SCHENECTADY Diners are filling up tables for Restaurant Week BY JESSICA HARDING Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Jessica Harding at 843-2830 or jharding@dailygazette.net.
People looking for a table in one of the city’s restaurants during Restaurant Week should make a reservation quickly, because seats are filling up fast. Schenectady Restaurant Week began Tuesday and will run through Saturday. Participating restaurants are offering prix fi xe menus for $19.59. Cindy McDonald, a hostess at the re-opened Van Dyck Restaurant and Lounge, said she took at least 30 reservations Tuesday afternoon. The restaurant was pretty much booked Tuesday and tonight and is nearly full for Saturday. So far, Friday seems to be the lightest day, McDonald said. “It’s crazy. It’s awesome,” she said. R e s t a u - rants like the Stockade Inn and Cornell’s also said their phones were busy with reservations. Hostesses at both locations said their restaurants will be full all week. Jim Salengo, executive director of the Downtown Schenectady Improvement Corporation, said he thinks Restaurant Week in Schenectady is so popular because it’s such a community event. “I haven’t gone anywhere in the last week where people haven’t been talking about Restaurant Week,” he said. “Everyone wants to know where you’re going and what you’re eating.” Busy restaurants mean busy kitchens and Schenectady’s chefs and their staffs will be busy all week preparing their Restaurant Week menus. In the kitchen at Angelo’s Tavolo at Glen Sanders Mansion, executive chef Frank Tardio was manning multiple pots and pans Tuesday. The menu for Restaurant Week includes items that were not typically served at Tavolo but included elements that are used every day, like fresh spiral pasta and beef. .................>>>>.............>>>>...........http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00402&AppName=1
SCHENECTADY Restaurant Week sees decline, still called worthwhile BY KATHLEEN MOORE Gazette Reporter Reach Gazette reporter Kathleen Moore at 395-3120 or moore@dailygazette.com.
Restaurant Week was a tad disappointing this year, restaurateurs reported, but still better than what they would have gotten on the typical “dreary winter week,” as one owner put it. During last week’s fixed-price promotion, the Turf Tavern in Scotia was up about 15 percent over typical winter sales, owner Tom Gallant said. But the weekdays were slow. “Thursday was the slowest. We couldn’t really figure out why — usually it builds all week,” he said. He wondered if letting bars join the Restaurant Week special had hurt the promotion. They offered four-course meals, beverages and in some cases alcohol to compete with the more expensive fare at the restaurants. Gallant said that some customers may have chosen the bar food and beverages over upscale food, since both were set at the same price of $19.59. “With the economy, if someone can go somewhere for that dollar amount and get beverage included, it’s a factor,” Gallant said.................>>>>..............>>>>........http://www.dailygazette.net/De.....r00504&AppName=1
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