Saratoga Saturday Potpourri
Mushroom bacon comes to Saratoga, our "Beach, Please" kickoff to summer, Bocage's new food menu and more Spa City happenings.
Cheese, Please
“Bocage doesn’t serve food,” a Caroline Street bar owner confidently (and wrongly) told me last week. Actually, it now does—and I’ve already spotted a charcuterie board being served in the wild. Twice. (A heaping tray of cheeses, Spanish-style meats and little treats like dates is hard to pass up when sipping on bubbles.) In addition to its popular boards, Saratoga’s first Champagne bar also has a menu of small plates (think caviar with lemon dill creme fraiche and chocolate pot de creme), and an array of tea sanchwiches that range from classic cucumber and blue crab salad to a foie gras pb&j and strawberry/nuttella. In other words, perfect for showers and other girls’ day outs, of which I’ve sat next to several in these recent warmer weeks.
In time for the summer crowds, Bocage (located at 10 Phila) also now accepts reservations—find them on Resy.com. Food is served until 10pm.
Shroom Boom
If you haven’t heard about Green Island–based biotech company Ecovative, it’s high time you did. Launched 15 years ago last week by two RPI grads, the company was born on the idea of using mycelium—the root structure of mushrooms—to actually grow compostable, eco-friendly materials to replace Styrofoam, plastics and leather. Today, Ecovative boasts partners across the packaging and fashion industries, and has even delved into the world of plant-based food with brand MyForest Foods and its flagship meat alternative: MyBacon.
Yesterday, I got my first taste (literally) of MyBacon by way of a Zoom cooking session with MyForest Foods Executive Chef Nick Ruscitto, formerly of Troy restaurants Peck's Arcade and Donna's Italian Restaurant. “When we get the product in, we call them mush bellies,” Nick explained. “It looks exactly like a pork belly and we use normal restaurant equipment to slice it. Then we brine it and roast it, and we only use six ingredients. When coming up with the recipe, I treated it just like I would bacon.” For those who haven’t yet dabbled in the world of plant-based imitation meat, most products come ground up or in patty form; the fact that MyBacon is actually sliced like real bacon is pretty novel. MyBacon is also cooked pretty much exactly like real bacon, too (you can watch a demonstration with Chef Nick here).
Currently, MyBacon is available only at Honest Weight Food Co-op in Albany, but that could change in the very near future, as MyForest Foods is in the process of expanding its bacon-making operation with a 60,000-square-foot production facility at Saratoga’s WJ Grande Industrial Park. “The mycelium will be grown over by Ecovative in Green Island,” said Chief Marketing Officer Sarah-Marie Cole, who was also on the call. “We bought this huge electric refrigerated bus that will drive it up to Saratoga Springs to be turned into bacon.”
But most importantly, does MyBacon actually taste like real bacon? Yes—taste, texture, crunchiness and all. “I tricked my husband,” said Chief Marketing Officer Sarah-Marie Cole, who was also on the call, of a BLT she pretended contained real bacon. “He had no idea.”
Vibe Check: “Beach, Please”
It seems Mother Nature knew we were having a beach party. After a morning of pouring rain and afternoon of intermittent drizzles, the clouds parted at 6pm sharp for Saratoga Living’s “Beach, Please” Summer Kickoff event at Putnam Place. Alex Finn and Elizabeth O’Neil Perella arrived first, grabbing a signature tiki drink courtesy of Malta Wine & Liquor and Putnam Place before breaking in the surf-centric photo op on the patio. Shortly after came Saratoga Living super-fans Seana Moser and Elmer Santiago, followed by a crowd more than 100 strong. I was behind the patio bar for most of the night, perfecting the art of pouring Lawson’s Finest Liquid libations from cans to festive tiki cups, but I did make it inside the club, where DJ BoyBoy and The Jagaloons kept spirits high, for two heaping plates of beach-inspired dishes from Hattie’s and to see the aerial dancers from Good Karma Studio “soak up the sun” from seven hanging silk apparatuses. For dessert? Intricately iced tiki cookies from Bread Basket Bakery and four festive flavors of ice cream from Kaleidoscope Cafe.
Outside, the beer pong table from Tailgate and Party kept the people going, as did mid-party deliveries of Chercha canned wine and D’Andrea’s Pizza. Arthur Gonick was the man of the hour, as many guests recognized him from our recent Celeb Shot with the local blogger, and two lucky winners went home with four premium tickets each to Dave Matthews Band and Train at SPAC. (If you were there and saw who won, we promise the raffle wasn’t rigged!)
After the last drop of Malibu rum had been drunk, the party migrated over to Saratoga City Tavern, where karaoke with DJ WaiLin, arguably the city’s best hype man, was in full swing. Highlights included “Me and Bobby McGee,” performed by a woman who you would’ve believed was Janis Joplin herself had you turned your back, and “I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles)” sung by a pair of young men who clearly knew exactly what the crowd wanted to hear.
Keep an eye on saratogaliving.com for a full photo gallery from the evening!
Quote of the Week
“For a very long time I fell on the ‘I hate Dave Matthews’ side of Upstate New York. Some could say I’ve moved on. Some could say I’ve regressed.”
—Musician Jacob Shipley after performing “Crash Into Me” at Active Ingredient Brewing Company
A Callin’ for Wallen
This week, country singer Morgan Wallen’s upcoming show at SPAC was the talk of the town—not because people are excited for it, but because they can’t find tickets. An alumnus of The Voice, Wallen rose to superstardom following early hits “Whiskey Glasses” and “Up Down,” and his July 7 SPAC show has already sold out of both indoor and lawn seats. “I’m about to spend what my rent costs on seats,” said Ollie’s mom at the Saratoga Dog Park of the tickets she’s planning to buy off someone. “We all do it,” Edie’s mom replied.
Saratoga Dog Park Chronicles
Speaking of the dog park, it’s a war zone over there. The battle is between the invading spongy moth caterpillars and the leafy greens that provide shade to the park—but the creepy crawlies aren’t staying up in the trees. They’re everywhere, leaving leaf bits and poop in their wake. “Don’t go in that entrance!” the dog dads and moms cried to Edie’s mom as she trudged through the slimy frass (caterpillar feces) on the sidewalk. Apparently, the caterpillars have been so bad recently that they’re keeping people away from the dog park; there were less of them on Friday following Thursday’s rain. Inside the fence, which, inexplicably, was covered with the furry nuisances, Edie’s mom appeared to be stepping gingerly around the caterpillars littering the ground, but upon closer inspection was actually going out of her way to step on as many as possible. “Yep,” Quincy’s dad said, “she’s a murderer.”
Instead of showing you a photo of the disgusting caterpillars you’ve surely already run into, here’s a post made to Ollie’s Instagram account last week:
Vibe Check: One Fine Day / What We’re Not Watching
Hundreds of finely dressed ladies and a handful of finely dressed men dropped what they were working on Tuesday at 1pm and headed for Prime at Saratoga National for an important cause: to raise money for and highlight the important work done by Shelters of Saratoga. After picking up a welcome sangria, the three-woman Saratoga Living team found our seats at a table for 10, where the main topic of conversation was Uncharted, the new—and exceedingly terrible—Mark Wahlberg and Tom Holland movie. “We turned it off 40 minutes in!” said our table mate, Andrew Bobbitt. “We thought it was going to be like National Treasure.” I agree that National Treasure is a piece of filmaking gold, and that this new treasure-hunting flick’s name should never be uttered in the same sentence as Nic Cage’s most important piece of work, but for some reason I hate-watched Uncharted to the end. And thanks to a lucky (or unlucky) seating arrangement, Andrew was filled in on the absolutely outrageous final scene.
On a more serious note, Shelters of Saratoga Executive Director Duane Vaughn took the stage to commend his staff, who worked all throughout COVID, serving 115 individuals in the emergency shelter last year alone, as well as 285 at the Code Blue shelter, which is open when the temperature drops below 32 degrees. Next the crowd heard from John, an individual who found himself homeless at the age of 73, and thanks to Shelters of Saratoga has been in his own apartment for more than a year. “If it wasn’t for those people, I’d probably still be on the street,” he said. John is now a Shelters of Saratoga volunteer, cooking meals five days a week. Board member Lisa Mitzen gave closing remarks, emphasizing that homelessness could’ve happened or can happen to any of us, and that many more people are struggling with housing instability than we realize.
This Week in Saratoga Living After Hours
On Monday, we published three picture puzzles representing three Saratoga establishments…did you crack the code?
And on Tuesday, we took readers to the opening day of the Yaddo Gardens, which have been closed to the public since before the pandemic.
Thank you for writing about Bocage, heard about it opening and wanted updates! Looking forward to trying it out (and those cute tarts!) when in town later this summer.