Restaurant Roundup: Elody, Three Daughters Kitchen & Cocktails, and More
Where we ate this week, and where we want to eat next week.
New Beginnings
When 13 North owners Patti and Larry Weaver announced that they’d be shutting down their Route 9 restaurant and moving operations to Phila Street under the new name Elody, their loyal customers were saddened, but optimistic. “My husband and I were longtime fans of 13 North, and don’t love change,” says Ashley Salvadore, who was invited to the friends and family soft opening of the new restaurant on New Year’s Eve (which just so happened to fall on the 2nd birthday of Patti and Larry’s granddaughter, after whom the restaurant was named). “With that being said, we were both super happy to still experience the same great service, warmth, and delicious food that we remembered from 13 North.”
I never went to 13 North when it was open, but I made a point to get over to Elody after our first Saratoga Living Insiders Club meetup of the year at the new Keuka Spring Vineyards. Though the new restaurant does have a pair of vegan options (very exciting), I brought along a trio of omnivores—Spencer Sherry, Lauren Leddy, and Jessie Brooks—to round out my review.
We immediately liked the vibes—dark but not too dark, with cage-looking light fixtures that rotated ever so slightly, giving the walls and ceiling an interesting, moving texture. While Ashley noticed the cushioned light pink dining chairs, we immediately gravitated to the bar seats, which have backs, armrests, and a comfortable spot to put your feet. (When you make an online reservation, you can choose a table, booth, bar seat, or dessert bar seat.)
Our waitress, Amanda, told us the featured soup (beef stew) and vegetable (broccoli and cauliflower), and then asked if she could bring over bread. Don’t skip out on the bread, people: The Parker house-style rolls came on a board with smears of garlic butter and cinnamon butter. We put in drinks and an appetizer—fried zucchini—and Spencer got French onion soup that was heavy on the onions, bread, and cheese, and light on the soup.
The menu is large without being overwhelming, and traditional without being boring. Spencer had the chicken stack, Lauren had the chicken Francese, Jessie had the salmon (with her choice of baked potato, mashed potato, fries, or rice), and I got the veggie stir fry, which came with extra seasonal veggies. It was only after we ate that we realized our mistake: We hadn’t saved room for dessert, the course for which the Weavers are perhaps best known.
In addition to seven standing dessert options, there was a specialty cupcake flavor (lemon merengue) and two specialty cheesecake flavors (key lime and Boston cream). We reluctantly declined, and called it a night, leftovers in tow. Ashley, a seasoned 13 North pro, however, didn’t make our same mistake.
“Patti’s cheesecakes,” she says, “are hands-down the best in the 518.”
Name Game
In recent years, Saratoga Arms hotel has been finding ways to engage not only their guests from out of town, but members of the local community, too. They’ve hosted a New Year’s Eve porch party, a holiday tea, and a “Mommy & Me” American Girl overnight event, and even invite the public for breakfast at the hotel daily. This week, just in time for Saratoga Snow Day, they’ve given their onsite restaurant a name: Three Daughters Kitchen & Cocktails.
“We’ve just named our restaurant Three Daughters, and that’s primarily a tribute to our three daughters,” says Saratoga Arms owner Kathleen Smith. “We’ve always had family businesses, and the girls have always been involved in them. At 6 years old, they were behind breakfast buffets passing out melons, and at 12 years old Amy was making schedules. It’s a tribute to them.”
Three Daughters is open for breakfast year-round from 7:30–10:30am Monday–Friday and 7:30–11:30am Saturday and Sunday; for cocktail hour on Thursdays, Fridays, and Saturdays during racing season; and for special events, like December’s holiday tea.
I went for breakfast on Thursday with Saratoga Living advertising director Annette Quarrier and COO Tina Galante. After ringing the doorbell on the front porch, we were guided through the hotel to the dining room, which we had all to ourselves. As we sipped coffee poured from our own personal carafes into dainty tea cups, hotel guests started trickling in (when you book your stay there, you can choose the package that includes breakfast).
The menu consists of drinks (coffee, juice, tea from Saratoga Tea & Honey, and three breakfast cocktails), light fare (including the oatmeal I ordered and the avocado toast Annette got), “savory beginnings” (think omelets, Benedict, and an open-face breakfast sandwich), “sweet start” selections (like waffles and pumpkin spice pancakes), and sides (everything is served a la carte). Tina opted for the savory special—a sun-dried tomato and spinach omelet, though the sweet special, an apple pie challah bread french toast with homemade whipped cream, certainly sounded tempting.
We left full and happy, lingering near the hotel’s cozy fireplace and feeling more like hotel guests than outsiders who’d just stopped in for a bite. There’s hospitality, and then there’s boutique hotel hospitality. And everyone who walks in the doors gets treated to the latter at Saratoga Arms.
On the Menu
In recent weeks, Saratoga restaurants have been giving their menus a refresh in the name of getting people out of their houses in the depths of mid-January. Check out some of them here:
15 Church: Think raw bar, steak tartare grilled cheese, lobster frites, and yakisoba noodles served with shrimp, char siu, pork belly, cabbage, egg, peanuts, and sriracha aioli. The upscale restaurant has also unveiled a hefty vegan menu consisting of lion’s mane mushroom “Under a Brick,” vegetable dumplings, and Korean barbecue tofu served with scallion and sugar snap pea slaw.
Kindred: In the fall, Kindred brought brunch back. In the new year, chef Andy Palmisano dropped a new brunch menu consisting of verde shakshuka, a breakfast flatbread, a veggie hash bowl, and enough cocktails to cure your hangover.
Standard Fare: In other brunch news, Standard Fare now has one on Saturdays and Sundays from 11am–2pm. New Executive Chef Joseph Michaud (formerly of The Wishing Well) is serving up baskets of biscuits and cranberry corn muffins, Swedish meatballs, spicy avocado toast, a cereal and milk parfait, and much more. (The dinner menu is also new.)
Bibulous: Bibulous rang in the new year with a new menu featuring an expanded selection of small plates (French onion dip, mac and cheese, caesar salad, and mini hot dogs) and new desserts (bourbon bread pudding, espresso mocha mousse, and more).
New Groove
About a year-and-a-half after Dango’s reopened as The Wild Horse following an extensive renovation, the Caroline Street bar and restaurant is once again closed for renovations until April (with the exception of Chowderfest on February 7). This time around, they’ll be building out a new concept within the space: the Kashmir Lounge, a piano bar located in the restaurant’s back room. When it reopens, The Wild Horse will serve a tapas menu overseen by Noah Frese of the recently opened Noah’s.
—Natalie