Saratoga thoughts January 17, 2012

Here's what I'm thinking as I count down the days to the Saratoga Chowderfest on February 4th:

• Let's start if off with food, namely Esperanto food. You Idiot reported that the Caroline Street casual eatery is offering free dough cousins with - get this - no strings attached.  The T-U's On the Edge blog reported that they are offering cold doughboys for you to cook at home.  So much for that "lose weight and get in shape" New Year's resolution.

Photo from the T-U's On the Edge Blog

• You likely heard that David and Roslyn Zecchini, owners of Chianti, Forno Bistro, and Pasta Pane, are about to purchase 384 Broadway and that Pizza on Broadway and Raina's have already moved out.  Word has it that the Zecchinis will open a Tapas bar and restaurant at that location, which would be the fourth establishment under the DZ Restaurants corporation name.  Let's hope they make things happen quickly -the stretch of Broadway from the former Zola Kids location down to Brindisi's is presently either vacant or closed, and that's not good.
• Speaking of closed Broadway locations, It was almost a year ago that a Saratogian Headline declared "Saratoga Springs Mayor:  Borders' Broadway spot should be filled soon".  Uhhhh Scott, it's nearly February 2012 and we're still waiting.
• One business that is open in that general area is Char-Koon.  Margarita was out of town last week so since I was a bachelor for a few days it only seemed right to get some Chinese Take-out.  The staff at Char-Koon doesn't have their act together - I ordered at 6pm but they charged me lunch prices for my General Tso's Chicken, which had absolutely no spice to it whatsoever.  Those little peppers on the menu are supposed to mean the dish is hot, not nearly as sweet as grape jelly.
• Print out the below coupon and use it at Chianti on January 23rd, and they will donate 30% of your bill to the Saratoga Regional YMCA's scholarship program. 

• I like dealing with that big burly guy Randy at the Broadway Post Office.  He's efficient, knowlegeable, and he always seems to have that "Hey how ya doin'?" kind of infectious good mood thing going.
• One piece of economic development "progress" I do not want to see is the once-planned Rite-Aid location on the site of the current Springs Motel.  I don't know if this project is simply delayed or completely scrapped, but I hope the latter because I don't want to see another national chain retail location at the southern entrance to downtown.  We've already got Mobil, McDonald's, Dunkin Donuts, and Boston Market nearby, and that's plenty of representation from Anytown, U.S.A. The Springs Motel may not be a five star resort, but it is a well kept location that adds a little bit of character to that stretch of South Broadway and I hope it stays there.
• Speaking of that stretch of South Broadway, and in fact that very same intersection with Lincoln Avenue, I wrote last week that I saw signs of work at the former Kimberly Inn.  Sunday's Saratogian had an in-depth article about the new owner's plans for the place, which includes a sizable addition and turning it into a winery and bistro. The architectural sketches in the Saratogian's print edition looked great.  The developer runs the Thirsty Owl Winery and Bistro in the Finger Lakes, and plans on selling his wine here in The Spa City.  This is very interesting and positive stuff for a beautiful old building that needs some TLC.
• I think the Saratogian is a much improved newspaper over the last few years, but I would like to see more editorials printed.  There are too many important happenings in and around the Spa City, not to mention the rest of the world, to not hear more opinion from our daily newspaper. By my count the paper printed just one editorial in November (not counting endorsements) and five in December.  I hope this is an uptick I am detecting with three editorials written in the first half of January.   When the Saratogian does print one of their somewhat rare editorials, they are well written, on point, and even have a folksy and unpretentious style about them that makes them very readable.  It's not the New York Times, and I don't want it to be.  Sunday's editorial about the commencement of production at the new Global Foundries plant was very good, and I liked the clever title "Chip, chip, Hooray!"  I hope to see more of those - two a week seems like a reasonable goal.
• Continuing with the topic of my desire for more news commentary, I wrote last week about the dearth of news analysis on how Governor Cuomo's Aqueduct proposal will affect horse racing at the Queens track, as well as at NYRA in general and Saratoga in particular. Since I wrote that there have been a few things written on point, namely this Daily Racing Form piece, which noted sources indicated that Genting, the company running the Racino there, would like to see racing go bye-bye so they can use the land for bigger casinos, the country's largest convention center, and an equally ginormous hotel.  Although there are many legal and political hurdles, the general consensus is that it's just a matter of time before racing ends at Aqueduct.  Mike Veitch will focus his commentary on this issue in tomorrow's (Wednesday) Saratogian (ADDED - can be found here) and I'll be looking forward to reading what that respected writer has to say.   
• Back to editorials, the T-U had a good one yesterday about the pedestrian death on Route 9.
• The T-U's Saratoga reporter Leigh Hornbeck has taken over the Places and Spaces real estate blog.  Don't worry, she's still covering Saratoga Springs as well.  Well Leigh, more work should mean more money....
• Stewarts has plenty of its own private label products, such as soda and dairy products, and the Saratoga Springs based convenience store now has its own private label energy drink called Impact.  12 ounces of sugary caffeine for 99 cents - is this a great country or what? You can see their Youtube pitch below.
• The Wishing Well has started a new Sunday "Date Night" promotion.  $25 gets you a 3-course meal with a $15 wine add-on option.
• The Saratoga Film Forum has a new blog, which you can link here.

Whew, that was a lot of thoughts!  I didn't expect to write so much but I've been working on this post since Sunday.  Have a great week. 

Comments

[Ace]

Kinda stunned to read the negative Char-Koon comment. My girlfriend and I have had takeout from there probably 10+ times and we've ALWAYS been satisfied. Both with the food, and with the speed of service. No other Chinese place in Saratoga compares, imo. In fact, I'd say the rest are basically horrible.

[Dan]

Well it was just based on one visit, but they really screwed up the General Tso's. Yes it was fast. Maybe I'll give it another try someday.