local Beer: Wolf Hollow Brewing Company”
Albany Restaurant Week kicked off this April with 17 restaurants participating, offering 3 courses for $20.17, a deal too irresistible to pass up.
Two things in life I know to be true: I like beer and I like finding fun new places. Shmaltz Brewing Company is a brewery with a schtick- finding success serving “Jewish celebration craft beer.” With brews with names like He’brew and Funky Jewbelation, I couldn’t resist the playful spirit and had to stop in. Continue reading “Brews & Jews: A Visit To Shmaltz Brewing”
On First Street in Troy sits a bustling little restaurant, with every seat occupied all the way down to the seats at the bar. It’s a frigid Saturday afternoon in March and I’ve just walked into Slidin’ Dirty, hungry and ready to chow down on some delicious little burgers. Continue reading “Ciders & Sliders & Troy, OH MY”
Bop bop bop, bop to the top… OR maybe bop your way on over to some Korean food!
Brunch is always, always, always a good idea. Continue reading “Brunch Round Up: Winter '17”
If you’ve ever been to Rochester, or even within 100 miles of the central New York city, you’ve without a doubt heard of the famous Garbage Plate. Although initially hesitant to trying the mish-mash of greasy cheeseburgers, spicy meat sauce, macaroni salad, and french fries, today I find myself craving a plate quite often.
The problem is, I don’t live in Rochester any more and getting a plate is not as simple as a drive down the street to the closest diner. Since buying a plate was not an option when my most recent cravings kicked in I decided to attempt at bringing the garbage plate to life in my very own kitchen.
The first step in bringing the garbage plate to Albany was to find the perfect meat sauce recipe. Lucky for me, Nick Tahou’s, the restaurant who put the garbage plate on the map, had a website floating around on the internet (check out the recipe here) which turned out to be pretty close, although not nearly as perfect as the real thing.
While the meat sauce was simmering I started making the home fries from scratch. I took a couple potatoes and cut them into small pieces, seasoned them up with a bit of salt, pepper, and cajun seasoning for added spice. I heated up the oil and cooked the potatoes until brown. While traditional garbage plates often have two cheese burger patties, one was enough for the my own plate. Although I made the sauce, burgers, and home fries from scratch, I ended up cheating just a little bit on the macaroni salad, buying a pre-made container from my local Whole Foods. 
Overall, my homemade fries were way too salty and the meat sauce came out a little bit too thick, but my first attempt at making a garbage plate was a success. Have you ever made a garbage plate yourself? Was it a success? Let me know in the comments!
As always, stay up to date on my food adventures on Instagram @erin.eats.upstate
ChowderFest is an annual event held in Saratoga Springs, New York. This years event included over 80 participating restaurants and over 100,000 cups of chowder served. ChowderFest is exactly what you might imagine, a bunch of restaurants coming together to serve, you guessed it, chowder!
Heading up the Northway to Saratoga I was expecting a crowd of people, as I had seen so many on my Facebook timeline planning to attend or already there. What I did not expect was the long lines of people just waiting for a small sampling of chowder on a chilly 20 degree February day. I also did not expect the party that was ChowderFest. Of course Saratoga is known for it’s nightlife, but it was still surprising to see so many young people out partying on a Saturday afternoon.
Between the lines and the cold weather, it would take a dedicated soup taster with the capacity to try 80 soups to try it all. I only accomplished about 6 or 7 (including the Ben & Jerry’s dessert chowder) but in those few that I tried, there was not one bad thing to say about any of them. There were the traditional clam chowders, the seafood chowders, the corn chowders, and the chowders with chicken.
My personal favorite came from Hattie’s Restaurant which included a piece of hot fried chicken (YUM!!) but following close behind was a crab chowder from Cantina, and a classic clam chowder from Fish at 30 Lake.
Now that I know what ChowderFest truly entails, I’ll be better prepared for next years festivities. I’ll be ready for more chowder, and more fun!
