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Category:
Published: January 2008
Wine Bar
417 Broadway
Saratoga Springs, NY
518.584.8777
The Wine Bar is a fabulous cosmopolitan bar/restaurant located right in downtown Saratoga on Broadway. You have the option of dining downstairs in their serene, intimate dining room, or you can opt for the Wine Bar's more lively upstairs just for drinks, small tastes of outstanding cuisine, or an entire meal.
On my recent outing to The Wine Bar, I chose to meet my companions in the upstairs dining room/bar. The room has a contemporary, sleek feel, with a centrally-located fully stocked bar. The tables are simple, black lacquer with plum silk upholstered seats. Some of the impressive wine collection is showcased in glass recessed cases in one of their walls. The Wine Bar is dimly lit, and very conducive to enjoying fine food, drink, and good friends. If you decide to eat in the downstairs dining room, you can expect to enjoy local musicians on Friday nights and their pianist Carl every Saturday evening.
Those of you who have dined in establishments that serve "tapas" (small samplings of various dishes, particularly popular in Spanish restaurants) will love the Wine Bar. They offer small portions of their phenomenal dishes that you can eat in any order you desire. If, however, you are someone who wants your appetizer followed by your salad and then your entre, there is that option as well. You are able to order a full or small portion of a dish.
My companions and I sampled a few of The Wine Bar's divine-looking dishes. We began with their homemade butternut squash ricotta gnocchi, served with arugula, oyster mushrooms, and all served in a honey brown butter sauce. The gnocchi were out of this world; they truly melted in my mouth! The honey brown butter sauce was an ideal complement to the butternut squash gnocchi. We then tried The Wine Bar's crab cake. The crab cake was prepared with loads of fresh crab meat, celery root puree, fennel, pancetta and apple. The crab meat was exemplary, and all the flavors melded together to create an incredible taste experience. We then decided that a salad was in order and tried the arugula salad made with fennel, strawberry, speck, balsamic reduction, and olive oil. The salad was fresh, flavorful, and, we all agreed, a great choice. After indulging on these outstanding appetizers, we decided to try the grass-fed organic sirloin beef and the sea bass. As I mentioned, the beef was organic and grass fed, which is the healthiest beef you can eat. The beef was fork tender, and served with potato fondant, potato puree, rosemary oil powder, and shallot rings. It was first-rate, and a huge success. The sea bass was served with potato cake, truffled salisfy, and port reduction. It was another masterpiece in taste and presentation.
Try The Wine Bar, and enjoy an exceptional evening of superior cuisine and service, all while feeling as though you've been to Manhattan.
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