Chez Sophie

[docsconz]

My wife and I finally had dinner at the new location of Chez Sophie last night. I am extremely happy to report that the food is at least as wonderful as ever. I had the always great veal sweetbreads last night. They were accompanied by fantastic Sheldon farms corn, a lovely short grain rice and a panolpy of squash and carrots. My wife had the excellnt grilled mahi-mahi. I was tempted to try the sous-vide monkfish, but I was really in the mood for the sweetbreads. Chef Parker has been exploring sous vide cookery, especially with seafood. I will have to make a point of it next time.

The restaurant is beautiful and a step up from the previous location, though I loved its casual intimacy. The service was fine, though they are still working out some kinks with the wine service. One change from the previous incarnation of Chez Sophie is that they are no longer including soup or salad within the cost of the entree. As a result, the entree pricing is less and the choice of salads is greater. I had a house-cured salmon with trout roe salad that was quite nice. My wife had the beet salad.

For dessert we split an order of lavender ice cream. It was silky, smooth and with a perfect scenting of the flower.

[coughy]

After going back and forth about where to have dinner after the races last week we decided on Chez Sophie. We gambled all day - why gamble with mediocre food.

The restaurant space was lovely. We were seated in an alcove which almost made us feel like we were in a private space. The service was very friendly but the servers were "young." We had a veal dish, mahi-mahi, delmonico steak and pork loin. Our appetizers were escargot, crab cakes and salads. We all loved our dinners and decided that the chocolate mousse and cheesecake were definite winners for dessert.

Sign me up for dinner again next year.

[docsconz]

  The service was very friendly but the servers were "young." 

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One of the most difficult things about running a restaurant in and around Saratoga is finding and keeping good experienced help whether it be in the kitchen or the front of the house. I'm sure that this problem is not isolated to this region though.

I too found the help to be young, but friendly and generally competent. I had no complaints.

[phaelon56]

One of the most difficult things about running a restaurant in and around Saratoga is finding and keeping good experienced help whether it be in the kitchen or the front of the house. I'm sure that this problem is not isolated to this region though.

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So true. In some areas such as Saratoga it's the short length of the busy season that's the biggest issue (granted - summer is already a short enough season in Northeastern tourist destinations but the when the largest number of visitors is during a five week racing season the probelm is compounded).

There are other locations where the cost of housing is so prohibitive that finding and keeping good FOH or BOH help is problematic because restaurant owners can't pay help enough to afford the cost of living. IIRC one of the big hotels in Key West was contemplating creating "dorm housing" for young workers in an effort to attract and retain people.

A friend of mine once worked a summer as a line cook in Bar Harbor, Maine. He received a fairly generous bonus just for staying through the end of August and an even larger one if he stayed through the end of September or to mid-October.

[robert40]

As someone who as worked at more then a few restaurants in Saratoga. John and Owen are right on the mark. Experienced help is practically non existent with most being college students more interested in enjoying the night life of Saratoga.

The only comparison that may be worse is Lake George.

[docsconz]

As someone who as worked at more then a few restaurants in Saratoga. John and Owen are right on the mark. Experienced help is practically non existent with most being college students more interested in enjoying the night life of Saratoga.

The only comparison that may be worse is Lake George.

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It is. There and points north have taken to importing service help from abroad. That program seems to have worked pretty well.

[Graphix]

heh....strange....i live in saratoga and ive never been to chez sophie...

well...another place worth checking out in saratoga is my fathers restaurant....

its called Siro's, its outside the back entrance to the track, only open for 6 weeks of the year. NY prime sirloin, rack of lamb, veal chop are all pretty good. If you plan on having a full diner with wine plan on spending 100+ per person.

hmmm...going to have to make a reservation at chez sophie.

peace,

B

[phaelon56]

Thanks for the reminder about Siro's. I have a friend who waited table there one season many years ago (probably in the late 1970's or early 1980's). he recalled diminutive Willie Shoemaker living it up at a table accompanied by three gorgeous (and very tall) ladies....

[rich]

he recalled diminutive Willie Shoemaker living it up at a table accompanied by  three gorgeous (and very tall) ladies....

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Those were his wives - maybe not at the same time, but certainly at one time or another. They were just trying to "divvy" up the money.

[docsconz]

I would love to read opinions and anecdotes on Siro's, though on another thread. Let's leave this one for a discussion on Chez Sophie.

[Graphix]

heh doc...i could tell stories for days.... im trying to get my dad to write a cookbook based on the stories and recipes of siro's, maybe someday soon we will get started on that.

B

[docsconz]

Bad news/ Good news

Mark Lawrence, the long time sous chef has left Chez Sophie to go back to the diner that formerly housed the restaurant. He will be sous chef for Dominic Colose, late of Gotchya's and now chef for a new venture called "Bloomers - An American Bistro."

The good news for fans of Chez Sophie is that Mark Lawrence is being replaced at Chez Sophie by another Mark - Mark Graham, formerly chef at the Saratoga Wine Bar and The Lodge. This should prove to be an interesting collaboration between he and Paul Parker.

It is also warming to envision the return of the diner space to a restaurant. That space has its own particular charm.

[rich]

Bad news/ Good news

Mark Lawrence, the long time sous chef has left Chez Sophie to go back to the diner that formerly housed the restaurant. He will be sous chef for Dominic Colose, late of Gotchya's and now chef for a new venture called "Bloomers - An American Bistro."

The good news for fans of Chez Sophie is that Mark Lawrence is being replaced at Chez Sophie by another Mark - Mark Graham, formerly chef at the Saratoga Wine Bar and The Lodge. This should prove to be an interesting collaboration between he and Paul Parker.

It is also warming to envision the return of the diner space to a restaurant. That space has its own particular charm.

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That's good news on two accounts. The diner goes back on my list and I always thought Mark Graham did an excellent job at the Wine Bar.

[markabauman]

Dominic Colose did a respectable job at Gotchya's; also at Chameleon and back awhile at Cafe Capriccio. Should be interesting.

[robert40]

Dominic Colose did a respectable job at Gotchya's; also at Chameleon and back awhile at Cafe Capriccio. Should be interesting.

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Prior to above he had a very small place in Scotia that I enjoyed.

[ELA]

I spend the meet up at the Spa and Chez Sophie has been one of my favorite restaurants for quite some time. I never get there as much as I'd like and always wish I went more often. I enjoyed it last year at their new location.

As far as Siro's, yeah, I'm a regular, LOL. When the races are over at the track, you just have to go over to Siro's -- at least to wait out the traffic, LOL. Then you can watch the races from Del Mar, LOL.

Eric

[phaelon56]

It is also warming to envision the return of the diner space to a restaurant. That space has its own particular charm.

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I think more budding restarauteurs should consider grabbing a defunct diner as a place to start a fine/finer dining operation. Syracuse's best French restaurant , usually the only one in that era (others came and went) was Cafe de Paris. It was in an old greasy spoon diner car next to a junkyard on Erie Blvd East. It was, at various points in time, a diner, a bar and even a strip club. As Cefe de paris they did a bang-up job on french bistro food in an era (1970's and early 1980's) when most peopelo in this market though of French Fries when they thought of French food.

The owners retired, closed it down and the building was demolished a few years later (stilll an empty lot to this day).

[markabauman]

Article about the new restaurant:

American Bistro