Fun in Saratoga

Listen to 91.1 WSPN Skidmore radio Saturdays from 8-9am to listen to Talk Saratoga

Listen to my friend Rick Thompson on Talk Saratoga WSPN 91.1 FM Skidmore Radio Saturday mornings from 8-9am.  The guest this Saturday (May 26th) will be Pat Kane, Co-Founder of Saratoga Citizen.  Phone in your questions for Pat at 580-5783 or email to saratogabroadcasting@gmail.com

Saratoga Olive Oil celebrating its one year anniversary this weekend!

Congratulations to the owners of Saratoga Olive Oil for not only getting through their first year, but for doing so well that they are expanding in Vermont!  This weekend the owners will be celebrating their one year anniversary and that means lots of treats, deals, and other promotions.   Stop by this Saturday May 5 (10am-7pm) or Sunday May 6 (10am-6pm) for FREE truffle popcorn made with their original Truffle Butter olive oil and Truffle Sea Salt. Yum!  As good as that sounds, that is certainly an adult indulgence that the kiddies may not appreciate, so they will also have free balloons to keep the little ones happy.   Plus there will be a prize wheel, a $100 gift basket giveaway and 10% off everything in the store.  See you there!

 

 

 

Divinyl Revolution closing. Bummer.

I just read on the You Idiot blog that Divinyl Revolution was closing.  I was just there a few weeks ago.  Brittany Nasser should be commended for giving it a good go - what a shame she couldn't continue through the summer at least. 

Saratoga Thoughts April 15, 2012

Saratoga Thoughts - weekend edition:

• Margarita and I ran the Peppertree Rescue 5K yesterday at the Saratoga Spa State Park.  Great cause, great weather, and a great run (OK, a slow, great run).  I probably spent $80 on our race registrations and other items and raffles, but all for a good cause.  It was an unusual 5K b/c probably about half the runners ran with their dogs.  If you are thinking of getting a dog, I would suggest looking at Peppertree because they seem like a well-run organization that really cares about matching the right dog with the right person/family.  Click here for Peppertree's Facebook page and you can like them. 

• It looks like Elizabeth's Table may open this Tuesday.  I am glad it's that close - Mike and Liz Phillips worked their butts off to get the place ready and if their food is half as good as it was at the Cupcake Lab, the place will be a hit.  Give them some support and check it out later this week. 

• I've written on here more than once that I felt (now former) Saratogian sports editor Nicole Russo was an extremely talented writer, and it looks like the Thoroughbred Times has agreed with me because she was hired by the Lexington, Kentucky based company as their internet editor.  Congratulations Nicole!  Her recent departure as sports editor and subsequent replacement by Matthew Donato means the Saratogian has had five different sports editors in just over two years.  
• I wrote a post last week about Siro's either not completing its web sites or letting the URL's expire for its main restaurant on Lincoln as well as Siro's Trattoria web site, the latter of which incidentally closed quietly for the season.  Then I mentioned how I thought the New York City location apparently wasn't opening.  Steve Barnes of the T-U's Table Hopping Blog linked my entry, and then a Siro's manager quickly replied on Table Hopping. I was apparently wrong about the NYC location, which apparently is opening within a month, but the other facts were hard to argue with. Siro's PR people (probably an outside PR firm) contacted the Business Review to do some damage control, and this article was printed Friday.  Well I'm glad The Trattoria at the Lodge is opening back up soon, and I'm really glad the NYC location is opening as well.  Siro's has to pay some more attention to the details, namely completing their web sites and not letting the URL's expire, but I'm glad they're otherwise on track. 
• It says here that Stewart's Crumbs Along the Mohawk Ice Cream is fantastic.
• Below is a picture of a race horse I used to own, now a guide pony, Minister's Appeal, working with his rider at the Oklahoma Track.  I was thrilled when the training track opened last week, but when is the Chamber of Commerce, Downtown Business Association, or Convention and Tourism Bureau, or better yet all three, going to encourage NYRA to open it to the public, at least on the weekends?  With mimimal effort, you could limit public access to an area near the timer's shed and attract numerous people up here on the weekends from April to November.  That's numerous people, and families, who will eat in our restaurants, shop in our stores, and, by the way, get all that much more excited to attend the track in the summer which can only help attendance. Seems like a no-brainer to me.

• Who is Amy Sutton, and why does she have so many prominent listings at Roohan Realty?  I seem to see her names on signs everywhere.
• Finally, Margarita and I met some friends last night at Lake Ridge Restaurant in Round Lake (exit 11).  I was never there before but had the feeling for some reason it was a rustic, basic place, but it was very nice inside and had great food and service.  If you're ever looking for a restaurant down that way I do recommend it.

OK folks that's it for now.  It will be nice today (Sunday) and up to 80 tomorrow on Monday. Have a great week!

Saratoga Wine Exchange has 25% off moving sale

I am copying a post comment below from the Saratoga Wine exchange regarding their moving sale:

Well everyone we finally got out approval from the state liquor authority to move forward this week.  Our moving sale has already begun.  Online prices are already marked down, and in store we are offering a 25% discount when you buy any 12 bottles of wine. As long as they are not already on sale. We are looking to be open at the new shop around the beginning of may.  I will post our grand opening tasting schedule here. Josh

So check out the Saratoga Wine Exchange on Phila between Ben & Jerry's and Sushi Thai Garden.  You can also enter off of the Spring Street side.                           

Hurry and sign up for Saratoga Olive Oil's Food Demo on March 30th.

You can find the details for Saratoga Olive Oil's March 30 Food Demo here.  Spaces fill up fast so if you wish to attend you should register immediately. To see video from Saratoga Olive Oil's inaugural food demo, click below.

Saratoga Thoughts March 22, 2012

And yet even more randomness about Saratoga.....

• It's March Madness at G. Willikers Toys!  Bring in this email below and get 20% off now through March 31.

March Madness Sale - 20% Off Storewide*   Now thru March 31.   Just bring in this ad to get your discount.

*Offer good thru March 31, 2012.  This offer cannot be combined with any other discounts or special programs.
Limit one coupon per customer.  It's that easy!

www.gwillikerstoys.com [http://r20.rs6.net/tn.jsp?et=1109494181230&s=652&e=001ysbt36uEpIk3Qp9I9wKb11o9h3ZAM3270uP9KH7c477G3sViWaAs01kvb6GEfYsoyMRyq0stE_WzbHrGAS3POSZRom5H4Wog8Fkkk_LvkBMpap0yB_DYig==]

• I see Chicago and the Doobie Brothers are coming to SPAC this year on August 21.  Yawwwwwn.  Weren't they just here in 2010?
• The Saratoga Olive Oil Store is expanding to other cities!  They are opening a new store in Burlington VT.  Click here for more information.  Congratulations to them.
• Don't forget it's still Saratoga County Restaurant week through Sunday.  Great weather and restaurant deals together!  The city needs to find a way to adjust their April 1st date for restaurants opening their sidewalk cafes.  The amount of business these places must be missing this week makes the argument that they should be able to lift it when we get abnormally warm weather.
• The Brentwood Motel, on the corner of Nelson and Gridley over near The Horseshoe, is for sale. I think it's been for sale for a while.  

 

• Kitchen Dimensions is moving from its 30 Division Street location, but I'm not sure where to.  The location, which I assume is a business condo, is for sale.  1 Franklin Square, essentially across the street from there and behind the new Market Place Center, is also emtpy and for sale for $1.29 million. 
• The tailor Vincenzo Moda is moving into the old Times Union offices on Broadway.  According to the business' web site he is currently in Schenectady. 
• The winery that is going in the former Kimberly Inn building has a new basement  that was recently dug and beginnings of the foundation for the addition in the back of the building.  It's always good to report positive things on South Broadway.

 

 

• That little convenience store on Jefferson Street just south of Five Points reopened up in the past few weeks.  It's more of a tiny grocery than a grab-n-go convenience store - it appears to be catering to residents that live in the public housing a short distance away. 

 

• Click here for the Saratoga Coffee Traders newsletter.  I wonder how that place, as well as Uncommon Grounds, will do once Spot Coffee comes into the Market Center building.  Brueggers is an afterthought - I only go in there to use their SEFCU ATM.
• And finally the roundup of various newsletters from Saratoga businesses and organizations.  Click here for Universal Preservation Hall's latest newsletter.  Here for DZ Restaurants.  Here for Longfellow's latest newsletter.  And finally here for The Wishing Well.  Have a great weekend everybody.
  
  
  

Saratoga Wine Exchange apparently moving to Round Lake

Thank you to the reader that alerted me to the fact that Saratoga Wine Exchange (located on Phila Street behind Ben & Jerry's) apparently will soon be moving to Round Lake, according to this Craig's List Ad which mentions "the move will occur in the next couple of months to Round Lake (Exit 11)" and lists The Wine Exchanges' phone number. 

Wheras I am sad to see any business leave downtown, at least this is a move and not a closing.  More importantly, it seems to be driven by the concentration of liquor and wine stores here in the Spa City, rather than a lousy economy.  There are at least four stores selling wine within walking distance to Saratoga Wine Exchange (Crush & Cask, Putnam Wines, Purdy's and the Swedish Hill Winery), three more stores within a 5 minute drive, and those seven don't even include the new wine tasting room planned for the former Kimberly Inn location.  It's just too many in a small area, and presumably Round Lake would give the place some breathing room. 

Well, let's hope the move goes well and that another business moves into Saratoga Wine Exchange's location soon. 

Saratoga Thoughts - ice cream edition

I was writing up a thoughts post on Saratoga Restaurants yesterday and realized that I had a lot of thoughts about just ice cream, so considering the weather will get into the 70s almost all week, I thought they deserved their own entry.  Here we go:

• I think the only thing more lucrative than selling drugs is
  selling Ben & Jerry's ice cream.  Margarita and I went there last
  week and she had a small cone and I had a small bowl and it came to just
  under nine bucks(!).  I see they are trying to compete with Stone Cold
  now - with "mash-ups".  I think I'll go to Stewarts and Uncommon Grounds
  to get my ice cream in the future. 

 

 

• I see Johnny's Italian Ice and Gourmet Ice Cream has opened back up for the season.
• I haven't been to Plum Dandy in a while.  Same with Eugenio's Gelato.  Humpty Dumpty's hasn't opened up yet, and won't until April according to its Facebook page.
• I see the building that formerly housed Alexandra's Ice Cream and the Pizza House has a Roohan Realty sign out front now.  It was formerly listed by Morrell's Real Estate. I wasn't able to find it on Roohan's web site, but I did find it was listed on another web site for $495,000.  That's down from the previous $550,000 asking price.

Well that's about it for now.  It's still winter for a couple of days - so I will get some ice cream guilt free - all week!  Take care.

Tone's Spa City Bicycleworks opens on Beekman Street

Adding some variety to the mostly artsy offerings on Beekman Street, Tone's Spa City Bicycleworks opened on Wednesday this week.  The new shop is located at 79 Beekman Street, just a few doors down from The Local.  The shop's web site is quite interesting, and indicates, among other things, that they have a cafe with wifi where you can get coffee or a smoothie while you wait for service.  They also have a funny slogan of "No Stinky Attitude".  Hmmmm...wonder if that's a shot at other shops in general or some specific ones in town.  Anyway, I love to see new businesses open in Saratoga Springs, especially ones that add to the vitality of a specific neighborhood.  Good luck Spa City Bicycleworks!