Let's start this off right!

I intend to make this blog as positive as possible, contrary to its title, and with that being said, let's begin!

I just came home from an incredibly spectacular dinner at The Wishing Well Restaurant in Saratoga Springs, NY (745 Saratoga Road, Wilton, NY 12831; 518.584.7640).

 

What an experience! I'm usually the youngest person in the restaurant (save the wait staff) when I'm there. There's a piano lounge and great bar, a fireplace in one of the dining rooms. It's cozy. The wait staff actually knows old-fashioned courtesy AND grammar (may I vs. can I and much, much more); they're cheerful and always say "thank you". The food is cooked to perfection, and the chef takes special orders. They even have a new gluten-free menu. And to top it all off, there's wonderful jazz wafting through the speakers when the piano player's not there.

Dorian, my waitress, is a student in the nutrition and dietary field, and she was very excited when they adopted the GF menu. After I ordered a drink, for her information, I mentioned some of the popular liquors that are GF (Jack Daniels, Makers Mark, and Talisker [single-malt scotch]), for which she was very grateful. The bus person, whose name I didn't catch, was also quite personable and diligent.

I was in a seafood state of mind tonight, so in addition to their pre-dinner "nosh" of slivered green apple with a dash of sugar, vinegar, and oil (and they pleasantly took away my bread), I had the Crab Salad appetizer -- huge chunks of real crab on a bed of mixed greens with a homemade Russian dressing on the side, a house salad with homemade Bleu Cheese dressing, and their Sea Scallops -- PERFECTLY done. Tonight's accompanying starch was "smashed" red potatoes and the seasonal vegetable was sautéed zucchini. I finished my trip to heaven with decaf (it WAS after 18:30 in my defense) and a melt-in-your-mouth lemon crème brulée.

It was interesting to listen to the other patrons as I maintained a low profile while reading "Youth" by Isaac Asimov on my iPod. As I mentioned before, I'm usually the youngest person in the room, so the ambient conversations ranged widely. Two couples came in for one of the couple's 25th anniversary. Another couple who came in later included a woman (who'd been a frequent diner and sat at "her" table) and a gentleman who'd never been there before (why he'd never been there she just couldn't comprehend). The conversation behind me included the New Skete cheesecake (pumpkin being the seasonal flavor tonight), who makes it (the Nuns of New Skete) and where they're made ("Some small town around here" sayeth the gentleman, "Greenwich maybe?" I thought I didn't get out much, but he's got me beat. The nuns are located in Cambridge, NY).

As I rolled out of the door, feeling quite like a restaurant critic I might add, I said to myself, "Self, you definitely spoiled yourself tonight. Let's do it again sometime." And my self agreed!