Thursday, January 15, 2009

The Standard in Crossgates

We took the kids to The Standard Restaurant and Lounge, a new place in Crossgates Mall in Guilderland. The space used to be Bugabook Creek.

Overall we liked it. Prices were not outrageous, with most entrees in the $20 ballpark. The menu was interesting. One thing that stood out was the portion size. My wife had the ribs, and the picture below is after she started:



This was, seriously, the biggest rack of ribs I've ever seen. They were good, though not great. It came with sweet potato fries - something more restaurants should have.

I had "dry-packed" scallops over mushroom risotto. This was also good but not great. It seemed a little salty to me (especially the risotto). Not as bad as PF Chang's in Colonie, but just a little too much.

One plus is that the place is kid-friendly, though not over the top like Bugaboo was. They do have a kids menu, and a lot of people had kids with them.

We had an appetizer too. It was a combo - three different kinds of rolls (sort of like eggrolls) along with a spinach-artichoke dip. I liked it. The rolls were good and came with a few dipping sauces. The spinach dip came in a huge container with chips - I don't know how anyone could eat all that. It was more than enough for four adults. I was so stuffed that I couldn't eat much of my entree (especially after I ate a couple ribs).

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Update: We went back the other night. It was a Saturday night and the place was jam packed, as was the entire mall. Perhaps a good sign for the economy. While it took some time to get seated, and service was understandably a bit slow, the food was excellent. The portion sizes were, again, outrageous. The biggest standout for me was the cheesecake. I love a good cheesecake, and I'm picky. This was the best cheesecake I've ever had in Albany. Cheesecake Factory may have more variety, but for a straight-up New York cheesecake, the Standard has it. Not only was it great, but it was so big it made dessert for two other meals. My wife got a brownie thing with ice cream and it was monstrous. We haven't finished the brownie yet. She had a burger too and that was done right.

6 comments:

Robert said...

I have heard good things about this place. I am looking forward to checking it out.

Anonymous said...

Just tried this place this evening. It was good. Had the ahi sashimi, was very good. The New York strip, was very good as well, perfectly cooked and nice aged flavor. My companion had the bacon wrapped scallops, and pasta marsala, also very good.

Over all a good meal.

Anonymous said...

The Standard rocks. So Brandi the server... shes freaking hilarious

Anonymous said...

I have eaten twice at The Standard.
The first time, the appetizers, meal and desert were fine.

The second time was all over the place. The appetizer we raved about the first time was heavy and overly laden with cheese.

The main courses were very good.

The wine was not so robust as described by our waiter. My husband ordered a mojito that was not muddled. Yuk! Had to do it ourselves.

Obviously, there is no pastry chef.
One dessert described as chocolate cake with mousse and a ganache topping was covered with Hershey's syrup you put in chocolate milk. The cake was cold like left over from a previous evening and put in the fridge to serve again the next day. I have never tasted a ganache which by itself should be a wonderful chocolate - not so to this chef. Really now...Hershey's syrup? Throw it out. Who came up with this concoction?

The other dessert was bland and not worth talking about.

Overall, order the main meal. I realize this isn't NYC, but this is not what it portends to be.

CJ

curtgowdy said...

warren was a douche in law school; clearly, some things never change.

Unknown said...

Thanks to my old buddy curt for his kind words. I always wondered why a man would be offended by that term - a douche cleans out vaginas. Is it really an insult to accuse a man of that?
Too bad curt is afraid to use his real name. But he was probably a coward in law school too.