Daniel B.'s Profile

This review is for lunch only.

When it comes to expensive restaurants I place a premium on two things:
1) The quality of their ingredients
2) The ratio of price to value

At lunch, Taste excels at these two things. Especially when it comes to their hamburger. Because theirs isn't just any burger, it is made from Kilcoyne Farms beef. This is a collective of ranchers in the North Country of New York State that supply pasture raised beef.

A burger of the stuff, topped with cheese and bacon and served with fries costs about ten bucks. Now for any old hamburger that might be a bit pricey. But for a burger with special beef, served in a beautiful setting, with thin rimmed water glasses, white linen, and heavy silverware, it is among the best burger bargains anywhere.

The picture above is their rare, and it was quite tasty.

You may notice that the bun looks out of proportion to the rest of the burger. Sadly that is true. Next time I'm in, I will see if they can toast or grill the bun, which may lessen it's breadiness, which really detracts from the burger, especially in those magnificent middle bites where the domed bun comes to a peak.

Oddly their desserts are priced the same as the burger. So you may want to go elsewhere for a bite of something sweet after the meal. Or not. A burger is pretty darn filling on its own.

I liked Ed's, and I have to believe there is a way to order a 4* meal at the place. But the menu is a minefield.

My filet (ordered rare) was a four star steak. It had a good crust, was well seasoned, and cooked to the appropriate temperature. Filet is all about texture and not flavor anyhow, and eating it just warmed through, burnished on fire, is my favorite way to enjoy this cut.

My wife's flat iron (ordered medium rare) was pink all the way through, and flavorful. She was equally pleased with her steak selection, and I'd call that a four star steak too.

Even the french fries were four star fries.

The garlic mashed potatoes though were super gummy.
The beef gravy on the potatoes tasted like salty bullion.
The vegetable sides were diner worthy, not steakhouse quality.
The warm loaf of bread looked a lot better than it tasted.
The coleslaw wasn't more special than what you get at a deli.
The cheesecake dessert was simply awful, and sloppily plated.

Most notably, the crabcake (ordered fried) was small, soggy, and totally underwhelming.

On the plus side, the burgers look great on the menu. They are made from meat ground on premise, which given the quality of the steaks gives me a lot of hope that they will be equally delicious and well cooked. I had been hoping to make it back to Ed's and try a burger for lunch, but there just wasn't time on this trip. It will have to wait until my next voyage down Bedford way, likely in the summer.

But I will be back.

Oh, and for the record, I would have much preferred to sit in the vintage dining rooms with their crazy chairs than the more modern wing that boasted what could have easily been an 80" plasma television dominating the room. Why do restaurants insist on distracting diners from their meals and their companions with televisions? If you want to eat in front of the TV do it at home. Please.

The only thing that is missing from Rolf's are happy pigs.

Yes, they should be incredibly happy that their lives were given to make such delicious ham hocks, teawurst, smoked pork chops, hams, sausages, and bacon. But I do wish that Rolf's would assist me in my goals of eating incredibly tasty things while avoiding CAFO meats.

But I can't avoid the meaty treats from Rolf's.

Once I tried to get a ham hock at a farmers market, direct from a pig farmer. His pigs were great, but his ham hocks sucked (and were very expensive to boot). I'd gladly pay the money, but at the end of the day it comes down to what tastes good. And inarguably what you get at Rolf's is delicious.

It may sound a little strange, but now I'm addicted to their teawurst. It's a blend of raw pork and beef that's been cold smoked. In today's day and age, something like that sounds like it should be illegal. But not at Rolf's. So I can bring it home, spread it on some rye bread, and watch my wife avert her eyes as she tries to pretend I'm not eating something she considers to be revolting.

As far as I'm concerned that just means more teawurst for me. But it's not for everyone.

While you are there, do not forget the little case of warm meat treats above the far right side of the counter. In there is a pink loaf of Leberkäse, which is essentially bologna. They will cut off a slice and put it on a bun for you to eat in the car on the way home. Also there are some amazing little patties called frikadellen which are a kind of pan fried meatloaf burger. On its own it's $1.50. But you can walk out with a sandwich of the stuff for a paltry $2.50.

This place is amazing, and it's the last of its kind for miles in every direction. If you haven't been, you owe it to yourself to go. Get some wurst and be happy.

Quick math. You need a birthday cake. Six adults, four children. What's a reasonable size?

I figured a nine inch round cake would just about cover it. Adam at Hot Bun's concurred. So I ordered a chocolate cake with peanut butter filling. When I picked it up the next day, he told me the overnight baker got a little carried away.

That thing was enormous. Each of the two layers had to be at least three inches tall. The cake didn't even fit in the box. It cost a mere $12.50 and it served as dessert for more than three days.

During my visit to the region I stopped in at Hot Bun's three times, and got to try a good many of their offerings. Here's the rundown from best to worst.

That chocolate cake for sheer size & value (plus it was moist and delicious).
The pepperoni roll with fat slices of spicy sausage (and I don't even like pepperoni).
White bread with its butter brushed top and sweet, tender crumb.
Honey wheat bread with its pleasant whole grain complexity.
Chocolate covered cake balls were tasty, but so, so heavy and fatty.
Cinnamon roll was a bit too sweet, but just this side of cloying.
Cupcakes were pretty, but not rich and moist like the full size cake.
The baguette seemed like just a crustier version of the white bread.
French cruller was the tastiest of the donuts but a bit dry.
Donuts were just okay, but the dough tougher than I'd like.
The Boston Cream donut was chilled and had a taste of the cooler.

This is a great place. It's not perfect. And I'm only being tough on them so that they can bring everything up to a consistent level of excellence. But that pepperoni roll is not to be overlooked. It was so good that on my first visit there, I ordered a slice of it and then bought the remainder of roll to bring back to the farm.

Dammit, now that I'm thinking about it, I want it. Sadly, I now have to be on a diet, because I gained almost ten pounds on the trip. Hot Bun's is in part to blame.

I don't know what you all are talking about. The dim sum here just isn't good. For starters, shrimp wrapped up in rice noodle is never one shrimp. Are you kidding me?

The only thing that was decent was the fried taro stuffed with pork. Eggplant with shrimp was okay, but the two components weren't well integrated and the pieces of eggplant were measly.

But the steamed wrap around the har gow wasn't up to snuff. And nothing I had was good enough to justify a return trip.

Perhaps some day I'll return on a weekend, when the kitchen is busier. However the next time I go, I'll be walking in with lower expectations, and that might help. Because this place had been held up high by the Times Union food critic as a great place for dim sum.

One thing is clear. It's not.

If it weren't for http://LocalHarvest.com I never would have stumbled upon this small natural food store tucked away in a strip mall across the river from downtown Bedford.

I was looking for some organic milk that wasn't ultra-pasteurized and while I did not find that here, I did find a source for raw milk and more exciting locally produced raw milk cheese.

Don't tell anyone, but the Royer Mountain aged raw milk cheese from Clover Creek Cheese Cellar could easily be sold in New York for $20 per pound or more. Here you can get it for about $10.

On top of that I was able to get a dozen eggs that were collected on the very day I bought them. The eggs came from Split ail Run Farm in Clearville, and were labeled Free Range and All Natural.

I'm not sure exactly what their standards are, but same-day eggs are amazing. A dozen was $3. I brought them back to my in-laws farm and poached them gently. Then I put them on top of toast from Hot Buns bakery for a very Bedford breakfast.

The shelves are a bit sparse (I had hoped for a broader selection of Tom's of Maine toothpastes) and the produce didn't look great. But they had local lamb and other meats in the freezer. Oddly they stock Boar's Head too, but I'm not going to hold that against them.

This is a good place. Cups of coffee for less than two bucks, with refills a dollar. They have a choice of different roasts, and regional coffees. I enjoyed a lighter roast Mexican just the other day. And while it didn't blow me away, it was decidedly decent.

The space is a lot nicer since the transition away from the Muddy Cup. The bathroom is cleaner too.

I like hanging out on the leather sofa upstairs in the loft. There are plenty of plugs. Street parking has always been easy. There are meters out front, and free parking across Madison.

Part of me is tempted to give them a bonus star for their three-dollar egg and cheese sandwich, which is made with cage-free organic eggs. But first, I feel like I need to try it. They also serve organic granola, and they say their coffee is organic too. If this stuff is important to you, this is very exciting news indeed.

Another part of me wants to take the bonus star away because they don't grind espresso to order for a cappuccino or latte. And while that is inexcusable, it sadly seems to be the norm at most coffee joints.

But the bottom line is that this is yet another good place to hang out, drink some coffee, and escape the cold. Plus when the students are on break, it's decidedly non-crowded in the morning.

Eventually I'm going to be here and hungry enough to eat an egg sandwich. If it's really good, it will elevate this place to four stars.

I guess the bloom is off the rose when it comes to Van's.

Over the last few months I've returned a few times. Maybe the broth of the pho has slipped. Maybe it's just that I've had some tastier noodle soups elsewhere. But I've found myself less willing to pay $10 for a big hot steaming bowl of their version of this beloved dish.

So there is that, which drove me to expanding my ordering to the Bun section of their menu. Big mistake.

Instead of a light and summery salad of cold noodles and greenery with super flavorful protein tossed in a sweet and sour fish sauce, I was presented with something more akin to a hot pasta dish. There was precious little greenery, and what there was was limp and wilted from hot vermicelli.

Even still, every occasional bite of wilted basil or cilantro reminded me of what I was missing in this dish.

I also took the opportunity to peruse the menu a bit further. Holy shit the prices on their dishes, especially at diner time is astronomical for the food they are serving. Sure, the portion sizes may be outrageous. But that's just ridiculous.

I'm done here.

There are lots of other noodle soups in the sea and plenty of other tasty things to eat. I'm not entirely sold on Pho Yum yet, but that might be a decent option to scratch the itch. But I'm also patient. I'll wait until something better opens locally, or else just get my pho on visits to other metropolitan areas.

Cooking hot dogs isn't rocket science, but so many institutions get it wrong. They should all take a lesson from Hot Dog Charlie.

Hot dogs are highly processed foods that are already cooked when you buy them. Think of them like bologna. All that has to be done is to heat 'em up. Natural casings will firm up and offer up a great little snap and fat will melt and become juicy. Too much heat or too much time spent on the griddle is the death knell for a hot dog. It will shrivel and dry out. The flavor may be there, but its life force will be drained.

Two with the works, are about two bucks.

And that will be six bites of a Capital Region classic. Served on a paper plate, so you can truly appreciate the orange grease of the meat sauce. Charlie's may not be my absolute favorite version of the form, but they are right up there. And it's a welcome sight that these are available in a mall that's fancy enough to contain the Prime Bar and Grill just a few hundred feet away.

This is madness. I like Sweet Temptations, but they need to fix a couple of things at their Schenectady Proctor's storefront.

On Sunday's during the winter there is a large farmers market in the Proctor's lobby. Mysteriously, Sweet Temptations is closed. Even more mysteriously, their display case if filled with cupcakes. Seriously, look at the photo. At best, those cupcakes went into the case on Saturday at the close of business. That makes no sense at all, but work with me on this. If they go in at the end of the day on Saturday, sit all day Sunday (when the bakery is closed despite the crowds), and are available for sale first thing Monday morning, these sweet and decedent morsels have been dying on the vine for almost two days. And that's the best case scenario.

Now, you may argue that cupcakes have a reasonably long shelf life. And that's a fair point. But don't try and tell me that a cupcake made two days ago tastes just as good as one made earlier the same day.

When I'm paying a premium for a special cupcake, I do not want one that is two days old. Period.

And if you are going to be lazy and engage in a practice like this, at least have the common sense to drape something over the case, so the throngs of people who arrive at the market on a Sunday don't see what you are doing.