Albany, NY -- Ballinger's

I was going to post some photos of my photo shoot around Albany today, but I'm in Ballinger's, the new restaurant on Howard Street in Albany and felt it deserved a post of its own. Last week I wrote:

I was strolling around downtown a couple of days ago when I passed the old Ogden's restaurant building on Howard Street and noticed that a new restaurant is opening up at the same location. Ballingers (no apostrophe, for whatever reason -- the owner's name is Douglas Ballinger) opens up on May 3rd. It's down the street from me, so I'm going to try to make it. I wonder if it can succeed where Daniel's (the restaurant that succeeded Ogden's in 2003) failed?

Well, I don't know if it can, but it's certainly nice:



Ballingers on Howard Street

As a foodie, whether a bar does or doesn't have food is really important to me -- it's not a surprise that in Albany, I tend to frequent Justin's, the Wine Bar, Totem, and Lark Tavern, and stay away from Cafe Hollywood and Lionheart.

It's almost a month in, though, and there's still no menu here. I was under the impression they'd have one by this point (their fourth week), but it hasn't happened yet. Having said that, the waitresses have been walking around with some great tapas -- the chorizo and mini pizzas have both made me scramble to find more, and I've made quite a nice meal out of them. The service has been good too -- even as the place has gotten busier as the night has progressed (I've been here for hours), Paul, the friendly bartender, has gotten me my Coors Lights almost instantly.

The building that houses Ballinger's is a marvel; it's a three story building constructed in 1903. Ogden's restaurant, one of the previous incarnations of this building, was a very successful for many years, hosting Albany's politicos.

Ballinger's is using all three of the building's floors, plus its sizable patio. There's a bar on each floor (though the owners are going to have to negotiate the state's limit on three bars per venue). The ambience is great -- all of the floors are decked out in a plush 1920s-era fashion, and the music varies from Sinatra to Stefani to Matthews to Marley to world music and Green Day's "Welcome to Paradise" is blaring as I prepare to post this.

I'd love this place to succeed, but it may be too big for its own good. If it does succeed, that says a lot for Albany -- not only is it big, but it's not directly on Pearl Street, Broadway, or Lark Street. I'll keep an eye on it.

(Side note: The operator, Gerard, just gave me a free beer, so another point to Ballinger's :) -- wi-fi is a plus, too)

I took several photos, and you can check them out by clicking here (note for people on laptops/low-res: these photos are larger than normal, so you may have to scroll down to navigate -- it's worth it though; it's a gorgeous place).




UPDATE: Another foodie, Albany Jane of Albany Eats, reviewed Ballingers (is it really spelled "Ballinger's" or "Ballingers?" I think I'm switching to the latter) recently.

Labels: Albany, Restaurants

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